"Don't Worry, it's Just a Girl!": Negotiating and Challenging Gendered Assumptions in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene. (3rd July 2016)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- "Don't Worry, it's Just a Girl!": Negotiating and Challenging Gendered Assumptions in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene. (3rd July 2016)
- Main Title:
- "Don't Worry, it's Just a Girl!": Negotiating and Challenging Gendered Assumptions in Sydney's Breakdancing Scene
- Authors:
- Gunn, Rachael
- Abstract:
- Abstract : In this article, I analyse how bodily potential is culturally regulated in Sydney's breakdancing (breaking) scene through drawing both on my breakdancing practice and interviews conducted with prominent figures in this scene. I critically examine my lived experiences as one of only a few female breakdancers ("b-girls") in Sydney through analytic autoethnography, and use the theoretical tools of Deleuze and Guattari to unpack and challenge normative gendered narratives. With breakdancing culturally inscribed as masculine ("b-boying") and its conventions interlocking with broader patriarchal restrictions that inhibit female participation and bodily expression, I argue that the Sydney breaking scene is both a site of transgression and regression for the female body. This paradox confronting the b-girl sees her participation as "othered", while also challenging normative assumptions of gender. Through situating specific practices of breaking within broader Australian culture and gender norms, I examine how the performances of b girls and b-boys in Australia disrupt the stability of binary logic on which the organization of bodies is so heavily reliant and, in doing so, allow for the experience of breaking as a site of "pure" difference.
- Is Part Of:
- Journal of world popular music. Volume 3:Number 1(2016)
- Journal:
- Journal of world popular music
- Issue:
- Volume 3:Number 1(2016)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 3, Issue 1 (2016)
- Year:
- 2016
- Volume:
- 3
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2016-0003-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- 54
- Page End:
- 74
- Publication Date:
- 2016-07-03
- Subjects:
- breakdancing -- performance -- gender -- hip hop -- dance
World music -- Periodicals
Popular music -- Periodicals
781.63 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/JWPM ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1558/jwpm.v3i1.31223 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2052-4900
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 7570.xml