Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Quarterly
http://mcq.sagepub.com/
Diane A. Forbes
Management Communication Quarterly 2009 22: 577 originally published online
27 February 2009
DOI: 10.1177/0893318908331322
The online version of this article can be found at:
http://mcq.sagepub.com/content/22/4/577
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
Commodification and
Co-Modification
Explicating Black Female
Sexuality in Organizations
Management
Communication Quarterly
Volume 22 Number 4
May 2009 577-613
2009 SAGE Publications
10.1177/0893318908331322
http://mcq.sagepub.com
hosted at
http://online.sagepub.com
Diane A. Forbes
Trinity University
espite the fact that women and people of color constitute an increasing
number of new members in the workforce, recent trends reveal a stagnating growth of women in executive positions. Studies have also revealed
a decline in women of color holding similar positions in Fortune 500 companies and reported that some women of color have chosen to quit their
jobs, head smaller firms, or start their own organizations (Catalyst, 2005,
2006; Hayes, 2006, McAvoy, 2006). Women managers of color also cite
Authors Note: I would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and Management Communication
Quarterly editor James Barker for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article.
I am also grateful to Anne Nicotera for her invaluable support during this project.
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of the Black female body (also see Hall, 1997). This commodification
likely extends to contemporary organizations in which dominant social and
organizational discourses about women are rooted in patriarchal ideologies
that contribute to the process of (con)scripting. (Con)scripting is the process of collectively writing or treating Black women as commodities and
sexual beings. The process of sexualizing women is also a way in which
men devalue women by bypassing their intellectual and professional competencies and focusing on physical attributes (Marshall, 1993).
Black female sexuality is one of the unspeakable things unspoken
(Morrison, 1992) that is often described in metaphors of speechlessness,
space, or vision, as a void or empty space that is simultaneously ever
visible (exposed) and invisible and in which Black womens bodies are
always already colonized (Hammond, 1994; hooks, 1992). The concept of
the body dialectic is a central component of commodification. The body
dialectic refers to the complex and contradictory organizing features contained in the corpus of organizational discourse that (con)scripts Black
women as both visible (physically and sexually) and invisible (organizationally, intellectually, and professionally). The body dialectic also captures the tension of ownership, that is, the tension between discursive
ownership and the colonization of Black women (e.g., through gazes,
propositions, suggestions, and lewd comments) and Black womens physical ownership of and claim to their bodies. Commodification, then, is
characterized by hegemonic discourse that produces and sustains warped
notions about Black female sexuality. This discourse attempts to objectify
Black womens bodies and is enacted through two processes: (in)visibility
and colonization.
The concept of commodification in relation to Black female sexuality
addresses the role of patriarchal ideologies in perpetuating and fostering
warped notions and stereotypes about Black women, whose value is often
measured in physical and sexual terms in contemporary society. Social and
institutional discourse often (con)script, jointly write, or treat Black women
as products to be owned, traded, and consumed in multiple contexts, and
their bodies become sites of political, historical, and cultural struggle in
organizations and society. This is evidenced in popular culture, entertainment, sports, and so on in which mass culture (re)produces and perpetuates
commodification through multiples sites of domination and in which patriarchal discourse finds rampant expression. Black women, then, are often
managing an intricate interplay of factors related to their sexuality in multiple contexts. The peculiarities of Black womens negotiations highlight how
their race and gender contribute to complex systems of sexual organizing.
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Theoretical Framework
Black Feminist Theorizing
The conceptual anchor of recent Black feminist theorizing is the understanding of race, class, and gender as simultaneous forces, also known as
the simultaneity of oppression (Hull, Scott, & Smith, 1982), which is
central to the understanding of issues about Black women in organizational
and social contexts. Gender as a category of analysis is better understood
when contextualized with race and class in Black feminist theorizing. It is
important that the theorizing about race, class, and gender is historicized and
contextualized, such that conceptualizations of Black womanhood and
manhood are inextricably linked to racial hierarchy, meaning systems,
and institutionalization. Gender, then, takes on meaning and is embedded
institutionally in the context of the racial and class order and productive and
social reproductive relations of the economy (Brewer, 1993) and manifests
itself in a common struggle that Black women in multiple contexts face
the struggle against racism and sexism. By theorizing from the cultural,
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Figure 1
Organizational Communication Dynamics of Commodification
and Co-Modification
Co-Modification
Co-Modification
Commodification
Hegemonic discourse that produces and sustains warped notions
about Black female sexuality, objectifies Black women, and is
evidenced through two distinct experiential situations: Processes
of (in)visibility and colonization.
582
and class. Race and gender emerge as more salient in the data. However,
class is addressed through an analysis of the ways in which Black women,
despite their professional status, fall prey to the racial hierarchy and meaning systems that subjugate them socially, economically, and politically. The
dominant social discourse about Black womens (inferior) place informs
and pervades individuals perceptions and (re)produces communicative
interactions that support oppressive relationships between White and/or
male organization members and Black women. Although the women participants may be considered middle class based on their education, income,
and professional status, they find themselves at a unique intersection of
systems. Essed (1994) explained that approaches that solely focus on gender do not provide insight into middle-class Black women, for example,
who may reproduce dominance or be similar to other groups along one axis
(e.g., in class terms) and resist oppression at other levels (e.g., through
opposition to racism).
583
harassed more severely than were other women. Specifically, research that
centered on Black womens experiences with objectification, commodification, and sexual harassment has revealed that Black women experience
sexual discrimination and other forms of harassment at higher rates than do
women of other ethnic groups and that, in general, non-White women experience a greater degree of social discrimination than White women or nonWhite men do. In addition, these studies revealed that minority individuals
are more likely to be sexually harassed (see Hernndez, 2001, 2004; Martin,
1994; Yoder & Aniakudo, 1995). Hernndez (2004) contended that a likely
cause of the seeming racial disparity in rates of sexual harassment among
women of different races is the powerful influence of racialized gender
stereotypes. The centrality of racialized gender stereotypes in the manifestation of sexual harassment may indeed indicate the salience of race to the
occurrence of sexual harassment. These findings are significant because
women who are sexualized or are victims of sexual harassment at work
experience isolation and lack of access to mentoring and informal networks,
which may also limit the quality of their interpersonal contacts at work and
cause them to quit their jobs. Stereotyped views of men and women, then,
often pervasive in organizations that are male dominated, serve as a key barrier for womens career outcomes and well-being at work (Gutek, Cohen, &
Konrad, 1990; Murrell & James, 2001).
Texeira (2002) argued that African American women are vulnerable to
sexual harassment in part because stereotypes of sexual promiscuity have
traditionally made them susceptible to many forms of racial or gender discrimination (also see hooks, 1981; Morton, 1991; Painter, 1992), and West
(1993) noted that American culture fears Black sexuality and holds visceral
representations of Black bodies that are fuelled by sexual myths about
Black women and men (also see Balas & Fellow, 1999; Buchanan &
Ormerod, 2002; Davis, 2004). In earlier research, MacKinnon (1979) suggested that Blacks may be the targets of harassment more often than Whites
because of cultural and economic marginality or vulnerability that accrues
to women with minority group status.
Buchanans (2005) analysis focused on Black womens experience of
racialized sexual harassment with particular attention being paid to systems
of structural oppression that create and maintain domination over women
of color. Buchanans findings centered around two core propositions:
racialized sexual harassment, reflecting the intersecting systems of domination of racial and gender oppression, and the impact of slaverythe ways in
which its legacy pervades contemporary manifestations of harassment and
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images and asserted that the issue lies in African American acceptance of
such images. Sharpley-Whitings (2007) work also focused on the current
sexism and misogyny in contemporary cultural representations of Black
women in entertainment (also see Reid-Brinkley, 2008). She pointed out
that there have been real social and political consequences of this misogyny
in popular culture, such as the increasing rates of sexual assaults and violence against Black women. As well-known African American hip-hop and
rap stars flaunt a representation of Black female sexuality as raw and seductive, these portrayals warp the general perception of Black women as oversexualized commodities.
The images Collins outlined might seem animated and apparently fictional in nature, yet they constitute social and organizational images that
engender the stereotypes that influence Black womens organizational
lives. In predominantly White and/or male organizational contexts, Black
womens experiences remain unique and distinct by virtue of the intersectionality of their racial, gender, and sexual identities. This complex interplay of identities holds both sociopolitical and historical symbolism in the
experiences of organization members. The previously cited studies support the pervasiveness of sex- and race-based stereotypes in organizations
that negatively affect Black women and women of color. The communication phenomena of commodification and co-modification illustrate the
intricate interplay of race, sexuality, and gender. I seek to offer a deeper
exploration of these stereotypes to explicate the day-to-day tensions
women of color experience in organizations. The following questions
advance this inquiry:
1. How do Black women experience dominant organizational discourses
that construct Black female sexuality in organizations?
2. How do Black women experience tensions of (in)visibility and ownership of their sexuality in organizations?
3. How do Black women accommodate and resist commodification of their
sexuality in organizations?
The study responds to the need to better understand the trends of declining participation and exit of women of color from organizations. These
trends emerged and have persisted despite a surge of diversity programs,
such as cultural diversity and sensitivity training, mandatory sexual harassment training in many organizations, and more stringent discrimination
laws during the past two decades. My analysis elucidates how dominant
organizational forms are communicatively enacted in organizations through
the sexualization of Black women in organizations.
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Method
As a Black feminist, I am particularly concerned with issues that affect
Black women and women of color in organizational and social contexts.
My own experiences of (in)visibility and self-consciousness about my attire
or body position me to connect with the women participants. My analysis
involves a level of engagement and interest and a unique vision that validate
the womens accounts and enriches the research. Previous experiences have
shaped my interest and pursuit of this area. I recall having a male supervisor
who complimented me and asked about my specific weight gain during a
pregnancy. I have also worked with older White males who have been
intrigued by my beauty or intellect. In both cases, I have experienced tremendous discomfort and had a complex array of emotions and have often
contemplated my own complicity or resistance in these events. When we,
as feminist researchers, acknowledge our connections with our research
participants, we study organizational communication from the perspective
of the I; we critique the ideology of patriarchy and work to empower others and ourselves (Fine, 1993).
My own perspective derives from my cultural background as a Black
Caribbean woman living in the United States and educated in North
American universities. A keen influence on my philosophical, political, and
intellectual formation was my graduate education at a historically Black
university, where Black pride and affirmation were focal points in the universitys curriculum and culture. During these years, my interaction with
diverse U.S. populations increased, and I developed a more acute awareness
of my body and my attire. I recall learning of the significance of Black body
politicshair, attire, speech and so onespecially in White environments.
During a recent pregnancy, I certainly felt out there and worried that my
body would be a hindrance to perceptions of my competence; I thought my
body would be a professional liability. Based on feminist research, personal
experience, and conversations with Black female colleagues, I decided to
explore the commodification of Black female sexuality.
From audiotaped and transcribed interviews and written narratives from
nine Black women, I advanced my inquiry about the phenomena of comodification and commodification. Three of the women participated in an
earlier study that investigated organizational and feminist resistance in the
experiences of African American women managers. Data about their objectification emerged in participants articulation of their managerial experiences, and given my interest in these phenomena I attempted to recruit
588
other women specifically to explore Black female sexuality in organizations. I contacted a professional organization through which I knew I could
also access Black professional women and submitted a description of the
project. From the group of participants, three women indicated that they
had not felt objectified at work; however, six women from the association
and through personal referrals indicated that they had experienced commodification or were willing to share their organizational experiences for
the purposes of research. Some of the women were also colleagues from
previous work experiences, which helped to build confidence and rapport
among us as we explored phenomena related to sexuality. I was not entirely
surprised that this relatively small group emerged after I initiated the call
for participants, as previous research has indicated that there is a tremendous amount of shame and humiliation associated with harassment experiences, which can present challenges for conducting research about these
issues (Townsley & Geist, 2000). As I gathered data from each participant
similar themes emerged, and in many cases one story echoed another, thus
demonstrating that there was concurring data that would strengthen the
research. I noted the ways their accounts intersected to contribute to the
project and decided to continue to work with the current participants.
I sought professional women whose experiences may be invisible
because of perceptions that they have arrived or beat the odds as well
as to challenge the myth that their success has made them immune to racism and other forms of social discrimination. I chose professional women
to constitute the study participants as a way to reduce the power differential
between the researcher and researched and to facilitate interviewing based
on feminist techniques that emphasize mutuality, a good rapport, and openness (Oakley, 1981). The participants (see Table 1) were members of the
following organizations: the church, academia, the legal field, and marketing, insurance, banking, and investment industries. All were between the
ages of 23 and 45 and had earned graduate degrees, such as MA, MBA, and
PhD.
In-depth, semistructured interviews and written narratives served as the
methods for data collection. The duration of the interviews ranged from 60
to 90 minutes and yielded approximately 8 to 10 single-spaced pages. The
interview protocol contained open-ended questions that asked participants
to reflect on their organizational experiences as Black professional women
and the ways in which they experienced the construction of their multiple
identities in their work environmentthe intersection of their gender, race,
and managerial identities, for instance. The responses about their commodification emerged in the interviews, and I employed specific follow-up
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Table 1
Summary of Participant Data
Participant
Angela
Carrie
Age
Early 50s
Late 30s
Joan
33
Marie
Martha
33
32
Pauline
Pearl
Late 40s
Late 30s
Phoebe
Tai
33
46
26a
Position
or Title
Professor
Public relations
manager
Assistant
professor
Statistician
Business
development
manager
Director
Senior deputy
director
Coordinator
Organization
development
consultant
Administrative
assistant
(previous position)
Years
in Position
Sector
Education
Level
8 years
3 years
Private
Private
PhD
MA
3 years
Public
PhD
7 years
8 years
Private
Private
MBA
MBA
8 years
6 years
Public
Public
JD
Law degree
9 years
15 years
Private
Private
MBA
MFA
1 year
Private
a. Tai related two experiences from different stages of her career: a more recent experience
and the other that occurred in her mid-20s.
questions to explore these phenomena. In addition to the interviews, participants were also asked to write narratives to augment the interview data
with each written narrative ranging from 2 to 4 single-spaced pages of text.
Narratives seemed appropriate as they are a means to give voice to and
validate participants accounts. They also serve as a channel for others
voices. Narratives create an unobtrusive and enabling context for others
expression (Czarniawska, 2001). Participants wrote reflections about their
experiences of feeling objectified, and they took advantage of some solitude and privacy to revisit those experiences, which some admitted were
humiliating and disempowering. Some women indicated that they had not
shared these experiences with anyone and felt liberated as they wrote their
reflections for the research project. For follow-up and clarification, I also
submitted a written communication to all participants, checking their responses
and confirming their meanings. The women also provided demographic data
and general organizational descriptors, such as the demographics of their
unit or department, whether their organization was public or private, and so on.
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Organizational (In)visibility
The tension of both visibility and invisibility can seemingly be contained in the experiences of women of African descent, such that Black
women can be rendered both visible or invisible sexually and invisible
organizationally. People may know that we exist in the organization but
may never really see us (as people or significant contributors to the organization). As previously mentioned, the body dialectic encompasses issues of
visibility and invisibility and tensions around ownership that are facilitated
and enlivened through the sexualization and commodification of Black
women. This conceptualization of the colonized Black female body in
organizations casts Black women as objects for possession and consumption, thus advancing the patriarchal agenda of discourse that engenders
social and organizational domination. This complex interplay of gender,
race, and sexuality is constitutive of the unique organizational phenomena
related to Black womens experiences. On one hand Black women become
visible through their sexuality, yet on the other hand they may become
invisible by virtue of the multiple and complex systems of race and gender.
The commodification of Otherness (hooks, 1992) is produced, promoted,
and perpetuated through the various discursive constructions that ironically
render Black women visible in social and organizational contexts.
Joan, a college professor, recounted the numerous experiences of objectification that take a toll: It is a hard terrain to navigate . . . I dont want
to divorce myself from my sexuality . . . but it is MINE and not there for
others to comment on or interact with unless I offer it up with intent!!!
Joan voiced her ownership of her sexual self and pointed to the ways in
which organizational patriarchal discourse claims ownership through stares,
smirks, and other unwelcome advances. We can see Joans angry resistance
to being limited to a sexual being and devalued in the organization. She is
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made visible primarily through her physique and not valued as much more
in these interactions. Joan made a distinction regarding her visibility in
predominantly in White or Black organizational contexts:
My sexuality is more at the forefront for negotiation than in predominantly
European environments. Black people recognize my attractiveness more and
more often than in White environments. It becomes more of a bargaining chip
in predominantly Black environments . . . something that I can use to my
advantage and that can also play against me. Sometimes I feel invisible in
White environments . . . particularly if there are more women present that
meet the White ideal of sexual attractiveness (blonde, big breasts, narrow
hips, etc.).
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(choose not to) claim their agency and self-definition (see Clair, 1998).
Participants silence may also constitute a form of resistance in which they
choose not to engage further or exacerbate the complexities of the encounter.
This negotiation about the womens communicative responses is particularly
complex for Black women who perceive their organizational status as
marginalized and in jeopardy.
Colonization
The second feature of commodification is colonization. This exploration
invokes the profound extent to which the legacy of slavery lingers in the
lives of people of African descent and humankind as a whole through the
colonization analysis. The colonized Black female body in 21st-century
organization and global society represents a site of political and cultural
struggle in which the masculine discourse takes root. Brown (1979)
asserted that slavery and colonialism in the New World represented relationships of subjection that contributed to the pathology of numerous modern societies.
As the present study reveals, participants experience objectification
through the expressions of unconscious and exploitative patriarchal discourse in distinct social environments. Colonization is two pronged. The
first aspect is the sexual degradation of Black women in predominantly
White contexts, which is resonant of historical stereotypes of Black womens sexuality that have been used to disempower Black women, and the
second is the sexual objectification of Black women in predominantly
Black environments, which reveals dominant discourses of patriarchy as
well as features of intra-racial/ethnic oppression. Pauline, an attorney who
manages a large department in a federal agency, stated,
Well, I had a couple managers in my office and it was one Friday, we do dress
down days on Friday, casual Friday. And they had stopped by, and they were
sitting in my office and I had on a pair of jeans and we were talking about a
situation and I got up from behind my desk to get a document and walked out
the room, and he was like [gasp] because he was commenting on my butt. You
know, Black woman butt, and I was embarrassed. I was absolutely taken aback
and, you know how you just, all of a sudden, become very self-conscious. I was
pulling down my jacket [standing at the door demonstrating] and everything and
all of that, but he is a colleague of mine, and he feels comfortable with me, and
I know he thought he was being complimentary [laughter]. I could have died.
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Joans experiences resonate with the images of slavery, in which slave owners
allowed special female slaves to be their lovers. Some of the slaves who
were house slaves were usually the lighter-skinned slaves who were considered superior to the darker-skinned women. The women served as objects
for sexual pleasure and became the mothers of half-breed or mulatto children, who would often grow up to be the concubines of plantation owners or
overseers. Joans experiences are shaped by these historical and contextual
factors related to Black women. Although she mentions that the level of hurt
and sense of threat affect her most in Black systems, Joan here reflects mostly
on her experiences with White men, whose behavior she explains in a historical context. She explains how familiar she is with their overt sexual
responses that almost appear normative in the organizing processes she
describes as commonplace in her life experience since her midteens. In a later
excerpt, Joan discusses her reactions to sexualization in Black systems, which
evoke a more visceral and emotional response than the intellectual treatment
of her experiences in predominantly White organizations.
Martha, a telecommunications manager, stated that in her business she
deals mostly with middle-aged White men in high-level corporate capacities:
I find that I draw their attention. I have been propositioned in several
instances. Oftentimes as a minority I find men (mostly White) that are surprisingly impressed with my articulate nature and general demeanor, so much
so that they become noticeably uncomfortable. In my mind, I see them as
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being either threatened or genuinely surprised and so they look for an avenue
in which to downplay their emotions by looking at my legs or sizing me
upin essence . . . objectifying me.
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Her narrative reveals aspects of commodification that highlight the presumption and exercise of unconscious male privilege through this type of
patriarchal discourse. The young mans propositions and surveillance of her
body constitute a discourse of exploitation and commodification. Such
discourse takes root, imbeds, and colonizes. The students actions reframe
her position, not as one of authority, as a professor or teacher; rather, he
asserts some control and privilege to discipline and devalue her in the
organization, evoking feelings in her of being a bitch or ho. Women
were also with the young men; the data revealed nothing of their opposition
to the mens behavior, which could be interpreted as collusion. As previously stated, these activities have particular meaning for women of African
descent for whom the legacy of slavery has represented violation and
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know. Um, and as I look back I think, You know, it wasnt that subtle [laughter]. It was pretty straightforward.
Angela explained that part of the reason that she did not approach the
president or other authorities about this dilemma was that it was kind of
subtle in a certain sense.
Um, but, um, it was, um, they never, no one ever touched me, um, but it was
just this kind of, they, they, theyd surround me and make comments about
me and look at my breasts and um, and apparently made all kinds of comments when I wasnt around. Theyre all priests, you know, so . . . theyre
all in my denomination on top of that, you know, so it was like [sigh] you know,
I couldve made it very unpleasant for them and I didnt because I didnt have
whatever kind of stamina it took to do that.
These students comments commodify Angela and position her as subordinate to them, although she possesses the hierarchical authority as graduate
faculty. Angelas dilemma is particularly intense because of the perpetrators gender and professional status as male pastors.
Taken together, these experiences highlight complex dynamics of (in)visibility and colonization in multiple contexts. The managed status of Black
female sexuality involves a critical and complex process of navigating ones
gender, race, sexuality, and voice in a predominantly White and/or male
organizational culture. Patriarchal discourse demands that Black women
handle their identities in particular ways. Marie explains the consequences of
employing her agency to challenge the dominant (oppressive) social discourse: If you make much of it, they try to make you feel like a prude.
Marie then explains the consequence of claiming ones agency against
oppressive discursive practices: ridicule or ostracism, being made an outsider
as she defines her personal, professional, and sexual boundaries. Others seem
acutely aware of the emotional and psychological toil fighting for ones
body entails. Colonization as a normative practice threatens womens
agency because in predominantly male organizational cultures they learn that
they must handle their gender in particular ways. They often practice constant
vigilance regarding gender (and sexual) self-presentation because they think
that they run the risk of not being taken seriously, being silenced, or being
ostracized (Sheppard, 1989). Black women, then, given their experiences
with the intersecting systems of domination (race, gender, class, sexuality,
etc.), face an even more tenuous organizational situation that complicates the
phenomena of commodification that encompass invisibility, the body dialectic, and colonization in both Black and White environments.
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and exploitation. The complexity of the negotiation does not render Angela
solely responsible or culpable for the outcome of these events. Both parties
(un)consciously participated in co-modifying her sexual and professional
identity given the outcome.
Marie, the senior statistician, stated that she sometimes responds with
silence because if you make much of it they try to make you feel like a
prude. Maries observation reveals ways in which organization members,
through their silence, collude, co-enact, and (re)produce these norms that
shape womens sexual identities in organizations. Joan, a college professor
in a predominantly Black organization, reports that she responds to the perpetrators with nonverbal cues of caution and clear statements of anger and
displeasure. Marie also used this strategy in her encounters at the bankin
an instance in which she showed distaste on her face, which quelled the
interaction. Phoebe, an MBA insurance coordinator in her 20s, told how she
confronted the vice president who stared at her chest during an annual performance review meeting occurring near the end of her 9-year tenure at the
firm. Many of these interactions constitute the womens resistance to
oppressive organizational discourse as they work to reposition themselves
in the organization and disavow themselves of a victim status.4 Joans use
of nonverbal cues, however, and Phoebes choice to raise her concerns
about feeling objectified at the end of her tenure constitute some level of
complicity and reveal the complexity of navigating organizational practices
that are gendered, raced, and sexualized.
Carrie noted that she sometimes feels like a piece of meat and indicated that in her organization she is used (taken advantage of) inherently
to referee the sexuality issues in the workplace. She stated, I sometimes
feel (rightly or wrongly) that I am the standard by which others are judged,
and I may have contributed to that. She had explained that she was outspoken about issues that exploited women, yet here her comments reveal that
she may believe that she is responsible for the ways in which she is used
and is the standard by which others are judged. The patriarchal discourse
influenced her thinking about her actions and her attire; thus, Carrie (sarcastically) referred to her wearing a short skirt as a mistake. She also
discussed the ways she thinks she is used to referee conflicts about gender
or issues of sexuality and cited this as a reason she might be singled out
when she makes a mistake. Carries reference to her mistake of wearing
a short skirt suggests her own compliance and resistance with what is right
or appropriate by the center-dominant standards that undergird the organizations ethic.
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Pearl raises the issue of packaging, that is, her physical appearance, her
suit, her nails, and her smile, all factors that relate to her female identity that
also complement her intellect. Packaging suggests the preparation of
some commodity for marketing and sale. Her reference to her physical or
sexual self as a package confirms the masculinist and oppressive notions
of the Black female body as a site and product for male consumption and
discursive possession. After she had completed her work during a trial, a
juror commented,
Now that the case is over, can I tell you that you have a great pair of legs?
[laughter]. So I said to him, I looked up over my glasses I said to him, And
Im sure that that in no way had anything to do with your verdict. He said,
Oh, no, no, no the case was clear. You did a great job in presenting the case,
but it doesnt mean that I couldnt have admired your legs. So I, I, and I
laughed, and that to me . . . I exercise my intellect . . . I prosecute successfully so it doesnt mean that at the end of the day, after the case is over
and the juror came and complimented me on my legs, I couldnt express that
female appreciation, and then you move on because the two things go
together; you are being the professional.
In this instance, the jurors first comments were not about Pearls competence but about her body, an instance of commodification. Pearl viewed the
jurors compliment about her great pair of legs as an opportunity to
express her female appreciation. Although she emphasized the importance of professionalism, strategizing, planning, and excellence in the
courtroom, she also viewed the experience as acceptable and natural, once
there was no conflict of interest (the juror made his remarks after the jury
announced the verdict).
Pearls remarks reveal the ways in which as women we may internalize
and reproduce the dominant social discourse about Black womens bodies;
womens external and visual attributes are centered in organizational discourse and practice. Consequently, womens inner strength and competence
as well as other discourses about Black femininity are subjugated beneath
oppressive discourses that objectify them. Collins (1990, 2000) pointed out
the ways in which mythical images of Black women are central to this
nexus of controlling images of Black womanhood because they portray
Black women primarily as sexual beings and thus develop an objectified
social form whose primary or focal characteristics are associated with that
which is sexual.
Co-modification of (Black) female sexuality may also be understood in
terms of its agentic and corruptive elements, binding women in oppressive,
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exploitative power relations as well as realizing its empowering and liberating potential. From this standpoint, women may (re)claim and express their
own sexuality and utilize it as a weapon or bargaining chip, as two of
the participants noted. Pearls narrative involving the juror demonstrates
her ownership and use of her sexuality as a weapon and a vehicle of
empowerment in her organizational experiences, and Joan stated that she
uses her sexuality as a bargaining chip and consciously negotiates her
sexuality differently in both predominantly Black and White organizations.
Joan described her sexuality and physical attractiveness as a hindrance in
predominantly White organizations:
Because when I flirt with White men . . . the whole slavery thing . . . of
White men using Black women sexually . . . is in the backdrop of every
interaction . . . so a sexual undertone between a White man and it has a
horrible feeling attached to it. . . . So I dont go there that often . . . it
feels like a betrayal of sorts to my Blackness . . . if I had to think about
it in Black/White terms.
In predominantly Black organizations, Joan uses both her sexuality and her
negotiation of relationships by namedropping and connecting with powerful organizational members. She further explained, This strategy can be
equally as important as the sexuality and physical attractiveness piece.
Joan employs her sexuality as an organizational resource and elucidates the
complexities of Black womens negotiation of multiple identities and contexts, their race, sexuality, status, professional reputation, and gender. In
predominantly White environments, she contains overt sexual behaviors so
as not to perpetuate stereotypes or reproduce historical scenarios of Black
women and White men (particularly those in authority), which she would
view as a betrayal of her Blackness.
Joans discourse places her racial identity as primary in these interracial
malefemale exchanges; yet she does not mention her negotiation or enactment of her woman-ness, which is part of the gendered and raced processes of
organizing that she describes. This illustrates a double bind with which Black
women are often faced regarding divided loyalties and intersecting identities.
Which identity becomes primary? And how does a Black woman consciously
deal with experiences that cut across racial, gendered, sexual, and class lines?
Conversely, in Black environments, she is less constrained with her use of
sexuality because it serves as a tool of empowerment. She stated, Black people
recognize my attractiveness more, and more often than in White environments,
and she further explained that she feels invisible in a White environment,
606
particularly if there are more women present that meet the White ideal of
sexual attractiveness (blonde, big breasts, narrow hips, etc.). Therefore, to feel
empowered, Joan contends that she uses her sexuality as a bargaining chip,
which serves to make her visible and to help her advance in predominantly
Black organizations. In this way, she utilizes internalized oppressive discourses to help her navigate her work environment and empower herself, as
she chooses how to appropriate it. Joan also acknowledges the dangers associated with the use of sexuality at work and overall; her account illustrates the
multiple features of co-modification that are empowering and liberatory, in
which women are able to claim and reframe their sexuality. Her narrative also
illustrates features of co-modification that are oppressive and exploitative in
which dominant ideologies commodify Black womens sexuality.
Womens bodies at work are contested terrains that can be framed in problematic or prohibitive terms as well as liberatory ways. Brewis and Sinclairs
(2000) study revealed that women see their attractiveness to men as a useful
organizational resource. Renick (1980) explained, Working women are
defined, and survive by defining themselves, as sexually accessible and economically exploitable (p. 660). Contemporary organizational norms include
informal dress codes for both women and men, and some suggest that women
have now achieved equality with men because of womens ability to flirt and
use their sexuality to achieve personal and professional goals, such as promotions or mentorship opportunities. Some corporate executives view women as
good for business if potential clients like them, and the womens attendance at
critical meetings will help them close a deal (Pollock, 2000; Tatge, 2000). The
risk of framing womens sexual identities in these terms may also be understood as collusion with the prevailing patriarchal discourse that systematically
devalues womens contributions and intellectual capabilities.
Discussion
The present study engages the complexities of sexual politics for Black
women in organizations. I deconstruct the processes of commodification
and co-modification, communicative processes that reveal dialectics of
control or dominance and resistance and accommodation in Black womens
organizational experiences. Participants accounts uncovered tensions
around their (in)visibility in predominantly White environments and colonization, which was evidenced through their sexual degradation and public
consumption in Black and White organizational contexts. Specifically, the
narratives illustrated the concept of the body dialecticorganizational
607
discourse that (con)scripts the women as both visible (physically and sexually) and invisible (organizationally, intellectually, and professionally). The
body dialectic was also evident in the data through the tensions of discursive ownership of Black women and the womens own claim to their sexuality. The womens organizational experiences elucidated the ways in
which dominant organizational forms draw on racist, classist, and sexist
ideologies to objectify them.
The research also offers an emergent theoretical framework of
co-modification that examines Black womens complicity in their own
oppression through silence, accommodation, or trivialization of the discursive experiences that objectify them as well as their acts of reframing
and reclaiming their sexual identities as useful organizational resources.
Co-modification elucidates the complexity of negotiating a matrix of
multiple identities, which is characterized by intersections of oppressive,
constraining, and liberatory components. Black women interact with
ideological systems that we are often reared to resist, yet, as we learn
from the study, that resistance is never fully accomplished because of (un)
conscious internalization of dominant ideologies about our gendered,
raced, and sexualized identities. These ongoing tensions constitute a complex web of power relations in the context of organizational, cultural, and
social realities and complicate womens efforts to be full organization
members. In sum, the discursive process of co-modification points to
Black womens struggle with collusion, empowerment, and resistance.
608
Commodification and co-modification explicate tensions of multiple systems of oppression characterizing Black womens organizational lives. The
present study reveals how the intersecting and interdependent processes of
race, gender, class, and sexuality structure and pervade organizational communication at multiple levels.7 My analysis uncovered organizational dynamics that illustrate the exercise of oppressive, taken-for-granted, masculinist,
and racist discoursespecific and concrete ways that racism and other
oppressive ideologies find expression in organizations and negatively affect
Black women. My findings further highlight the communicative enactments
of racial and sexual dominance that remain (in)visible in organizing and that
have become normative, despite claims about increased organizational diversity, sensitivity, and mandated organizational training to tackle these issues.
The specific focus in the study on body politics and Black female sexuality also extends sexual harassment and sexuality research that, for the
most part, has failed to recognize that not all women experience harassment
or other oppressive discourses in the same ways. The strength of this work
also lies in its engagement of the sociohistorical, cultural factors and the
unspoken, often ignored elements of organizing that influence diverse
womens day-to-day organizational experiences. The womens narratives
explicate the legacy and interconnectedness of race and sexuality from the
time of institutionalized slavery, which continues to profoundly affect how
Black women experience sexual harassment as well as how it is enacted
(Buchanan, 2005; Davis, 2004; Hernndez, 2004). Future research should
continue to explore how Black women experience sexuality at work. Much
of our contemporary culture problematizes and marginalizes sexuality in
organizations, yet this study has revealed various ways that resistance and
collusion are enacted in response to objectification. Scholars should also
more fully investigate Black womens communicative strategies that they
employ to resist dominant gendered and raced practices.
The womens narratives presented multiple dominant discourses that
both Black and White men drew on to objectify Black women. In these
enactments of commodification, we see common elements of patriarchal
oppression. Harassment that occurs between White men and Black women
involves more clearly delineated aspects of racial, gendered, and sexual
politics in organizations, a reflection of the sociohistorical and political terrain of U.S. culture. Commodification experiences among all-Black groups
reveal dominant discourses of patriarchy as well as features of intra-racial/
ethnic oppression. In these interactions we see how marginalized groups
treat each other as well as how they support and perpetuate hegemonic
systems through their devaluation of persons in their own racial/ethnic
609
group (also see Clair, 1994, 1998; Rodriguez, & Clair, 1999). These phenomena constitute areas for future investigation in our discipline as there
are distinct nuances between and within racial and gender groups related to
sexuality.
The study has implications related to the participants. First, I chose no
more than one participant from each organization for the study. A possible
avenue for future research could be to study women in one organization to
understand the influence of organizational culture on commodification and
co-modification. Future studies could also approach the phenomena by
focusing on a larger group of women from one specific organization in a
case study, for example, or focus on those with similar positions in multiple
organizations to deepen analyses about the sexuality of organizing. Second,
there was a relatively small group for the study, and although a qualitative
study such as this emphasizes careful analysis of a small body of empirical
materials (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994) and embraces the philosophy that
participants are studied as single instances of more universal social experiences and processes (Sartre, 1981), a larger sample may be useful in
investigating the complexities of co-modification and the sexuality of
organizations as a whole. These issues related to the number of participants suggest future areas for research and theory to probe the complexities
of organizing.
Organizations will continue to grapple with failed diversity initiatives,
discrimination lawsuits, declining participation, and dissatisfaction of women
(and men) of color if both the overt and covert forms of racial and gender
discrimination remain unexamined. Fine (1991) contended that the privileged
discourse of White males shapes organizational discourse of members of less
powerful groups. An important implication of this study is that researchers
then need to carefully examine organizational discourse to find the ways in
which privilege is asserted to develop strategies for resistance and to transform organizational and social processes. Moreover, all women need to be
full participants in the construction of organizational discourse about harassment, discrimination, and oppression. Feminist organizational communication charts an important path in previous decades; however, we need to
expand our analyses to contextualize womens experiences and understand
from their perspectives how they experience organizing. Organizational policies and practices that pertain to women need to be revisited to ensure the full
use of womens potential in a diverse workforce.
Acker (1990) contended that, as a relational phenomenon, gender is difficult to see when only the masculine is present. Because men in organizations take
their behavior and perspectives to represent the human, organizational structures
610
and processes are theorized as gender neutral. Similarly, an analysis of race has
been almost absent in the presence of theory and research that has privileged the
experience of Whites and characterized them as universal. Race is also relationalnot only in the lives of persons of African descent but also in the lives of all
organization members because both men and women involved in organizing
processes are also involved in processes that are raced. Traditionally, women
have championed feminist causes and Blacks and other people of color have
focused on the centrality of race and ethnicity in organizational and social processes. Organizational communication theory and research need to investigate
these multiple perspectives and experiences and offer more textured analyses that
acknowledge the complexities of gender, race, and other organizing processes.
Notes
1. Joan discusses her experiences in Black systems in later excerpts.
2. Joans written narrative is presented here with her expression, punctuation, and emphases.
3. These terms have become even more relevant in contemporary U.S. culture as debates
continue to rage about misogyny in popular music and the degradation of women, particularly
Black women, in music videos, sports, movies, and so on. Both bitch and ho are the contested
terms to which many object because of their devaluation of Black women and the maintenance
of systems of domination.
4. Clair, McGoun, and Spirek (1993) also examined strategies of resistance such as redefining, transcending, and meta-communicating, to name a few.
5. A participant in Clairs study (1993) also used the exact quote to express her embarrassment.
6. Clair, McGoun, and Spirek (1993) highlighted a variety of forms of resistance including
witty and professional norms. For more examples, see their chapter.
7. A challenge remains for future research to explore class and sexual orientation.
Although class received some attention in this study, sexual orientation did not emerge at all
in the data. Both deserve more careful examination in future studies.
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Diane A. Forbes (PhD, Howard University, 2000) is an assistant professor and chair of the
Department of Communication at Trinity University, Washington, D.C., USA. Her research
centers on feminist organizational communication, with a focus on the intersections of raced,
gendered, and sexualized processes in organizations.