Manhood Up in the Air: A Study of Male Flight Attendants, Queerness, and Corporate Capitalism

“Coffee, tea, or me?”1 Thanks to the “uninhibited memoirs ” of flight attendants Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones, many Americans by the late 1960s were in on the joke. Air stewardesses by that time had the reputation of providing more than just beverage service; they had also become highly coveted—and allegedly available—beauty queens. Their youth, thinness, and feminine charm, not to mention their jet-setting lifestyle that suggested opulence and exoticism, all accentuated their sex appeal. Further encouraged by racy ad campaigns showcasing female bodies and slogans such as “Fly Me, ” many male customers boarding planes naturally expected to be greeted with a rousing display of feminine bravado.2 What customers got was often quite a bit different: a gentlemanly greeting from a man, professionally dressed in a suit, yet just as willing as his female colleagues to pour coffee and pass out pillows. By 1972 the female flight attendant had new male companions, who had just won the right to enter (or, better said, re-enter)3 this heavily female workforce. A Supreme Court 1 This commonly-heard joke about flight attendants also is the title of the sexually risqué memoirs of two fligh