Flight Attendant Career and Social Class, Gender and Sexuality (Im)Mobilities

Abstract

Flight attendant careers are genuinely mobile and traditionally feminine, an unusual combination that produces and reproduces gender and sexuality stereotypes. They are also careers that, in the Brazilian context, allow financial rise with a little study, which makes possible the entry of lower-class people. The article discusses the limited freedom experienced by men in a historically female profession based on the hierarchized and gendered space of the airplane. Drawing on qualitative research, oriented by symbolic interactionism, we tell three life stories, using narrative analysis and ethnographic inspirations. The paper aims to analyze the intersections of social class, gender, and sexuality (im)mobilities in the career of these gay male flight attendants. The construction of different mobilities within aviation linked to such inequality social markers and the relationships between the intersections of social, geographical, gender, and sexuality mobility are outstanding contributions.