Housework as Non-Normative Gender Display Among Lesbians and Gay Men

Abstract

I develop a theoretical extension of gender display through housework by incorporating a predicted aversion toward stereotypical gender displays with a tendency toward egalitarianism among lesbians and gay men. I hypothesized that women who express higher levels of stereotypically masculine traits would take on a smaller share of housework than women who express lower levels of masculinity, and that men with higher levels of stereotypically feminine traits would contribute a greater share of housework relative to men with lower levels of these traits, illustrating the display of non-normative gender. Among a sample of U.S. women (n = 116) and men (n = 128) in same-sex, co-residential relationships, the effect of stereotypically masculine traits on routine housework was negative and significant for women, but not men; the effect of stereotypically feminine traits was positive and significant for men, but not women, supporting both hypotheses. The findings provide preliminary evidence that those in same-sex relationships use routine housework for gender display, but only when expressing stereotypical, gendered traits not normatively associated with their sex. Overall, lesbians and gay men eschewed the normative alignment of sex, gender, and routine housework.