The Price of Rebellion: Gender Boundaries in the Death Metal Scene

Abstract

This article examines women's involvement in the male-dominated death metal scene and illustrates the boundaries to their participation in the scene as equals. Interviews with female fans of death metal reveal an awareness of the sexist practices of the scene, as well as a willingness to tolerate such practices. The author discusses the attitudes and behaviors of female fans in this context using social exchange theory and argues that while women derive empowerment from death metal, they do so at the cost of conformity to its androcentric culture.

Putting the ‘studies’ back into metal music studies

“…How, for instance, does female participation in a male genre relate to masculine cultures? (Krenske & McKay, 2000;Vasan, 2011;Hill, 2014Hill, , 2016Savigny & Sleight, 2015)? Or how do non-white fans navigate the 'white spaces' that metal scenes are (Dawes, 2012;Anderson 2015)?…”

‘To Holmgard … and Beyond’: Folk metal fantasies and hegemonic white masculinities

“…It is also true to say there are many female fans of both, and many male fans and musicians that reject the hegemonic masculinity that might be at work in metal (Hill, 2011;Overell, 2012;Vasan, 2011;Spracklen, 2010). There is a range of emerging work within metal music studies that shows the ways in which female fans and musicians engage with metal and create their own identities within it (Hill, 2011(Hill, , 2014Riches, Lashua and Spracklen, 2014;Vasan, 2011). Similarly, there are scholars in metal music studies who show just how subversive, transgressive and playful gender and sexuality can be in heavy metal (for example, see Overell, 2012;Riches, 2011).…”

“…Pringle and Markula (2005)'s research on male, New Zealand rugby players also shows the importance of physicality and embodiment in the construction of 'Polynesian' masculinities. Heavy metal, as a modern leisure form, a form of popular music, a product of the music industry and something subcultural, is obviously a space where gender identities are made and constrained (Hill, 2011(Hill, , 2014Riches, 2011;Riches, Lashua and Spracklen, 2014;Vasan, 2011). Heavy metal might be argued to be a leisure space where sexism and misogyny operate to keep women in their place (Kahn-Harris, 2007;Snell, 2014;Walser, 1993).…”

Metal and marginalization: Researching at the edges of exteriority

“…Walser kicked off with his discussion on the absence of women (1993), and more recent research has centred on the gendered spatial distribution at metal gigs (Hutcherson and Haenfler 2010;Krenske and McKay 2000), and the need for women to accept male-encoded norms of metal behaviour (Vasan 2011;Nordström and Herz 2013), media representations of women fans (Hill 2011), anti-feminine discourse (Overell 2011), continued gender segregation of creative roles (Dawes 2012;Hill 2013) Lucas et al 2011;Spracklen et al 2014). The result is a richly developing vein of research into how gender operates in metal.…”