Sex, Sexuality, and Sexism: A Generational Comparison of Women’s Freelance Career Experiences in the UK Public Relations Industry

This chapter studies women's freelance career experiences in public relations (PR) from the 1990s to present. It employs a collaborative Café Delphi approach blending two interactive and iterative data collection methods: World Café and Delphi. A “desire for freedom” is identified from communication clusters involving female freelance PR practitioners (across a generational age range). Learnings from collective discoveries include a paradox of freedom and pressure, and a conundrum in helping clients to think strategically. This harvest resembles a community of practice discussing professional identities and gendered experiences. Across age groupings similarities are evident and an intergenerational view of society and PR practice is proposed. Variance from a theme of sexism in an earlier study underlines significance of freedom and empowerment (aligned with a theme of sexuality) in women's freelance careers. The researchers’ original Delphi reflections present gathering/ungathering commentaries in an outro. These surface opportunities and connections for spinstorying, manifestations of freedom, intergenerational “co-existence”, unexpected discoveries, researcher positionality, and “talking back” as revealing what truly matters.