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Anyone who has recently watched television or movies can tell you that transgender, gender nonbinary or gender expansive people are becoming more visible in these media. This trend reflects the reality that younger generations are increasingly identifying with more fluid and nonbinary gender and sexual identities and are progressively expressing those identities in a more flexible and changing manner (Herman et al., 2022; Wilson & Meyer, 2021). Unsurprisingly then, those individuals are also more visible at work, including in workplaces with employer-mandated dress codes. Indeed, in 2020 the US Supreme Court decided a case involving a transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who was fired because her employer, a funeral home, required her to conform to its gender-binary dress policy and wear clothing mandatory for people assigned male at birth, rather than appropriate for her female gender identity ( Bostock v. Clayton County, 2020).

However, as the description of Aimee Stephens's own experience illustrates, often these employer appearance codes are based on a binary and fixed conception of gender and gender identity and expression at odds with the increasing number of workers who do not identify within those rigid parameters. Moreover, even when an employee, like Aimee Stephens herself, could have fit within her employer's dress code, the improper application of that policy to her, or employer concerns about customer or co-worker discomfort with an employee's appearance under the policy may mean that a worker's identity and expression may still conflict with a workplace appearance code. For gender nonbinary or nonconforming individuals, these complications are magnified.

This chapter explores the practical problems and barriers that employer dress codes have on employees whose gender identity and/or presentation move beyond the traditional male/female binary. Using insights from queer theory, gender expansive employees serve to interrogate fundamental assumptions behind workplace dress policies and the formal and informal ways in which these policies are policed. The chapter will explore that discordance, examine possible employer resolutions, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those responses.

Dress and appearance codes are often seen as trivial, both because they seem to fit within our notions of how people ought to behave, and because they appear to reflect legitimate employer concerns in running a business. But they are not constructed in a vacuum. They reflect and enshrine societal stereotypes and expectations of women and men and how they look – including assumptions about gender and sexuality and majoritarian norms. As such, they punish anyone who is an outlier by reason of gender, sexuality, race, religion, or culture. This paper seeks to identify the assumptions and effects on gender, sexuality, professionalism and class in appearance and behavior codes.

This is a conceptual paper exploring US case law on dress codes and employee appearance standards to examine issues of gender and sexual orientation identity on the job. By combining insights from sexual orientation identity theories and visibility, the paper seeks to uncover some of the interactions and effects of these appearance policies on women and LGBT persons in the workplace.

This paper shows that identity strategies and performances used by LGBT individuals and women in the workplace implicate sexuality and gender, but also professionalism and class. These dress and appearance codes carry with them consequences for both employers and employees.

The paper highlights the gender, sexuality and identity performance burdens on women and sexual minorities workplace controls over dress and appearance.

The paper discusses topics that are of interest to persons studying sexuality and gender identity issues in employment. It is based on an unpublished talk at the EDI conference in Vienna 2010.

Borrowing from the literature on social cognition and schema theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine sexual orientation and sex discrimination, to critique and refine that doctrine, particularly when traditional gender roles are enforced in workplaces. The insights of cognitive schemas on lesbian and gay identity are employed to link models of judicial decision making and gender/sexual orientation.

Methodologically, the paper is located in the sociolegal tradition, but also uses case analysis to supplement and advance its thesis. Because US nondiscrimination law distinguishes between sexuality and gender discrimination, it provides a unique laboratory to critique not only American law, but the structure of nondiscrimination law generally.

Judges' and others' schemas of lesbian and gay men suggest explanations for the analytical confusion in nondiscrimination law. Additionally, the paper's specific findings both supplement and question aspects of extant models of judicial decision making and gender/sexuality.

Social cognition framework enables judges and commentators to reconceptualize facts and relevant doctrine in gender and sexual orientation discrimination cases and to critique some fundamental assumptions of nondiscrimination law. Further, because the paper bridges judicial decision making and gender/sexuality, researchers in those areas can use this analysis of a specific legal context to provide additional insights into how those models work and their underlying, hidden assumptions. This is a conference paper based on this author's work on schema theory and sexual orientation identity in nondiscrimination law.

Ms. Y is a MTF (male‐to‐female) woman. The purpose of the interview is to examine the problematics of leading a life that is perceived as different in the workplace and in private.

The paper discusses common problems faced by transsexuals at work.

Ms. Y divulges some personal and intimate thoughts, in particular her thoughts about dress codes, difficulties at work and becoming herself.

The interview comments highlight the lack in the pace of change and persistent attitudes towards transsexuals.

Organisations seek to manage and control the dress, appearance and behaviour of their employees for strategic corporate advantage but what are the far‐reaching implications of this for employers and employees? This paper aims to identify the explicit and implicit codes for appearance and behaviour imposed by management and co‐workers.

Adopting a case study approach using ethnographic methods, this research, conducted in a recruitment agency specialising in placing construction industry personnel, draws on data obtained from four in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with senior managers, a focus group with female employees and participant observation methods, and provides an intriguing insight into the grooming and packaging of female employees. Findings – Findings show this aesthetic and behavioural “packaging” of the female employees comes with consequences for client, employer and employee. The females cannot escape the aesthetic and sexualised image imposed upon them as management strategy and often have no choice but to “perform” for clients to manipulate situations for their own advantage.

Because of the research approach adopted and the relatively small sample size, generalizability is limited. It would be helpful to replicate the study in other settings.

The paper highlights the existence of official and unofficial controls over dress, appearance and behaviour and the pressure exerted on women in the workplace.

The purpose of the article is to examine the problems faced by transsexuals in the workplace, in particular to analyse whether the applicable anti‐discrimination laws in the United Kingdom are effective in preventing harassment of transsexuals in the workplace.

The paper discusses common problems faced by transsexuals at work, including dress codes.

There are few UK cases dealing with these issues and the law has so far not been effective at stopping discriminatory behaviour towards transsexuals in the workplace. A more supportive approach is required.

There are few, if any, articles that specifically look at the effect on transsexuals of dress codes, law and organisational change in this way.

This editorial introduces the papers within the special issue and outlines their contribution to the emerging and evolving study of sexuality and sexual orientation in organisation and management studies.

A review of some key themes within the literature on sexuality and sexual orientation is provided prior to drawing out key points within the submitted papers and considering how they contribute to this literature.

These six papers make an important contribution to the fast‐changing and evolving study of sexuality and sexual orientation in organisations and the development and implementation of equality and diversity policy and practice.

The editorial refers to papers presented at the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Conference held in Istanbul, July 2009, which included a stream entitled: “Spirals of silence? Tackling the ‘invisibility’ of the sexual orientation strand and sexuality in academic research and in organisation equality and diversity policy and practice” which can lead to reflections on the processes of voice and silence as these pertain to the discussion of sexuality and sexual orientation issues in academic organisations and at academic and practitioner conferences.