'You make me feel like a woman': Therapeutic cultures and the contagion of femininity

Swan, E

'You make me feel like a woman': Therapeutic cultures and the contagion of femininity

Swan, E

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Gender, Work and Organization, 2008, 15 (1), pp. 88 - 107
Issue Date:: 2008-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Swan, E https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4422-807X	en_US
dc.date.issued	2008-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Gender, Work and Organization, 2008, 15 (1), pp. 88 - 107	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0968-6673	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/15777
dc.description.abstract	This article explores the relations between processes of emotionalization in society, therapeutic cultures in the workplace and new forms of emotional subjectivity and self-presentation. For many commentators, this subjectivity is culturally feminized, drawing as it does on first-person narratives, confessionals, emotional performances and 'the personal' and it is also highly problematic. In particular, the article speculates on the emergence of a somewhat hostile reaction by some prominent criticsto these emotional selves, to whom they appear torepresent a form of emasculation.Exploring a range of 'archives' in different discourse registers, the articlesuggests that these dismissive responses could be seen to signify growing cultural anxieties about the imaginedfeminization of the self and the workplace. The article concludes by proposing that while therapeutic cultures are politically ambivalent, the significance of the resources and solace that they offer should not be ignored or trivialized. © 2008 The Author(s); Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Gender, Work and Organization	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1111/j.1468-0432.2007.00383.x	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Gender Studies	en_US
dc.title	'You make me feel like a woman': Therapeutic cultures and the contagion of femininity	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	15	en_US
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
utslib.for	1608 Sociology	en_US
utslib.for	1699 Other Studies in Human Society	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CMOS - Centre for Management and Organisation Studies
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CPCE - Centre for Creative Practices and the Cultural Economy
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.issue	1	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	15	en_US

Abstract:

This article explores the relations between processes of emotionalization in society, therapeutic cultures in the workplace and new forms of emotional subjectivity and self-presentation. For many commentators, this subjectivity is culturally feminized, drawing as it does on first-person narratives, confessionals, emotional performances and 'the personal' and it is also highly problematic. In particular, the article speculates on the emergence of a somewhat hostile reaction by some prominent criticsto these emotional selves, to whom they appear torepresent a form of emasculation.Exploring a range of 'archives' in different discourse registers, the articlesuggests that these dismissive responses could be seen to signify growing cultural anxieties about the imaginedfeminization of the self and the workplace. The article concludes by proposing that while therapeutic cultures are politically ambivalent, the significance of the resources and solace that they offer should not be ignored or trivialized. © 2008 The Author(s); Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/15777