What's in the closet: dress and appearance codes and lessons from sexual orientation

Purpose – Dress and appearance codes are often seen as trivial, both because they seem to fit within our notions of how people ought to behave, and because they appear to reflect legitimate employer concerns in running a business. But they are not constructed in a vacuum. They reflect and enshrine societal stereotypes and expectations of women and men and how they look – including assumptions about gender and sexuality and majoritarian norms. As such, they punish anyone who is an outlier by reason of gender, sexuality, race, religion, or culture. This paper seeks to identify the assumptions and effects on gender, sexuality, professionalism and class in appearance and behavior codes. Design/methodology/approach – This is a conceptual paper exploring US case law on dress codes and employee appearance standards to examine issues of gender and sexual orientation identity on the job. By combining insights from sexual orientation identity theories and visibility, the paper seeks to uncover some of the interactions and effects of these appearance policies on women and LGBT persons in the workplace. Findings – This paper shows that identity strategies and performances used by LGBT individuals and women in the workplace implicate sexuality and gender, but also professionalism and class. These dress and appearance codes carry with them consequences for both employers and employees. Practical implications – The paper highlights the gender, sexuality and identity performance burdens on women and sexual minorities workplace controls over dress and appearance. Originality/value – The paper discusses topics that are of interest to persons studying sexuality and gender identity issues in employment. It is based on an unpublished talk at the EDI conference in Vienna 2010.