Downey, G. (2000). Running somewhere between men and women: Gender in the construction of the telegraph messenger boy. Knowledge and Society, 12, 129-152.
Project: Embodied knowledge workers
Keywords: gender, feminization, work, messenger boys, telegraphy, new york
Format: Journal article (?)
Abstract: None
Key points: Downey explores the place held by telegraph messenger boys as being functionally somewhere between men and women. He details the tasks they performed which would be viewed as of the woman's sphere, while providing the heroic depictions and myths of job advancement as masculine counterpoint. Attention is also given to the relationship between telegraph messenger boys and the vice industries (prostitution, gambling, alcohol-selling). The idealized place of messenger boys as apprentices to the manly business industry is troubled. Downey also covers the changing profile of messenger, from teen boys, to elderly men, back to boys, and finally to girls at the onset of WWI. Downey's explanation around the relationship between messenger boys and vice focuses on the public perceptions of women as corruptors of the boys' moral masculinity.
Key concepts: gendered work, women as corruptors, the fallible human face of the information industry, corporate abuse of young workers, public morality, legislating good business practices
Entities: Western Union, ADT, United States government, New York state government, messenger boys, telegraph company management, prostitutes, police officers, saloon patrons, housewives, business men
Date this entry was written: 1/August/2012
Project: Embodied knowledge workers
Keywords: gender, feminization, work, messenger boys, telegraphy, new york
Format: Journal article (?)
Abstract: None
Key points: Downey explores the place held by telegraph messenger boys as being functionally somewhere between men and women. He details the tasks they performed which would be viewed as of the woman's sphere, while providing the heroic depictions and myths of job advancement as masculine counterpoint. Attention is also given to the relationship between telegraph messenger boys and the vice industries (prostitution, gambling, alcohol-selling). The idealized place of messenger boys as apprentices to the manly business industry is troubled. Downey also covers the changing profile of messenger, from teen boys, to elderly men, back to boys, and finally to girls at the onset of WWI. Downey's explanation around the relationship between messenger boys and vice focuses on the public perceptions of women as corruptors of the boys' moral masculinity.
Key concepts: gendered work, women as corruptors, the fallible human face of the information industry, corporate abuse of young workers, public morality, legislating good business practices
Entities: Western Union, ADT, United States government, New York state government, messenger boys, telegraph company management, prostitutes, police officers, saloon patrons, housewives, business men
Date this entry was written: 1/August/2012