Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2019

Working Closets: Mapping Queer Professional Discourses and Why Professional Communication Studies Need Queer Rhetorics

Matthew B. Cox East Carolina University

Abstract

This article examines the importance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rhetorical approaches in professional communication theory, introducing the theory of working closets as central to understanding how LGBT professionals navigate and succeed. The author presents case studies of LGBT professionals at the headquarters of a national discount retail company as examples of working closets and asks what the implications are for professional communication studies. He also looks at the need to learn from and through queer rhetorics, cultural rhetorics, and social justice frameworks, especially given the cultural turn of professional communication studies in the early 21st century.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2019-01-01
DOI
10.1177/1050651918798691
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism cultural rhetorics professional writing race and writing gender and writing
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (22)

  1. Tham (2026)
    Exploring the Rhetorical and Agentive Functions of Scholarly Biosketches in Aca…
    Rhetoric Review
  2. Gray (2026)
    The Utility of Inclusivity: How Emoji Proposal Writers Navigate Oppositional In…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Jordan et al. (2025)
    Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Tijerina (2025)
    A Case for Open Educational Resources in Technical and Professional Communicati…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  5. Randazzo (2024)
    The Exclusionary Potential of “Professionalism” in Hiring Situations
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 22 →
  1. Carradini (2024)
    On the Current Moment in AI: Introduction to Special Issue on Effects of Artifi…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  2. Hunter (2024)
    Toward TPC-UX: UX Topics in TPC Journals 2013–2022
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Moeggenberg et al. (2022)
    Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Buyserie (2022)
    Reading Yourself Queer Later in Life: Bisexual Literacies, Temporal Fluidity, …
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  5. Bay (2022)
    Fostering Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Technical and Professional Co…
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. Agboka et al. (2022)
    The Role of Technical Communicators in Confronting Injustice—Everywhere
    IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  7. Itchuaqiyaq et al. (2022)
    Sex Work and Professional Risk Communication: Keeping Safe on the Streets
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  8. Agboka et al. (2022)
    Curricular Efforts in Technical Communication After the Social Justice Turn
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Green (2021)
    Resistance as Participation: Queer Theory’s Applications for HIV Health Technol…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Green (2021)
    Risking Disclosure: Unruly Rhetorics and Queer(ing) HIV Risk Communication on Grindr
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. Russell (2020)
    Metaphor 2: Crossing: Retreading, Non-ing, and a TPC Rationale for Sub-discipli…
    College English
  12. Jones (2020)
    Metaphor 3: Transforming: Coalitional Learning in the Contact Zones: Inclusion …
    College English
  13. Bartolotta (2019)
    Usability testing for oppression
    Communication Design Quarterly
  14. Edenfield et al. (2019)
    Always Already Geopolitical: Trans Health Care and Global Tactical Technical Co…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  15. Edenfield (2019)
    Queering consent: design and sexual consent messaging
    Communication Design Quarterly
  16. Edenfield et al. (2019)
    Queering Tactical Technical Communication: DIY HRT
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  17. Sánchez (2019)
    Trans Students’ Right to Their Own Gender in Professional Communication Courses…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication

References (44) · 17 in this index

  1. Agboka (2013)
    Participatory Localization: A Social Justice Approach to Navigating Unenfranchi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. 10.1632/S003081290005937X
     ↗
  3. Butler J. (1990)
    Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity
  4. Butler J. (2006)
    Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader
  5. Cain R. (1991)
    Social Work
Show all 44 →
  1. Cox M. B., Faris M. J. (2015). An annotated bibliography of LGBTQ rhetorics. Present Tense, 4. Retrieved from…
  2. Cultural Rhetorics Theory Lab (2011)
    The Cultural Rhetorics Startup Guide
  3. Evia et al. (2012)
    Beyond Compliance: Participatory Translation of Safety Communication for Latino…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  4. Faber (2002)
    Professional Identities: What Is Professional about Professional Communication?
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  5. Foucault M. (1977)
    Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison
  6. Fox (2007)
    Texts of our Institutional Lives: From Transaction to Transformation: (En)Count…
    College English
  7. Frost E. A. (2015)
    Programmatic Perspectives
  8. Frost (2016)
    Apparent Feminism as a Methodology for Technical Communication and Rhetoric
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  9. Grabill (2000)
    Shaping local HIV/AIDS services policy through activist research: The problem o…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  10. Grabill et al. (1998)
    Toward a critical rhetoric of risk communication: Producing citizens and the ro…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. Haas (2012)
    Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: A Case Study of Decolonial Technical Communicat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  12. Hart G. (2006)
    Critical power tools: Technical communication and cultural studies
  13. 10.2307/378107
     ↗
  14. Herrick (1999)
    “And Then She Said”: Office Stories and What They Tell Us about Gender in the W…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  15. Hewlett S. A. (2011)
    The power of “OUT”: LGBT in the workplace
  16. 10.1080/135457097338717
     ↗
  17. King T. (2003)
    The truth about stories: A native narrative
  18. Lather P. (1997)
    Troubling the angels: Women living with HIV/AIDS
  19. Manthey K. (2015)
    Journal of Global Literacies, Technologies, and Emerging Pedagogies
  20. Moeller (2015)
    Pushing boundaries of normalcy: employing critical disability studies in analyz…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  21. 10.1177/1066480701092011
     ↗
  22. Moss B. J. (1992)
    Methods and methodology in composition research
  23. North Carolina General Assembly. DRH40005-TC-1B. Second Extra Sess. 2016. (2016). Obergefell v. Hodges, No. 1…
  24. Palmeri (2006)
    Disability Studies, Cultural Analysis, and the Critical Practice of Technical C…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  25. Pimentel et al. (2012)
    The Double Occupancy of Hispanics: Counting Race and Ethnicity in the U.S. Census
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  26. Ridolfo J. (2009)
    Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy
  27. Rohrer-Vanzo et al. (2016)
    Technical Communication in Assembly Instructions: An Empirical Study to Bridge …
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  28. Scott J. B. (2003)
    Risky rhetoric: AIDS and the cultural practices of HIV testing
  29. Scott (2004)
    Tracking Rapid HIV Testing Through the Cultural Circuit: Implications for Techn…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  30. Scott J. B. (2006)
    Critical power tools: Technical communication and cultural studies
  31. Sedgwick Kosofsky E. (1990)
    Epistemology of the Closet
  32. Sun (2006)
    The Triumph of Users: Achieving Cultural Usability Goals With User Localization
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  33. 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1999.01108.x
     ↗
  34. 10.1086/661653
     ↗
  35. Weber L. (2001)
    Understanding race, class, gender, and sexuality: A conceptual framework
  36. 10.4324/9780203930328
     ↗
  37. Williams (2012)
    Reimagining NASA: A Cultural and Visual Analysis of the U.S. Space Program
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  38. Williams et al. (2012)
    Introduction: Race, Ethnicity, and Technical Communication
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  39. 10.4324/9781315232584
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 36 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related Articles

  1. Pedagogy Oct 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy advanced composition creative writing writing across the curriculum graduate education two-year college service learning teacher development technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions archival research multimodality artificial intelligence literacy studies race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  2. Pedagogy Apr 2025
    Contributors ↗
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism african american rhetorics cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy basic writing graduate education two-year college teacher development writing centers technical communication professional writing labor and working conditions digital rhetoric multimodality social media literacy studies race and writing gender and writing community literacy literary studies editorial matter
  3. Pedagogy Jan 2024
    The Radical Role of Student Writing in Composition ↗
    Jessica Masterson
    modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis cultural rhetorics first-year composition writing pedagogy graduate education teacher development argument collaborative writing professional writing grammar and mechanics literacy studies race and writing gender and writing
  4. Pedagogy Jan 2025
    Contributors ↗
    rhetorical criticism graduate education teacher development professional writing archival research race and writing gender and writing disability studies literary studies editorial matter
  5. Rhetoric & Public Affairs Jun 2024
    Rhetorical Leadership ↗
    Catherine L. Langford
    rhetorical criticism genre theory discourse analysis feminist rhetorics cultural rhetorics decolonial rhetorics graduate education argument empirical research qualitative research race and writing gender and writing disability studies public rhetoric affect and writing body and rhetoric editorial matter