Girls and Subcultures [1977] Angela McRobbie and Jenny Garber

This text poses the question ‘Are girls really absent form subcultures or are they present but invisible?’ In summary McRobbie and Garber talk about our associations with subcultures, which we immediately relate to men. Historically girls have been absent from the classic subcultural studies, pop histories, personal accounts and journalistic surveys, which to me is unrealistic as in every subculture, both male and females play equally and uniquely important roles. Editors [Taylor, Walton and Young 1975] of Critical Criminology have identified that ‘women constituted an uncelebrated social category which was a social reaction to the more extreme actions of youth subcultures’. This is due to the huge influence of the media who are responsible for this exclusion as it tended to concentrate on more dramatic incidents. For example the violent clashes between Mods and Rockers which were events that qualified as newsworthy which were areas of subcultural activity from which women were excluded.

Jenny Garber has worked in various fields as a local authority social worker, an NHS case manager and currently in Brain injury service. Angela McRobbie has written a book titled Feminism and Youth Culture which tackles areas such as; The culture of working class girls, Jackie Magazine: Romantic individualism and the teenage girl, Rock and sexuality and Sweet smell of success? New ways of being young women. All areas I believe to be responsible for their rising feminist interest in subculture studies. The role they play in the text is to ‘attract our attention toward more teenage and pre- teenage female spheres like those forming around the pop music industry.’ Both McRobbie and Garber categorise our existences somewhere between ‘youth’ and ‘any other business’. Both which individually have no importance.

The text quotes Paul Willis [1978] from Youth, expectations and Transitions, where he acknowledges ‘girls are represented throughout literature in terms of their sexual attractiveness’. This reminds me of the work of Rosalind Cowards account in The Look where she identifies women as being a crucial aspect towards sexual relations. Their aesthetic appeal is viewed in many ways including voyeurism, sexual peep shows and pornography. Women are exploited as objects to be viewed and appreciated in a desirable way.

The text concludes to say that ‘girls negotiate a different leisure space and different personal spaces from those inhabited by boys’. The underlying concerns are those of the cultural associations with pre-teenage girls and their anxieties about moving into the world of teenage sexual interaction. This is most obviously evident in extremely tight-knit-friendship groups. These function to socially exclude intruders into the group so they can gain private, inaccessible space. This can be directly compared to Sex and the City whereby a group of ladies in this case, frequently meet to privately discuss and unravel the hidden depths regarding men.

Having read and analysed this text it has led me to consider the role of me and my friends and the role we play within our subcultures. The most obvious example would be to compare the position of my boyfriend as a skateboarder and where I fit in socially among his subculture. As it is an all-male culture in Leeds with the exception of one female skater, I do feel totally alienated on the peripheral from becoming a member of the group which makes me adapt the status of a ‘Groupy’! Another example of this is WAG’s, a title which has been created as an umbrella term to identify your status by highlighting that of your boyfriend or husbands first.

In conclusion having studied this area it has come to my attention which I had previously never noticed, but girls are not exclusively associated to any one subcultural group.


Bibliography

Books:

Gelder, K, (2005) The Subcultures Reader, Devon, Florence Production Ltd.

McRobbie, A, (1991, 2000) Feminism and Youth Culture, New York, Routledge.

Thomas, J, (2000) Reading Images, Readers in cultural criticism, New York, Palgrave.

Web Sites:

http://madisonian.net/conferences/2008/11/18/ip-and-gender-at-american-university/5/11/08

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmhealth/307/1031503.htm9/11/08

http://www.robot.com.au/gallery/mods%20rockers%201.jpg9/11/08

http://shinymedia.headshift.com/images/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/10/jackie.jpg 14/11/08

http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/iba0027l.jpg15/11/08

http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070712/satc_l.jpg17/11/08

http://www.skatesthelens.co.uk/gallery/21/11/08

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0415927552/ref=sib_dp_pt/277-0315105-0258575#reader-page25/11/08