Queer punx: young women in the Newcastle hardcore scene

This thesis aims to better understand the lived experiences of young women who align with and identify as queer in the setting of Newcastle, an urban regional town on the east coast of Australia. A group of young women between 20 and 30 have navigated their queerness in the forms of music and artistic self-expression within the male-dominated arena of hardcore. As such, these women produce and present their queerness within the landscape of masculine hegemony. Using the concept of authorisation, where the self can both permit and be permitted, to perform queer, notions of female queer self-making within male dominated spaces are explored. As well as a review of contemporary research into the field of queer self-making, this thesis evaluates current themes of a queer lived experience for young women. Using theories of performativity (Butler 1990) and becoming (Deleuze and Guattari 1987), this thesis is an exploration of various stages of queer identity construction and analysis drawing from the perspectives of 12 young women. As such, a subversive discourse of queerness is presented. Queer connections between the self and the Other are analysed using interview data on fashion, punk and hardcore, DIY culture and feminism. The result is a fresh view of where and how queer is constituted at the present time.