Queer Women’s Experiences Purchasing Clothing and Looking for Clothing Styles

LGBTQ Women’s Style(s)

Several scholars have explored how women in the LGBTQ community express their sexual and gender identity through appearances, and the different fashion styles and ideas of beauty with which they negotiate. In the mid-20th century, many lesbian women identified with the categorical phrases and the associated appearances of butch or femme, where butch-identified women appeared more masculine and femme-identified women appeared more feminine (Faderman, 1992). In a later study, Levitt and Hiestand (2004) found self-identifying butch women felt they could explore the butch style in a variety of ways. Levitt, Gerrish, and Hiestand (2003) further the findings that femme lesbians associate with traditional feminine appearances and styles such as makeup and long hair.

Several scholars have recently reported that lesbian styles are more fluid than in the mid-twentieth century (Clarke & Spence, 2013; Huxley, Clarke, & Halliwell, 2014; Reddy-Best & Pedersen, 2015). Huxley, Clarke, and Halliwell (2014) found their lesbian and bisexual participants felt their appearance and clothing styles were important to communicate their sexual identity and that they are less distinct due to the “perceived increase in social acceptance of sexual diversity” (p. 217). Similarly, Reddy-Best and Pedersen (2015) found some queer women in their sample reported a daily or sometimes hourly shift in the queer signifiers displayed on their bodies and through their fashion styles.

Hammidi and Kaiser (1999) conceptualized these fluid understandings of style in an earlier study, as they argued that beauty is something that one does “in everyday life” (p. 56). They explained that lesbian women engage in these conversations with beauty and that this process then “becomes a political and aesthetic act of visually negotiating these diverse cultural conversations” with “visual and verbal messages, individual acts and media images, dominant and lesbian looks, and so on” (p. 56). They challenged the traditional assumptions of beauty within this context that situates beauty as an “an image, a system, or a narrative” (p. 56).

LGBTQ Marketing and Media

A number of companies see the gay and lesbian community as a growing market with excessive buying power (WiG, 2012); however, as mentioned, many advertisers are reluctant to target queer individuals through mainstream advertising (Oakenfull & Greenlee, 2004). Many national gay and lesbian magazines and local newspapers do not include imagery of marginal sexualities due to the perceived risk of losing their mainstream advertising customers and readership subscriptions. Some advertising agencies explained that they would like to represent a diverse range of sexualities, but “their hands were tied by prudish others on whom they depended for business” (Oakenfull & Greenlee, 2004, p. 344).

Stabiner (1982) discussed this advertising “fear” in the New York Times article, “Tapping the Homosexual Market.” She explained, “like the still-closeted homosexual population—fearful of the ramifications of a public declaration, and unconvinced of the benefits—most providers of goods and services choose either to deny their interest or evade the issue altogether” (¶ 85). While she wrote that most advertisers or companies denied or evaded the topic, she discussed that some media can be interpreted within the lesbian and gay community as speaking to or targeting them through the concept of “gay window advertising” (¶ 63). She mentioned that lesbian women and gay men viewed some Calvin Klein and Paco Rabanne advertisements as having gay or lesbian subtexts. In a later work, Clark (1991) interpreted fashion advertisements in the mainstream magazines Elle and Mirabella using the concept of gay window advertising and claiming they had “dyke appeal” (p. 191).

Freitas, Kaiser, and Hammidi (1996) interpreted and critically analyzed the experiences and stories of lesbian and gay individuals’ style and “cultural space(s)” within the context of two categories: target market and subculture (p. 83). They explored the context of advertising, referencing Calvin Klein, IKEA, and also the unisex styles offered by The Gap. They also utilized the idea of “gay window advertising” (p. 186) as described by Clark (1991) to interpret the advertising spaces in which some companies subtly target lesbian and gay individuals, such as through “(homo)erotic imagery” (p. 90) in a Calvin Klein ad and the depiction of two stylish, White men in IKEA’s commercial.

Several researchers have studied reactions to LGBTQ imagery in the media. In Bhan, Leigh, and Wardlow’s (1996) study, the authors found that attitudes toward gay couples in the advertisements depended upon the individual’s attitudes toward homosexuals. Those who had a more positive attitude toward homosexuals were much more tolerant of advertisements with homosexual imagery than those who were not tolerant of homosexuality. Riggle, Ellis, and Crawford (1996) reported that individuals who were exposed to a documentary about a gay politician had a significant positive change in attitude toward homosexuals. Walters (1994) conducted a study by exposing children to lectures on homophobia and how lesbian and gay individuals are portrayed in the media. The author found a decrease in homophobia in those who were exposed to the information. Lewis (1997) analyzed lesbians’ reactions to mainstream and gay and lesbian lifestyle magazines, and noted that imagery in Diva created mixed and contested responses. Lewis explained that the overt lesbian imagery produced and consumed in Diva evoked less visual pleasure for lesbians as compared to the imagery in Vogue, where the viewing pleasure was heightened due to the thrill of constructing “an alternative narrative” (p. 96).

In a more recent study, authors found similar results to those studies conducted throughout the 1990s that showed positive portrayals of lesbians and gays in the media increased positive attitudes toward homosexuality (Bonds-Raacke, Cady, Schlegel, Harris, & Firebaugh, 2008). In another relatively recent study, Jackson (2009) explored how youth view lesbian women in the media. Participants indicated that “the ‘hot lesbians’ were designed for the male gaze and desire” (p. 219). They also “constructed the ‘hot lesbian’ as ‘unreal’ and as ‘performance’ rather than as identity” (p. 219).

Minority Stress in the LGBTQ Community

Many researchers studied sources of stress for the LGBTQ community and found that distress in this group is unique to their minority. These unique stressors have been defined as minority stress, which results from “culturally sanctioned, categorically ascribed inferior status, social prejudice and discrimination” (Brooks, 1981, p. 107). In an earlier study in 1987, Gillow and Davis found lesbian women feared exposure of sexuality in the workplace, which might lead to job loss or harassment by colleagues or employers. Within the same decade, Woodman (1989) found that fear of losing or actually losing friends or family members due to exposure of sexual identity also caused distress for some lesbian women. Lewis, Derlega, Bernett, Morris, and Rose (2001) found sources of distress for gay men and lesbian women included visibility, general discrimination, shame, or guilt about their sexual identity, and lack of acceptance. Those who experience an immense amount of minority stress are more likely to experience mental distress (Meyer, 2003). In a more recent study, Bowleg, Brooks, and Ritz (2008) revealed that most of their participants were comfortable being out at work. However, they reported still experiencing distress related to sexual identity due to the dominance of heterosexual conversation in the office. The changes in findings from Gillow and Davis (1987) and Bowleg et al.’s (2008) study reflect the perceived positive shift in acceptance of LGBT adults, which was found in the recent Pew Research Center (2013) study.

Mistreatment of the LGBTQ Community

Several scholars found that queer individuals experienced varying levels of mistreatment from subtle acts of heterosexism to overt hate crimes (Herek, 1989; Herek & Berrill, 1992; Roderick, McCammon, Long, & Allred, 1998). Hate crimes are “words or actions intended to harm or intimidate an individual” because they identify or belong to a minority group (Herek, 1989, p. 948). Hate crimes might include “violent assaults, murder, rape, and property crimes” (Herek, 1989, p. 948). Finn and McNeil (1987) found homosexuals were frequently victims of hate crimes due to sexual identity. Roderick, McCammon, Long, and Allred (1998) studied behavioral aspects of homonegativity and found that heterosexual women frequently or occasionally talked negatively about homosexuals, yelled insulting remarks, told anti-gay jokes, or physically moved away from homosexuals. Huebner, Rebchook, and Kegeles (2004) indicated that, since the 1970s, individuals in the queer community continued to experience everyday acts of heterosexism and discrimination. In a more recent study, Swim, Pearson, and Johnson (2007) found that subtle acts of heterosexism can range from verbal comments and poor service to exclusion. Heterosexism as a result of verbal comments may stem from everyday language, as suggested by Sedgwick (1990).

In her book Epistemology of the Closet, Sedgwick (1990) discussed the binary oppositions that are created by different speech acts and how this type of language normalizes the binary oppositions, which leads to an oppressive state for individuals who are within those categories. The speech acts Sedgwick refers to are the homosexual and heterosexual notions of sexual orientation. She proposed that our language creates an oppressive state because the terms homosexual and heterosexual signify that there are only two categories; however, there is a continuum of identity categories available.

Justification and Research Questions

Researchers have conducted extensive studies related to mistreatment of and negative stress of the LGBQ community (Bowleg, Brooks, & Ritz, 2008; Finn & McNeil, 1987; Herek, 1989; Herek & Berrill, 1992; Huebner, Rebchook, & Kegeles, 2004; Roderick et al., 1998; Sedgwick, 1990). Findings from those studies revealed several negative stressors that individuals in the LGBQ community experience (Gillow & Davis, 1987; Lewis et al., 2001; Swim, Pearson, & Johnson, 2007; Woodman, 1989); however, scholars rarely asked questions about minority distress, mistreatment, or discrimination related to in-store shopping experiences (as opposed to online shopping). Several scholars have investigated lesbian, bisexual, and queer women’s styles (Clarke & Spence, 2013; Huxley et al., 2014; Reddy-Best & Pedersen, 2015), yet the literature is limited in research questions related to viewing queer imagery in the media by queer women. It is important to investigate these experiences, because heterosexism can cause distress and affect an individual’s mental well-being (Swim et al., 2007). We sought to understand these experiences and discuss possible implications for the fashion industry. The following research questions guided our study: (a) Where do queer women look for fashion style inspiration? (b) What are queer women’s experiences with shopping in brick-and-mortar stores for clothing and accessories? (c) Do queer women experience minority distress or discrimination while shopping or looking for fashion style inspiration?

Method

Purposive sampling was used; participants were recruited by posting flyers on billboards and by word of mouth. Participants were individuals who identify as both female and queer. To be eligible to participate in the study, individuals needed to be open about their sexual identity with their family, friends, and people at their workplace. Participants were 32 women whose ages range from 18 to 35 and who live in Colorado, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, New York, or California. All women identified as White except for two who identified as mixed race. Fourteen participants were undergraduate students, 14 were employed full-time, 2 were unemployed, and 2 were graduate students.

The research process began with semistructured, in-depth interviews conducted by one of the authors with approval from the Institutional Review Board for research with human subjects. ² Each participant also completed two follow-up interviews. The interviews were conducted individually with each participant. If the participant was within a 30-min drive from the researcher’s location, then the interview was conducted at the participant’s home. If they lived farther than 30 min, the interview took place over Skype. In this study, seven participants completed the interviews face-to-face, and the remaining took place over Skype.

The initial interviews lasted between 50 min and 100 min. In the first interview, the participants were asked questions related to where they look for clothing ideas, where and in what types of stores they generally liked to shop, their past shopping experiences, and if they felt any distress or discrimination during these experiences. To ensure reliability, an interview guide with 36 different questions was followed. Flexibility was allowed during the interview; however, if the discussion got off track, phrases such as “I’d like to talk more about ____” were used to get back on topic.

During the initial interview, short memos were written, as the participant talked about her experiences. The follow-up interviews were completed between 7 and 10 days after the initial interview depending upon the interviewee’s availability. These interviews lasted between 10 and 45 min. In the follow-up interviews, the participants were asked if they saw any queer imagery in advertising within that time period, if they went shopping, and about their feelings and experiences related to both of these topics. The interviews were audio-recorded and reviewed throughout the process until major themes emerged. Additionally, responses that needed clarification were noted. The follow-up interviews allowed for “member checking,” which entails checking the results with the participants to see if any major ideas were missing or overemphasized based on the initial analysis (Creswell, 2007). All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The interviews were conducted until saturation was reached (Hesse-Biber & Leavy, 2006).

Analysis of the data, conducted by the first author, occurred in tandem with the interviews. Notes on themes were written during and directly following each interview. The interviews were coded and analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding (Creswell, 2007). The researcher conducting the analysis was open during the coding process to any unanticipated results that emerged from the data. During open coding, data were examined and the themes were condensed “into preliminary analytic categories or codes” (Creswell, 2007, p. 461). At this stage, a codebook was developed with descriptive definitions of each category. These categories were refined as they were grouped into themes. During axial coding, the codes were organized and linked and “key analytic categories” were identified (p. 462). During selective coding, the researchers examined “previous codes to identify and select data that will support the conceptual coding categories that were developed” (p. 464). The analysis stage was cyclical; there was a continual back-and-forth process between the data, categories, and themes. The data were reviewed and interpreted until four larger themes were defined from the 45 categories developed during the initial coding stage (Spiggle, 1994).

Emergent Themes

Four themes surfaced as the participants discussed their shopping experiences and their experiences looking for styles: (a) awareness of or attention to queer styles, (b) frustration with or feelings of alienation with the current apparel marketplace and media, (c) minority distress or subtle acts of heterosexism related to queer visibility and crossing gender boundaries, and (d) interest in an LGBTQ-friendly shopping environment.

Minority Distress or Subtle Acts of Heterosexism Resulting From Queer Visibility and Crossing Gender Boundaries

Two thirds of the participants (n = 24) said that they experienced distress when shopping. Shopping for clothing can cause distress for many women, and the participants in our study experienced some of the typical stressors of shopping such as negative body image and unavailability of styles. However, these same women experienced additional distress when deviating from traditional gender norms including shopping for themselves in the men’s section, asking for different men’s sizes, and finding unavailable styles. Eight participants stated they rarely, if ever, felt distress when shopping, and if they did it was not memorable or it did not have an impact on their shopping experiences.

Shopping or asking for a different size in the men’s section resulted in distress for 8 of the 18 participants who shopped in this section. Quinn predominantly shops in the men’s section, and her high level of distress when shopping on the men’s side alters her shopping behaviors. When in the men’s section, Quinn is nervous the men in the section are judging her. She explained she gets “really hot and sweaty and especially when other guys are around.” The fitting rooms are also a major source of distress for Quinn. To avoid awkward moments with sales associates or negative comments, she usually tries on the garments she wants to purchase outside of the fitting room in a corner of the store. When asked if this makes her uncomfortable she said, “all the time,” and when asked if she wore specific outfits in which to go shopping she promptly replied, “Yea, I usually wear a lightweight shirt and a jacket on top.” Kelsey described a recent shopping scenario where she attempted to shop in the men’s section but felt too embarrassed to try on or buy men’s clothing. She said,

I attempted to find baggy jeans. I didn’t know I was really too nervous to ask anybody to help me. The sizing was difficult, and I didn’t know about it. I was really worried I was going to be judged when asking for it.

A few of the participants (n = 7) explained that when shopping in thrift stores they did not feel as much distress because the distinction of sections was not as concrete as in corporate or mainstream stores. The blurred lines of the gendered sections in these types of stores eased the tension for some women when entering the men’s sections, and it allowed for some enjoyment during shopping.

One fourth of the participants (n = 9) experienced subtle acts of heterosexism related to their gender or sexuality when shopping. The experiences ranged from salespeople assuming the women were shopping in the wrong section and questioning of garment choices to feelings of mistreatment and poor customer service. About two thirds of the participants (n = 23) stated they had never felt mistreated either overtly or subtly while shopping. When shopping in the men’s department, eight participants experienced the salesperson telling them they were in the wrong section or that they had made a mistake and had picked up men’s garments. Scarlett explained how she was often corrected when holding men’s garments or shopping in the men’s section. Additionally, since she has a masculine look, she has also been corrected in the women’s sections, where people told her she was in the wrong area. Scarlett said she often feels treated differently than other customers in the store and that her service is frequently accompanied by a negative attitude. After explaining her experiences shopping, she exclaimed, “I can’t win!” Participants experienced other subtle acts of heterosexism such as long stares by other shoppers and being neglected by sales staff. Alexa said, “Sometimes salespeople will throw you shifty glares because you are holding hands with your partner in a store and they can act weird.” A few participants (n = 2) were not offered shopping assistance or received extremely poor customer service compared to other shoppers in the store. Quinn described that several times when she was in a fitting room, sales associates would knock on the other dressing room doors and skip her. She remembered two stores where sales associates did this to her, and said she reacted by saying, “I don’t want their help anyway.” Riley also frequently felt mistreated while shopping. When asked if she ever felt as though she was treated differently, she seemed incredulous that I even asked the question. She could not remember any specific stories to tell but stated if she was “looking particularly dyke-y,” then she knew she would be treated differently than the other customers.

Interest in an LGBTQ-Friendly Shopping Environment

Some shopping experiences were extremely positive for participants when they felt as though the salespeople were not judging their sexual orientation or choice of gendered clothing. When asked if they had any positive, memorable shopping experiences, a few participants recalled some instances. Four participants had positive shopping experiences because they had extremely helpful salespeople who did not judge them for shopping in the men’s section or they felt that the store was openly supporting the queer community. Alexa had an extremely positive experience when shopping for lingerie with her partner. She remembered that the sales associate asked how long she and her partner had been together and that the associate was “not weirded out by anything.” Alexa was intimidated at first when going to this lingerie store with her girlfriend because “that’s the first place where people would be judging,” though when she left she did not feel judged, but rather comfortable and excited. The positive experience made her want to tell other queer individuals about the store. She commented, “These people would take anyone as they are and treat you like a person.” This statement highlights that Alexa often feels marginalized when shopping in other stores that do not recognize her or her partner. The recognition and validation of herself as an ordinary customer made her feel as though she was accepted for her differences in sexuality.

Avery stated that her best shopping experience was when she was shopping in the men’s section and the salesperson did not flinch when she wanted men’s jeans. This made Avery comfortable and excited, a feeling she often does not have when searching for new garments. Kayden attributed her positive shopping experience for clothing to the music that was playing in the store. She explained she heard Macklemore, a music artist known for advocating for queer rights, playing in the store while she was browsing. Hearing this music reaffirmed to her that the store was “queer-friendly” and a safe place to let others know that she identified as queer.

After asking the participants about their past shopping experiences, we asked two questions about the likelihood of them shopping in stores that openly support the LGBTQ community and if they would be more likely to shop in a store that does not separate by gender. The majority (n = 30) of the sample stated they would be more likely to shop in a store that openly and actively supports the LGBTQ community. Melissa immediately responded with “Absolutely.” She previously mentioned that she shopped in stores that supported homeless youth and would be sincerely interested in shopping in a store that supported the LGBTQ community. Only one participant stated she might be interested, and one participant stated they would not necessarily shop in a store that did support the LGBTQ community. The participant who indicated they would not be interested was a plus-size participant who explained she thought they would not have her size.

When asked if the participants would be more likely to shop in a store that does not separate by gender but by body size and lifestyle, 28 said yes without hesitation, 2 participants said maybe, and 2 said no. Kayla responded, “I think that would be awesome. Yea, I think that would be really awesome.” Scarlett responded with an extremely positive attitude by stating, “Oh, that would be awesome. That would be so awesome. I just can’t even imagine. It is like what heaven will be like. Not to pick your gender to buy your shirt. YEA!” At the end of the interviews, 17 of the 28 participants who said yes asked the researchers if they were planning to start this company or line of clothing, or they told us we should open this company. For example, Micah stated with a large smile, “You better e-mail me if you get a clothing line started.”

Discussion

Twenty-one participants in this study often looked to other queer individuals or queer publications for style ideas. If the participants looked in fashion magazines or blogs, they often looked in alternative media that might feature queer or androgynous women. Almost half of the women (n = 14) felt frustrated or ostracized by the fashion industry due to the lack of queer advertisements, yet explained they were not surprised because many minority groups are often excluded from media. Eleven participants in our study stated they would be excited or would react positively toward queerness in advertisements. While this finding is not surprising, it does suggest that queer women who look for fashion styles would appreciate having representation and more style icons in the media. Similar to the participants in Jackson’s (2009) study, some of our participants felt lesbian imagery was designed for the male gaze. They felt that queer imagery in high-fashion magazines resonated with queer women; however, they believed it was not directed toward them. Sender (2003) researched queer imagery in advertisements and found most magazines and media are not interested in running queer advertisements due to the perceived risk of losing the dominant heterosexual market. Participants in our sample were aware of the lack of overt queer advertisements and were not surprised. This absence of overt queer-centered imagery may have led some of these women to new ways of interpreting these cultural contexts. Some participants’ interpretations or re-interpretations of high-fashion magazine imagery as exhibiting queer connotations further supports the idea of gay window advertising that was previously utilized by Stabiner (1982), Clark (1991), and Freitas et al. (1996). Similar to the women in Lewis’ (1997) study, they created “an alternative narrative” (p. 96) for these images with queer subtleties that heightened their positive response toward this type of imagery in mainstream media.

In this process of engaging with lesbian aesthetics through these different outlets (both mainstream and alternative spaces), the women are challenging the dominant beauty assumptions and are entering into political conversations in regards to the fluidity of beauty that Hammidi and Kaiser (1999) discussed. These subversions challenge the fixed ideas of beauty as “an image, a system, or a narrative” and open up conversations about different ways of “doing” beauty (Hammidi & Kaiser, 1999, p. 56) in contrast to a static existence of beauty. These queer women are continuing to reclaim, reprocess, and decenter beauty as Hammidi and Kaiser had suggested through “lesbian styling” (p. 55) and the negotiations with visual discourses present in the media.

The binary oppositions present in our language that Sedgwick (1990) discussed are translated in the clothing product categories available in stores. Sedgwick explained that the categories used in language create an oppressive state for individuals who deviate from the normalized language. Many participants in this study feel as though they are limited by the selections in the women’s section of the store, and they feel distress when moving into another section such as the men’s or boy’s sections. Not surprisingly, distress related to sexual orientation was most often related to shopping for or trying on men’s garments. Over the course of this research, one of the first things we came to understand was that many of these women have had negative shopping experiences because many stores employ sales associates who are trained to target people based on appearance and traditional gender roles. Because of their training, these associates are often inclined to direct customer interest toward socially normative gendered clothing. Thrift, vintage, and consignment stores served as spaces where some distress over shopping in gendered sections was lessened.

Queer individuals experience a wide range of distress that is related to and not related to their sexual orientation. In addition to the common distress of shopping experiences that individuals may feel regardless of their sexual orientation, some queer individuals experience minority distress (Brooks, 1981) that is unique to them identifying as queer. The results from our research further Lewis et al.’s (2001) findings that some queer individuals experience unique distress, or negative responses to stress; in their study, they found visibility and lack of acceptance caused distress. Our study builds upon this in that queer women experience distress from their sexual orientation while looking for clothing styles or shopping for apparel, and the process of queer women looking for clothing styles and fashion ideas was affected by the dominant heteronormative society. Similar to many other marginalized groups, close to half of the women (n = 14) felt ostracized by the fashion industry due to the lack of queer imagery in advertisements and the lack of queer representation in media. While many women shopped in mainstream stores, these types of stores caused distress for one quarter of the women (n = 8) who were told by the sales associates that they were shopping in the wrong department. For some women, the experiences of being treated differently were “normal” and did not affect them emotionally because they were part of their everyday life. For others, these feelings of difference caused heightened distress and affected their behaviors.

Implications

Our findings help with understanding queer women’s fashion-acquisition experiences and the minority stressors faced during these activities. Our work has led to the identification of areas in which the fashion industry can create a more inclusive and equitable environment for queer individuals.

The gendered labels attached to clothing are an obvious example of a social apparatus that maintains and supports the gender binary system. Almost all of the participants (n = 28) indicated that they would shop at or would be interested in shopping at a store that did not separate by gender. One participant stated a nongendered store would relieve her distress about shopping and would make shopping enjoyable. Some companies such as Saint Harridan have attempted to address the issue of the gender binary present in our society. Saint Harridan creates suits and suit coordinates without defining “garment gender.” Encouraging companies to design non-gendered clothing would create more clothing options for those who push the boundaries of the gender binary system and help reduce distress surrounding their shopping experiences.

Based on our findings, we see that there is also a need to change store environments in order to promote a more inclusive atmosphere for diverse consumer markets. One fourth of the participants (n = 8) experienced minority distress when shopping due to their sexual orientation and choice of gendered clothing. Sales associates often told the participants that they were in the wrong section or they were blatantly denied assistance on the selling floor and in the fitting rooms. To address these problems, companies should provide diversity training during the hiring process and offer periodic training seminars to promote equality. Additionally, instead of training sales employees to target based on appearance and their assumptions of traditional gender roles, sales associates can be trained to first inquire, “How may I help you?” Some store types including thrift, vintage, or consignment stores in addition to other specialty brands such as The Gap have nongendered fitting room areas; however, this is not typical of all department or mass merchandisers. Instituting nongendered fitting rooms is another step employers can make toward creating an inclusive environment for people of all genders.

Many of the women (n = 23) in this study did not remember having ever seen a fashion advertisement that targeted or featured queer individuals. These individuals stated that they knew this was true for many minority groups, but it still made many of them (n = 14) feel ostracized from the fashion industry. Including more same-sex couples in advertising or queer imagery in marketing is one way to reduce these negative feelings for queer individuals. Retailers who may be interested in capturing LGBTQ attention through marketing would be well advised to find subtle ways in advertising to communicate to the LGBTQ community while maintaining loyalty to the dominant (heterosexual) market (Negrin, 2008).

Thirty participants indicated that they would be more likely to support a store that openly and actively supported the queer community. They enthusiastically endorsed this idea. Therefore, companies that make public statements or dedicate space on their websites to demonstrating support for the LGBTQ community would be more successful in marketing to these participants and their allies.

Limitations

There were several limitations to this study. One limitation is that the majority of the participants were college students, White, and under the age of 35. In future studies, it would be valuable to explore similar experiences of queer women of color and queer women over 35. The use of one data collection technique is also a limitation. Utilizing other techniques such as participant observation during shopping would yield richer data. The study was also limited to individuals who identified as queer. Recruiting participants who identified as queer was another limitation to the study. As Sedgwick (1990) discussed, there is a continuum of sexual identities on the heterosexual/homosexual spectrum. Recruiting participants who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or pansexual may produce different results and should be explored. Finally, in this article, we do not fully explore the findings from a theoretical perspective. In a future article, we will critically analyze the data in relation to queer theory, social psychological theories, and/or feminist theories.