ABSTRACT
Why is gender inseparable from pop songs? What can gender representations in musical performances mean? Why are there strong links between gender, sexuality and popular music? The sound of the voice, the mix, the arrangement, the lyrics and images, all link our impressions of gender to music. Numerous scholars writing about gender in popular music to date are concerned with the music industry’s impact on fans, and how tastes and preferences become associated with gender. This is the first collection of its kind to develop and present new theories and methods in the analysis of popular music and gender. The contributors are drawn from a range of disciplines including musicology, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, philosophy, and media studies, providing new reference points for studies in this interdisciplinary field. Stan Hawkins’s introduction sets out to situate a variety of debates that prompts ways of thinking and working, where the focus falls primarily on gender roles. Amongst the innovative approaches taken up in this collection are: queer performativity, gender theory, gay and lesbian agency, the female pop celebrity, masculinities, transculturalism, queering, transgenderism and androgyny. This Research Companion is required reading for scholars and teachers of popular music, whatever their disciplinary background.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part 1|64 pages
Masculinities, femininities, community, and transcultural practice
chapter 2|20 pages
Growing up to be a Rapper?
chapter 4|15 pages
From Throat Singing to Transcultural Expression
part 2|55 pages
Audiovisuality, sex(uality), women, and the politics of looking
chapter 6|10 pages
“You Mean I can Make a TV Show?”
chapter 7|13 pages
Holding on for Dear Life
part 3|78 pages
Vernacular soundworlds, narratives, and stardom
chapter 10|15 pages
High Notes, High Drama
chapter 12|16 pages
Staging The ‘Street Boy’
part 4|70 pages
Gender, race, and the female celebrity
chapter 15|14 pages
‘A Woman’s Place’
part 5|66 pages
Challenging hegemonic practices