Embodying wilfulness: Investigating the unequal power dynamics of informal organisational body work through the case of women in stand-up comedy

Abstract

Women who step into the spotlight may be burdened with managing their sexualised bodies, unlike men. This is true also in stand-up comedy, where more women than ever are entering the field. Investigating this unequally distributed body work, we use Sara Ahmed’s idea of the wilful subject to spot naturalised beliefs of women as unfunny who ‘will too much’. We do so through a qualitative study carried out with 26 professionals. We contribute by showing how ‘informal’ organisational body work, which comprises the purposeful efforts workers undertake on their and others’ bodies as part of informal role demands, is underpinned by diversity-related power dynamics. Anticipating how the burden of such ‘work’ does not fall equally on the shoulders of everyone is key in imagining more egalitarian futures of work. We demonstrate the embodied and political merits of wilfulness as an analytical tool focusing on the historically persistent labelling of women as wilful, a difficult-to-spot inequality, while taking into account how such wilfulness charges are mobilised by the target. Inspired by queering and cripping, we introduce the term ‘hagging’ to indicate women reclaiming positions of power and reappropriating their sexual objectification in male-dominated sexist environments.