Här för att stanna : En studie om medelålders kvinnor inom subkulturerna punk/hardcore, hårdrock/metal och folkmusik

Sammanfattning: ”Here to stay” is the english title of this essay, about middle aged women who participates in these subcultures punk/hardcore, hard rock/metal and folk music in Sweden. The purpose is to explore the terms and conditions of participation for middle aged women in the subcultures. I have made interviews with six women between fortyseven och and sixtyseven years old who are organisers, musicians and in other ways taking part in these subcultures and scenes. I have also made observations at events and used autoethnography as method as I am part of the Swedish DIY punk scene. My analysis is based on poststructrural theory. I have used Judith Butlers theories on performativity and subject positions and used Jason Glynos and David Howarths theories on logics to explain the discourses I found. The results of this essay showed that the subcultures punk/hardcore and hard rock/metal are associated with male youth and that folk music include women of all ages at a higher extent than folk music. The more aggressive the music, the more the subcultures in my study evolve around hegemonic masculinity and male homosociality. On the other hand, women who take part in punk/hardcore and hard rock/metal have a chance to negotiate with and reject traditional femininity as a way of expressing their subcultural identity. The discourse implies that folk music is a welcoming subculture, which leads to the risk that excluding norms stand unchallenged. Women tend to leave the subculture they take part in as they become mothers, but those who stay gets to represent both their gender and their age.