Exploring queer lives in the steel industry
It’s not often we come across a piece of writing which challenges how we understand gender and sexuality in extractive industries. Most of what we read promotes the idea that gender is primarily a women’s “problem”, and that sexuality only affects gay people. There’s never enough focus on exploring diversity of genders and sexualities, or diversity of experiences. The debate about “women in mining”, for example all too often assumes that all women who work in mining are the same kind of woman, and that their workplace experiences and desires are all the same.
But now we think we have found a book that challenges us to think about gender and sexuality in masculinised workplaces in more complex and diverse ways.
Steel Closets (2014) explores the diversity of genders and desires among gay, lesbian, and transgender people who work in the steel industry in northwestern Indiana. It draws extensively on interviews with queer people who work in this industry, some of whom are open about their sexuality at work, others who choose to keep it secret. It discusses the discrimination and harassment these people face, but also explores the pleasures many of them find in their workplaces and with their non-queer colleagues. This book challenges not only what it means to be a normal employee in the steel industry, but also what it means to be a normal queer person.
The book covers topics such as gay men and masculinity, female masculinity, secrecy and openness, workplace dangers, and union representation for queer people. For those who are familiar with queer theory, it shows how we can use this particular academic theory to think about the experiences of queer people in an industry where queerness is not obvious or overt. For those who are not, it provides an easily understandable introduction to some of queer theory’s key concepts.
About a year ago, Factive was approached by a Brisbane-based consulting company to see if we were interested in partnering on the development of a training course to educate mining companies about GLBTQ issues. We were certainly interested in the issue, but definitely not the proposed work. We were concerned the proposed training course was being developed without adequate research, and that it was making too many assumptions about the needs of GLBTQ people who work in mining. Importantly, it assumed that all gay people needed to “come out” at work, and that this would somehow automatically bring an end to the discrimination they face. In our view, this oversimplifies what it means to be queer in otherwise highly heterosexualised and masculinised industries. It also promotes the idea that all queer lives are the same, which actually stifles effective diversity work.
Steel Closets offers an easy read for anybody who wants to explore gender and sexuality in extractive industries in more complex and diverse ways. It helps to move the reader beyond thinking about gender and sexuality in singular and simple terms. The stories of the workers are unique. Yet they also share a lot in common with other stories we have heard throughout our work in similar industries, like construction, mining, and oil & gas.
Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Steelworkers. By Anne Balay.
Factive: You discuss several times in the book how gay people in the steel industry often experience pleasures and dangers because of their refusal to be open about their sexuality. These include sex with co-workers and harassment at work. Why do you think we might find this position so hard to accept or approve of when looking at it from a gay liberationist context?
Balay: At some point, a particular way of being gay become dominant: white, urban, coastal, coming-out centered. And that’s all fine, but there are lots of other types of behavior that might still be called gay. They just became invisible because people got trained, kind of, to look for only this one type. I would like one message of my work to be that ALL queer and trans people need to be seen, heard, and have their lives and jobs respected. Progress like marriage equality is nice, but doesn’t reach down to the many workers who can’t access it because they will be fired if they come out.
Factive: Do you think the stories you tell and analyse are particularly North American in content? If so, how so?
Balay: I don’t know. I interviewed people in the US and Canada. Lots of steel gets made in China, India, Finland, Austria. I have no idea what it’s like there.
I think the fate of the industry, and its workers, is important. Often, industries or jobs are evaporating now, at the same moment that queer folks get access to them. They are being replaced with shitty, precarious, demeaning, part-time work, if at all. That struggle is disproportionately affecting queer folks because we’re often fired, marginalized, or unconsciously devalued.
Factive: What has been the response from people from inside the steel industry to this “outing” of a queer presence in their industry and workplaces?
Balay: Many steelworkers have contacted me, usually online, expressing happiness and gratitude. They typically give the book to family or partners as a way of describing what it’s like, and feeling less alone.