Customer Reviews

Pretty in Punk: Girl's Gender Resistance in a Boy's Subculture

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Pretty in Punk" has really interesting subject matter, but the fact that the book was written for an academic audience, apparently, makes reading it rather slow work. The tone is earnest and pedantic, and ideas tend to be repeated frequently. It's kind of like: this is my thesis, this is how I will support my thesis, here are the supporting facts and examples, now I will restate my thesis. The main thesis is that punk rock guys are pretty much as sexist as other guys, and that punk rock girls get double the negative response, first from society at large, then from punk guys. The individual experiences and comments of the girls she interviewed are the most interesting thing about the book. Not a fun read, but interesting if you can get through it.

Many of the other reviews tend to give Leblanc a difficult time, but I found it quite refreshing over the punk movement oral history stuff and the like (which are half lies, half legend and half truth - yes...3 halves!). This book did exactly what it set out to do: develop and explicate local understandings of girl's resistance in the punk subculture. (I hate that word subculture...).

An ethnographer attempts to find visceral understandings of people's lived experiences. Her research, both as an ethnographer, a full participant in the scene, and via her interviews and guided conversations, is thorough. Leblanc does an exemplary job, by examining the scene with a critial and feminist eye. Although all ethnographic research is situated in a localized place and time, it does present the essence of being a female punk in the late 90's.

As a member of the punk scene since the early 1980's, and as a member of academia since the late 1990's this work rings true from both standpoints. Is it perfect? No, but no ethnographic research is perfect. This is pretty close...

Basically this book was the author's dissertation. And that's about it. The writing isn't that good, and the "study" as a whole is very limited. In particular she ignores the previous punk generation, and doesn't address the changes in the scene over 20 years. This ignores the fact that as punk became more common, the common problems of the general culture seeped back in - especially sexism. It could be used as a starting point for young people to enter the discussion, but certainly can't be seen as any kind of definitive text because there are too many holes. I was disappointed because I was so looking forward to someone finally opening up this topic, and had expected something better.

Leblanc does a fine job in this book laying down the evolution of Fem-punk. She, unfortunately, doesn't consider much of the homosocial and homoerotic behavior of her male-dominated punk culture and, therefore, losses out on a great possible extension to her study. The book relies, at times, too heavily on interviews with female punks. Leblanc doesn't do too much consideration about the Birmingham school. Again, this weakens her arguments. Overall, I think that this study was very insightful at times but often drifted away from subculture theory.

In this work, Leblanc has looked at women's involvement in a subculture that most people have never seen girls actively participating in. In response to another review, it is very important that Leblanc picked up on the fact that girls have *always* been rebelling through punk, and they haven't needed a female-oriented movement like riot grrrl to act. She doesn't marginalize riot grrrl; instead, she focuses on an often ignored population of women who have a confused position in their subculture. Leblanc's personal relationship with the contradictions in the lives of women in punk rock creates a very powerful, ground-breaking, feminist work.

Ever felt that being a punk rocker and a girl was tougher than it ought to be? L. Leblanc thinks so too, and with interviews from 40 punk rockers and gutterpunks who also happen to be female, combined with research, personal experiance, and some pretty impressive credentials, she explains why this might be.

I was really excited to read a book filled with so many stories strikingly similar to mine. I'm a long time punk rocker, and I don't know many other girls in the scene (especially besides the "weekend punk" types that this book mentions sconfully). Hearing motavations and psychological reasons for girls to "go punk" that are all too earily familiar for me was really interesting. The book managed to be very thorough by limiting its scope to traditional punks and gutterpunks, instead of trying to tackle the whole subculture (Riot Grrls are mentioned, but not devulged on, asare many other factions of the subculture).

I guess the one drawback would have to be the readability factor. Most of the interview exerpts are put in verbatum, without being edited for clarity. Some of the responses just don't make much sense. Plus, it should be noted that this was written as a study for Leblanc's doctorate, not casual reading by us punk chicks. If you're looking for a light, friendly, "novel" kind of reading, you won't find it here.

How can you write a book about punk girls' "gender resistance" in the late 90s and yet barely mention riot grrrl?! Punk rock is so much more than mohawks and gutter punks, and yet these are the only kinds of punk girls that populate this book. I mean, her sample is very, very narrow. Only someone with very limited access to punk rock would believe that this was a thorough survey of girls and women in the "scene." This reads like a book that might've made more sense in the late 70s or early 80s. And as feminist cultural studies go, this is a very poor example.

Having experienced life inside the scene and outside as Leblanc has, I am grateful to her for allowing the girls to speak. This work can't be definitive and it can't be everything to everyone who reads it because we all experienced the movement in different ways. However, Leblanc's writing is accessible and she adequately addresses sexism within the scene. She is writing about girls' resistance and so has excluded male voices. I think she does an incredible job of bringing the movement alive to those who have lived it, in her words and in the girls' words. Thanks for not glossing over the bad parts of the scene. Thanks for letting us relive the good parts!

I use LeBlanc's book in a class on youth subculture and ethnographic research. I love it, my students love, it rocks. So much stuff on youth and punk is written from a male perspective. Punk was supposed to offer girls and young women a subculture based on gender equality. So what happened? LeBlanc details how the 80s hardcore scene pushed punk backwards and how girls used punk to carve out their own resistance to patriarchy and their punk peers.

Her writing style is incredibly engaging and entertaining. She covers all the important literature (Hebdige, Brake, Hall, Gilligan) and takes the reader through her own personal journey through field research. A must read for qualitative researchers, lovers of punk culture and fans of feminist resistance. Lauriane, email me! cfrb@pdx.edu

I picked this book up a few days ago and knew immedietly I had to buy it. I myself am what the author would probably call a "Poseur", but I feel some of the discriminations she mentions in my daily life. The book is intresting and informative, with personal experience combined with historical stats combined with interviews with real people. I love it!