[.ca] Pretty in Punk: Girls' Gender Resistance in a Boys' ... (ISBN 0813526507)

a disappointment:
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.

Punk Meets Academia:
"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.

Punk "academic" likes Leblanc's work:
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!

Enough of the "identifying" with punk culture:
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.

A Critical Punk Ethnography:
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...