Feminists & Subcultures

• Reddington


  • Studies of subcultures reduce girls to a 'sub-subculture' which reflects patriarchy
  • The large presence of female punks was rewritten and diminished
  • E.g. significant female punk band 'Souxsie and the Banshees' excluded from analysis.
• Hey


  • Turned down by her university when she first applied for a grant and told that there was 'nothing to investigate'
  • Young female subcultures and friendships are seen as nonexistent and unimportant
  • Female subcultures were more significant for identity and relationships than men's - studies cannot be generalised across genders
• Official Statistics 


  • Young men are 5 times more likely to be arrested than girls
  • 3 times more likely to be excluded from school
• McRobbie & Garber 



  • Girls are socialised into a 'bedroom culture' where it becomes the norm for them to stay indoors whilst boys play outside
  • Women have distinctive ways of forming subcultures, based on intense relationships in the domestic sphere
• Jackson


  • Her sample of 'Ladettes' were loud, challenging, badly behaved, bawdy, and assertive
  • Mirrored male versions of the subculture
• Radical Feminists & PussyRiot 


  • Russian group of young women who use media to oppose government oppression and corruption
  • Wear balaclavas - judged on their ideas, rather than appearance
  • Imprisoned for 2 years for performing a punk rock song in a Russian cathedral
• Carlen


  • Female deviance is not female liberation
  • Women who deviate the most are the most oppressed - 80% of the female prison population have suffered child abuse, sexual abuse, or lived in care.
• Adler


  • Deviant female subcultures are emerging as a response to the liberation of women
  • Gender convergence - women will become more assertive, independent, and powerful, which will lead to more deviant/criminal subcultures