Description
Book SynopsisWhat attracts girls to male-dominated youth subcultures like the punk movement? How do girls reconcile a subcultural identity that is deliberately coded masculine with the demands of femininity? This work is an insider's view of the ways punk girls resist gender roles and create strong identities.
Trade ReviewIn this original work, LeBlanc explores how punk girls negotiate and resist hegemonic notions of femininity in the predominantly masculine punk subculture. She asks: What influences some teenage girls to become involved in the punk subculture? How do punk girls negotiate female gender norms within a masculine subculture? . . . LeBlanc's work is engaging. By combining a critical feminist perspective, sound qualitative methodology, and delightfully non-academic prose, she has written a book that is both informative and a pleasure to read. Her work should be appreciated by those who study genders, subcultures, identities, and deviance. * Ideology and Cultural Production *
[LeBlanc] draws on her insider experiences and insights and on the field research and interviews she carried out with 40 self-identified punk girls in her travels to New Orleans, Atlanta, MontrTal and San Francisco. . . . As an æethnography of gender resistanceÆ and inside look at punk subculture, this very impressive study is of theoretical interest to sociologists, cultural researchers and feminist theorists while also sufficiently fascinating and accessible to appeal to a more general audience. * Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association *
The author's first-person accounts of her life as a punk girl are particularly effective at bringing her analysis of punk girls to life. . . . Original and very insightful. -- Kathleen Blee * professor of sociology and director of women's studies University of Pittsburgh *
Pretty in Punk is cutting-edge feminist and cultural studies research. . . . .The stories [Leblanc] relates offer inspirational evidence of rebellion against stereotypical gender arrangementsùof girls empowering themselves in unique ways. -- Wendy Simonds * author of Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic and Women *
The girls and women that Leblanc portrays in
Pretty in Punk are very nearly as original, spirited, and delightful as Leblanc's prose itself. . . . A happy conjunction of author, topic, and methodology. -- Carol Brooks Gardner * professor of sociology and women's studies, Indiana University, Indianapolis *
In this original work, LeBlanc explores how punk girls negotiate and resist hegemonic notions of femininity in the predominantly masculine punk subculture. She asks: What influences some teenage girls to become involved in the punk subculture? How do punk girls negotiate female gender norms within a masculine subculture? . . . LeBlanc's work is engaging. By combining a critical feminist perspective, sound qualitative methodology, and delightfully non-academic prose, she has written a book that is both informative and a pleasure to read. Her work should be appreciated by those who study genders, subcultures, identities, and deviance. * Ideology and Cultural Production *
[LeBlanc] draws on her insider experiences and insights and on the field research and interviews she carried out with 40 self-identified punk girls in her travels to New Orleans, Atlanta, MontrTal and San Francisco. . . . As an æethnography of gender resistanceÆ and inside look at punk subculture, this very impressive study is of theoretical interest to sociologists, cultural researchers and feminist theorists while also sufficiently fascinating and accessible to appeal to a more general audience. * Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association *
The author's first-person accounts of her life as a punk girl are particularly effective at bringing her analysis of punk girls to life. . . . Original and very insightful. -- Kathleen Blee * professor of sociology and director of women's studies University of Pittsburgh *
Pretty in Punk is cutting-edge feminist and cultural studies research. . . . .The stories [Leblanc] relates offer inspirational evidence of rebellion against stereotypical gender arrangementsùof girls empowering themselves in unique ways. -- Wendy Simonds * author of Abortion at Work: Ideology and Practice in a Feminist Clinic and Women *
The girls and women that Leblanc portrays in
Pretty in Punk are very nearly as original, spirited, and delightful as Leblanc's prose itself. . . . A happy conjunction of author, topic, and methodology. -- Carol Brooks Gardner * professor of sociology and women's studies, Indiana University, Indianapolis *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations and Table
Acknowledgments
"Not My Alma Mater": A Vitriolic Prologue
1. "The Punk Girl Thing": Introductions
2. "Punk's Not Dead--It Just Smells That Way": Punk to Hardcore, with Girls on the Side
3. "I Grew Up and I Was a Punk": Subcultural Stories
4. "The Punk Guys Will Really Overpower What the Punk Girls Have to Say": The Boys' Turf
5. "I'll Slap on My Lipstick and Then Kick Their Ass": Constructing Femininity
6. "Oh, I Hope I Don't Catch Anything": Punk Deviance and Public Harassment
7. "I Bet a Steel-Capped Boot Could Shut You Up": Resistance to Public Sexual Harassment
8. "Girls Kick Ass": Nonacademic Conclusions
Appendix A: Punk Glossary
Appendix B: Punk Girl Biographies
Appendix C: Interview Guide and Statement of Purpose
Notes
Works Cited
Index
