“You Can’t Go to the Dance Because You Don’t Have a Male Role Model in Your Life”: Heteronormativity, Stigmatization, and Daddy-Daughter Dances

ABSTRACT

Gender-specific community and school events such as father-daughter dances are being challenged across the United States for stigmatizing diverse families. Taking the cue from communities that have problematized gender-specific events, the authors investigated the function and impact of these events and how excluded families perceived and responded to their stigmatization. The authors conducted archival media research and semi-structured interviews with parents and stakeholders. The archival research finds that gender-specific events produced formal and informal exclusion through a stigmatizing ideology of heteronormativity and gender stereotyping. The interview research finds the exclusion of children and families produced experiences of emotional distress, devaluation, and missed social opportunities. Parents challenged gender-specific events to disrupt heteronormative stigmatization for themselves and their communities and because they believed public institutions should practice inclusion. To our knowledge, this is the first empirical study on gender-specific community and school events in the United States. By bringing together stigma process and stigma management theories, the findings reveal the multifaceted harm gender-specific events can cause and suggest a need for policy changes to create more equitable school and community practices. This study reveals how communities can improve equity, as well children and families’ well-being, by adapting gender-specific events to be inclusive.

KEYWORDS:

• Community events
• father-daughter dance
• gender
• heteronormativity
• stigmatization

Acknowledgments

Thank you to the parents, community members, and school and public officials who shared their insights and experiences; Erika Ahart for their research support; and Corey Stevens for their review of and feedback on this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ezra Temko

Ezra Temko is an applied political sociologist and assistant professor at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. They conduct equity-oriented research with a focus on the change-making world of cultural politics, specifically with practical implications for changing symbolic politics, addressing structural power, and realizing social justice.

Emily Love

Emily Love a research assistant at Goshen Education Consulting, contributed to this research while completing her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Her research interests include social inequality, intersectionality, and structural violence.

Destiny Baxter

Destiny Baxter a caseworker at the Illinois Department of Human Services, contributed to this research while completing her undergraduate degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Their research interests include socioeconomic inequality, gender, and public policy.

Adam Loesch

Adam Loesch MA, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, contributed to this research while completing their graduate degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Their research interests include political sociology, media sociology, and big data.

Heidi Masching

Heidi Masching a research assistant at Goshen Education Consulting, contributed to this research while completing her graduate degree at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Her research interests include social movement theory and medical sociology.