Maintaining Male Exclusivity: Porcelain Privilege in the Military
Abstract
Current debates about bathrooms and bathroom policy contribute to a long history of how space shapes norms and expectations about privacy and gender equity in the workplace. The military serves as a significant site of discussion, particularly as the Department of Defense moves forward with efforts to integrate women into combat positions. Relying on an analysis of 27 focus groups with a total of 198 participants we collected from Special Operations in the U.S. Army, we examine bathrooms as a site where male soldiers contest and resist female integration. Using Sasson-Levy and Katz’s concept of institutional de-gendering and re-gendering, we argue that men’s resistance to gender-neutral toilets is an effort to re-gender Special Forces and maintain the hegemonic masculine culture that acutely defines it.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Feb 22, 2021
- Source ID
- 10.1177/0095327x21992369
Entities
People
- Alesha Doan
- Ashley Mog
- Shannon Portillo
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- United States Department of Veterans Affairs
- University of Kansas