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E-book
Author Balay, Anne, author

Title Semi queer : inside the world of gay, trans, and black truck drivers / Anne Balay
Published Chapel Hill : The University of North Carolina Press, [2018]
©2018

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Description 1 online resource (214 pages) : illustrations
Contents Starting : whoop 'n' ride : why people choose trucking, and how they prepare -- Rolling : sailboat races : the web of regulations that shape the work of trucking -- Stopping : getting loaded : customers, shippers, receivers -- Rolling : drag and fly : race, racism, and trucking -- Stopping : Jesus, take the wheel : road accidents, PTSD, and fear -- Rolling : grabbing gears : the appeal of constant motion, especially to gay, black, and trans drivers -- Stopping : the pickle park : truck stops and rest areas -- Rolling : draggin' ass : persistence and endurance are working-class values -- Stopping : what's your twenty? : Locating the queer trucker's body -- Conclusion : hammer down
Summary Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves - even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on September 05, 2018)
Subject Trucking -- United States -- Social conditions
Truck drivers -- United States
African Americans.
Transgender people -- United States.
Women truck drivers -- United States
Gay people -- United States
African American.
POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Public Policy -- Cultural Policy.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Anthropology -- Cultural.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Popular Culture.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Gay Studies.
African Americans
Gay people
Transgender people
Truck drivers
Women truck drivers
United States
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9781469647104
1469647109
9781469647111
1469647117