Big yellow sanctuary: cross-dressing, gender, and performance in self-storage in the UK

Abstract

Finding safe spaces to perform one’s identity is a widely acknowledged issue for individuals who cross-dress because it remains a taboo practice in much of society. It is therefore often kept a ‘closeted’ secret from family, friends, and colleagues. Prior work in other contexts has shown that domestic materiality underwrites identity work, and through their careful display and arrangement possessions can reconcile fractured selves. However, whilst home is a key site for the (re)construction of self, it is not necessarily a safe, private and autonomous haven for all of its occupants. This paper builds on the concepts of identity management and home-making, by focusing on the ways self-storage acts as a quasi-domestic space in which to safely store, conserve and try on material aspects of self which are ‘out of place’ in the user’s domestic life. Drawing on an in-depth, object elicited interview with a cross-dressing man, this paper argues that self-storage is a place of transformation and performative potential, a sanctuary in which to be or become somebody else. Furthermore, it uses the example of cross-dressing to scrutinise and subvert the conceptualisation of ‘man caves’.

Keywords:

• Closet
• cross-dressing
• gender
• man cave
• performance
• sanctuary

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my two PhD supervisors, Jon Anderson and Mark Jayne, who commented on this work in an earlier format. Thanks must also go to Ruth Potts for the sage publishing advice, Amy Walker for the helpful suggestions, and both for their words of encouragement. I am also grateful for the three anonymous reviewers’ thoughtful comments to improve this article. Special thanks are extended in particular to Chris, who bravely let me into the intimate workings of his life.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) under Grant ES/J500197/1.

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Owen

Jennifer Owen recently completed her PhD in Human Geography at Cardiff University, and will be beginning an ESRC postdoctoral fellowship in October. Her PhD research examined what the growth of the self-storage industry in the UK can tell us about our modern material lives. More broadly, Jennifer’s research interests lie between everyday geographies of home, material culture, mobility and life course, consumption, and emotion.