http://bit.ly/is1Fv6 is an interesting post I have just been reading on "Funeral Divas" (image above), a Funeral Diva being "a strong, confident and successful woman who works in the funeral industry. She is not ashamed of her career! She is proud to serve hurting families!serve hurting families!"
Also to note the calendar of "Men of Mortuaries" (image below) in the same website (@sociologicalimages): http://bit.ly/aw5EZr
In the blog where I found both links the discussion around both images is that people who work in the funeral industry try to "humanize themselves so as to avoid the stigmas often associated with their jobs". This is already interesting per se, but as blogger Gwen Sharp notices there are also interesting gender dynamics at place, because funeral directors are traditionally and mainly men. Sharp refers also to an article written on The Christian Science Monitor / March 23, 2004 (http://bit.ly/i9gIq0 ) where is discussed how the gender balance is changing in the industry, with more female studying to become funeral director.
Interestingly, this new interest in this job is understood as being connected with the profession become more concerned with grief (as opposed to "mourning" one would assume), making it automatically into a more vocational profession and therefore more "appealing" (or suited) to women. The gender balance change in this industry therefore, while seemingly being a way of strengthening gender equality, conceals and reinforces traditional western stereotypes related to emotions and gender role (see for example Lutz "Unnatural Emotions" 1998).
