Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service
Document Type
Article
Author ORCID Identifier
Rachel Jordan https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2825-2376
Avery C. Edenfield https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1273-2204
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Technical Communication Quarterly
Volume
34
Issue
4
Publisher
Routledge
Publication Date
7-10-2025
First Page
455
Last Page
471
Abstract
Group negotiation of terms of service, community guidelines, and state and federal laws can be a site for investigating how power is reinforced through overlapping networks of compliance. As Technical and Professional Communication (TPC) seeks to rectify its complicity in oppressive practices, “queer use” may be a lens to analyze a digital sex work safety guide inconsideration of online sex workers’ navigation of compliance documents. This analysis adds to queer scholarship in applied social justice, demonstrates how “refusing an instruction” is queer use, and centers user advocacy concerns about how platform governance disproportionately impacts hyper marginalized communities such as sex workers.
Recommended Citation
Jordan, R., & Edenfield, A. (2025). Queer Potential in Professional Communication: “Queer Use” & Terms of Service. Technical Communication Quarterly, 34(4), 455–471. https://doi.org/10.1080/10572252.2025.2531972