A PHOTO IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS: HOSTS UPSET BY THE NEW NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY OF MOVING BEYOND PHOTOS ON AIRBNB

In attempting to tackle the alleged digital discriminatory practices, Airbnb has established a series of non-discrimination policies, and the recent one was that guests’ photos will not be disclosed to hosts until they accept the booking requests from prospective guests. This new non-discrimination policy has sparked heated discussion among the hosts. This study sets out to explore the overlooked narratives of Airbnb hosts towards this recent non-discrimination policy. A total of 1,211 posts shared by numerous hosts were collected from the Airbnb community website. These posts were analyzed by undertaking a co-occurrence analysis to identify key concepts and the connections among these key concepts that revolved around the new non-discrimination policy. Nine key concepts, namely, home, safety, stranger, risk, hotel, third-party booking, trust, community, and discriminate, and their connections, were presented in a visual network generated via Gephi to show what concerned the hosts after Airbnb implementing this policy. This study also offers insights into why such a new policy that aimed at fighting against discrimination on Airbnb may put hosts at a disadvantaged position or vulnerable status. It also offers significant practical implications regarding the important roles played by photos on Airbnb.

Complacency and Controversy: Transgender Policy on Pitt's Campus

The University of Pittsburgh updated its Nondiscrimination Policy in 2008 to include "gender identity and expression." This article looks at the transgender policies of other universities in order to evaluate whether Pitt could be doing more to be an advocate for social equality.

Ambiguity, uncertainty, and othering : a queer phenomenology of the organizational socialization of sexuality

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Despite the many frames, metaphors, and lenses in the organizational communication discipline, we have yet to examine the lived experience of sexuality in the workplace. The experience of socializing to the sexual norms of professional workspaces has yet to be considered within the Communication Discipline. Through queer hermeneutic phenomenology, the present study explores the socialization of sexuality in the workplace across an array of sexual orientations and gender identities. How we are introduced to and make sense of sexuality at work was the primary thrust of this project. Interactive interviews resulted in a co-authoring of knowledge regarding discursive constructions of sexuality and sexual identity in the workplace. Results are reported in three parts: First, age, gender and location emerged as ironic and ambiguous stereotypes used to describe sexuality at work. These stereotypes function as discursive dividing lines among social groups within the workplace. Then, nondiscrimination policy surfaced as a tool for reducing and managing uncertainty about sexuality. Sexual and gender minorities were far more aware of the nature and parameters of workplace policies, compared to their hetertypical counterparts. Finally, discourses of family served as a point of meaning divergence resulting in an othering of LGBT, single, and otherwise queer organization members. Specifically, despite calls for diversity, discursive constructions of "family" remain largely heteronormative. Implications including the need to further interrogate nondiscrimination policy and develop more inclusive family discourses are provided.