"Prejudice, and Pride: Stigma Avoidance versus Stigma Acceptance of Gay and Lesbian Auditors"

Abstract

Is it better to accept stigma or hide the reasons for which one can be negatively labeled? We answer this question by looking at how gay and lesbian employees make sense of their homosexuality in the highly normative context of audit firms. Most gay and lesbian auditors conceal this negatively perceived attribute, as they suspect it might hamper their career. However, this creates situation of unrest, which eventually interferes with their social integration, necessary to their professional prospects. We show how stigma acceptance might be preferable to stigma avoidance. We draw on a rich ethnographic material including participant observations and semi-structured interviews in French audit firms, benefitting in particular from the exogenous shock of a gay marriage bill. This study articulates the literatures on stigma and the sociology of audit to understand deviance and stigma acceptance in a gender dominated organizational environment. The study’s findings shed a new light on the consequence of specifically gendered profession, the cost of concealing stigmatized invisible identities, and gender hierarchies in organization.