Journal of Business and Technical Communication Oct 2022

Trans Oppression Through Technical Rhetorics: A Queer Phenomenological Analysis of Institutional Documents

Zarah C. Moeggenberg Metropolitan State University ; Avery C. Edenfield Utah State University ; Steve Holmes Texas Tech University

Abstract

Technical communication has long acknowledged that documents can be unethical and even oppressive and harmful. But not all forms or experiences of oppression are equivalent or similar, and it can be instrumental to analyze in particular how certain groups are wounded by specific documents. In this article, the authors use Ahmed's queer phenomenology to analyze institutional and government documents and demonstrate the ways that these technical documents create failed orientations. Then, through a focused analysis of a federal proposal policy, they show how these documents can produce failures for trans people in particular. The authors close by suggesting courses of actions for redressing these failures.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2022-10-01
DOI
10.1177/10506519221105492
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export
BibTeX RIS

Citation context

Cited by in this index (7)

  1. Reifman (2026)
    Categorizing Human Identity in Writing Research: A Case for Participant Self-Id…
    Written Communication
  2. Jordan (2026)
    Terms of Service and Community Guidelines as “Value-Laden” Documents: An (Adapt…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Gray (2026)
    The Utility of Inclusivity: How Emoji Proposal Writers Navigate Oppositional In…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. Grant (2026)
    Not Playing Around: Feminist and Queer Rhetorics in Videogames: by Rebecca Rich…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Jordan et al. (2025)
    Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service
    Technical Communication Quarterly
Show all 7 →
  1. Craig et al. (2022)
    Introduction to the Special Issue: Working Toward a Definition of Queer Literacies
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  2. Craig et al. (2022)
    Introduction to the Special Issue: Working Toward a Definition of Queer Literacies
    Literacy in Composition Studies

References (104) · 28 in this index

  1. ACLU Arizona (n.d.). Toomey v. Arizona . https://www.acluaz.org/e…
  2. Agboka (2013)
    Participatory Localization: A Social Justice Approach to Navigating Unenfranchi…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Agboka (2014)
    Decolonial Methodologies: Social Justice Perspectives in Intercultural Technica…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  4. Ahmed S. (2002)
    Strange encounters: Embodied others in post-coloniality
  5. 10.1215/9780822388074
     ↗
Show all 104 →
  1. 10.1215/9780822395324
     ↗
  2. Allen S. (2017). The high-stakes name game for transgender job-hunters …
  3. 10.1097/AOG.0b013e31823ed1c1
     ↗
  4. American Medical Association (2008). Resolution H- 185 …
  5. 10.1080/14680777.2018.1447395
     ↗
  6. Balzer C., Hutta J. S., Adrián T., Hyndal P., Stryker S. (2012). Transrespect versus Tr…
  7. Bartolotta J. (2012)
    Communication Design Quarterly
  8. 10.1016/j.jana.2009.07.004
     ↗
  9. 10.1215/9780822381044-011
     ↗
  10. Bowdon (2004)
    Technical Communication and the Role of the Public Intellectual: A Community HI…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  11. 10.26818/9780814213803
     ↗
  12. 10.1080/10462939809366216
     ↗
  13. Burke K. (1954)
    Permanence and change: An anatomy of purpose
  14. Burke K. (1984)
    Permanence and change: An anatomy of purpose
  15. 10.1215/10642684-3-4-437
     ↗
  16. Cole D. (2020, July 1). Trump administration wants to end another Obama-era protection …
  17. Colton et al. (2018)
    A Social Justice Theory of Active Equality for Technical Communication
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  18. Colton et al. (2017)
    From NoobGuides to #OpKKK: Ethics of Anonymous’ Tactical Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  19. Colton J. S. (2015)
    Journal of Interactive Technology and Pedagogy
  20. 10.7758/rsf.2015.1.1.06
     ↗
  21. Cox (2019)
    Working Closets: Mapping Queer Professional Discourses and Why Professional Com…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  22. Crenshaw K. (1989)
    University of Chicago Legal Forum
  23. 10.2307/1229039
     ↗
  24. 10.4135/9781446220030.n2
     ↗
  25. Deleuze G. (1972)
    Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and schizophrenia
  26. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2012, February 3). Equal access to housing…
  27. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2016a, September 21). Equal access in acco…
  28. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2016b, November 17). Equal access to housi…
  29. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2020, July 24). Making admission or placem…
  30. Ding H. (2019)
    China Media Research
  31. Diprose R. (2009)
    Parrhesia
  32. Dolmage J. (2014)
    Disability rhetoric
  33. Durack (1997)
    Gender, Technology, and the History of Technical Communication
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  34. Edenfield et al. (2019)
    Always Already Geopolitical: Trans Health Care and Global Tactical Technical Co…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  35. Edenfield et al. (2019)
    Queering Tactical Technical Communication: DIY HRT
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  36. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2021). EEO-4 data collection instruction bookl…
  37. Evia et al. (2012)
    Beyond Compliance: Participatory Translation of Safety Communication for Latino…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  38. Flaherty C. (2016, September 19). Not just “musical chairs.” Inside Higher Ed …
  39. Frost E. A. (2015)
    Present Tense (New York, NY)
  40. Frost (2016)
    Apparent Feminism as a Methodology for Technical Communication and Rhetoric
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  41. 10.1525/srsp.2007.4.4.7
     ↗
  42. Getto G. (2017)
    Technical Communication
  43. Gonzales L. (2018)
    Sites of translation: What multilinguals can teach us about digital writing and rhetoric
  44. Gonzales L. (2015)
    Technical Communication
  45. Grabill (2000)
    Shaping local HIV/AIDS services policy through activist research: The problem o…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  46. Grant J. M., Mottet L., Tanis J. E., Harrison J., Herman J., Keisling M. (2011). Injust…
  47. Haas (2012)
    Race, Rhetoric, and Technology: A Case Study of Decolonial Technical Communicat…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  48. Halberstam J. (2005)
    In a queer time and place: Transgender bodies, subcultural lives
  49. Harvey D. (2007)
    A brief history of neoliberalism
  50. Hawk (2004)
    Toward a Post-Techne-Or, Inventing Pedagogies for Professional Writing
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  51. 10.1089/lgbt.2020.0279
     ↗
  52. Hull B. (2020)
    Journal of Multimodal Rhetorics
  53. Husserl E. (1931)
    Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology
  54. Jagose A. (1996)
    Queer theory: An introduction
  55. James S. E., Brown C., Wilson I. (2015). U.S. transgender survey: Report on the experie…
  56. 10.1108/EIHSC-08-2013-0013
     ↗
  57. Jones (2016)
    The Technical Communicator as Advocate: Integrating a Social Justice Approach i…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  58. Jones (2017)
    Rhetorical Narratives of Black Entrepreneurs: The Business of Race, Agency, and…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  59. Jones et al. (2016)
    Disrupting the Past to Disrupt the Future: An Antenarrative of Technical Commun…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  60. Jones N. N. (2018)
    Technical Communication
  61. 10.1037/a0030838
     ↗
  62. 10.2307/378062
     ↗
  63. Kessler et al. (2018)
    Terminal node problems: ANT 2.0 and prescription drug labels
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  64. Latour B. (1994)
    Common Knowledge
  65. 10.1515/9780791492703
     ↗
  66. Merleau-Ponty M. (1945)
    Phenomenology of perception
  67. 10.1177/0891243212461299
     ↗
  68. 10.2307/375964
     ↗
  69. 10.1145/3328020.3353924
     ↗
  70. 10.7330/9781607327585.c008
     ↗
  71. Ornatowski C. M. (1997)
    Foundations for teaching technical communication: Theory, practice, and program design
  72. Ouellette M. (2014)
    Computer games and technical communication: Critical methods and applications at the inte…
  73. Papacharissi Z. A. (2010)
    A private sphere: Democracy in a digital age
  74. Petersen (2014)
    Redefining the Workplace: The Professionalization of Motherhood through Blogging
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  75. Petersen et al. (2018)
    Bridging Analysis and Action: How Feminist Scholarship Can Inform the Social Ju…
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  76. Ramler (2021)
    Queer Usability
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  77. Rancière J. (1999)
    Disagreement: Politics and philosophy
  78. Ranciére J. (2010)
    Dissensus: On politics and aesthetics
  79. Rhetoric/Composition (2020). In Academic jobs wiki . Retrieved Ap…
  80. Rivers et al. (2016)
    Speculative Usability
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  81. Rose (2016)
    Design as Advocacy: Using a Human-Centered Approach to Investigate the Needs of…
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  82. 10.1145/2775441.2775464
     ↗
  83. Serano J. (2007)
    Whipping girl: A transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity
  84. Shelton (2020)
    Shifting Out of Neutral: Centering Difference, Bias, and Social Justice in a Bu…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  85. 10.5204/mcj.2443
     ↗
  86. Smith A. (2019). EEOC explains how to report nonbinary individuals on EEO-1 form …
  87. Sun (2006)
    The Triumph of Users: Achieving Cultural Usability Goals With User Localization
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  88. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2003, Oct 29). Alternative suggested employee questionnaire. R…
  89. Walton (2016)
    Supporting Human Dignity and Human Rights: A Call to Adopt the First Principle …
    Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  90. Walton R. (2016)
    Programmatic Perspectives
  91. Walton R. (2018)
    Technical Communication
  92. Walton et al. (2013)
    Navigating increasingly cross-cultural, cross-disciplinary, and cross-organizat…
    Communication Design Quarterly
  93. 10.4324/9780429198748
     ↗
  94. Walton et al. (2015)
    Values and Validity: Navigating Messiness in a Community-Based Research Project…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  95. Williams M. F. (2010)
    From Black codes to recodification: Removing the veil from regulatory writing
  96. Williams M. F. (2012)
    Programmatic Perspectives
  97. Winsor D. A. (2012)
    Writing power: Communication in an engineering center
  98. 10.17265/2159-5313/2016.09.003
     ↗
  99. 10.7208/chicago/9780226312811.001.0001
     ↗
CrossRef global citation count: 9 View in citation network → Build reading path →

Related articles

  1. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Jun 2026
    The Sonic Aesthetics of Science Communication Podcasts ↗
    Caroline Koons; Amelia Chesley
    argument technical communication scientific writing artificial intelligence grammar and mechanics
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication Mar 2026
    Canon to Code: Rhetorical Rulemaking for Generative AI Content Audits and Governance ↗
    Miriam F. Williams
    classical rhetoric modern rhetorical theory rhetorical criticism assessment technical communication artificial intelligence
  3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication Mar 2026
    Surveys as UXR: Using Design Thinking to Shape a Survey-Based UX Assessment for Rural Audiences ↗
    Kaitlin J. Coyle; Derek G. Ross
    assessment technical communication qualitative research literacy studies
  4. Technical Communication Quarterly Jan 2026
    Tactical Technical Communication as Expert Communication: Strategic Ethos in Corsi-Rosenthal Boxes ↗
    Steven S. Brooks; Sara C. Doan
    argument technical communication
  5. Technical Communication Quarterly Oct 2025
    Farm to Forum: Exploring Agritourism as a Site for Tactical Technical Communication ↗
    Beth J. Shirley; Shannon Arnold; Kim Woodring; Dustin Perry
    collaborative writing technical communication