Gender and Sexuality in Punk Performance

Gender and sexuality was often performed in the punk movement through music, video and live concerts. Sound in itself defined the punk movement alongside image and fashion. Punk sound was a part of the DIY scene, much of the recorded sound was done unprofessionally, creating music that was often rough around the edges and spotting with imperfections in quality. This stray away from mainstream sound and recording is yet another way of how punk became its own image unlike sound previously known. Lyrics within punk music were explicitly anti-capitalist, anti-establishment, and non-nationalistic. This theme of offending and upsetting the public through deviation from the known norm ran through punk sound as well. Other sphere’s of punk music included queer, feminist, and sexual themes adding to the shock factor punk heavily depended on. 

The band Tožibabe led movements of sound with feminist themes. This all female band delivered hardcore-punk noise while at the same time releasing a political message to the public concerning women’s equal rights. In their song “Moja Praznina”, the singers voices drone and clash on top of each other. The sound of the vocalists are more masculine than sound originally heard by all female music groups previous to punk. The guitar is heavy and the drums are clashing hard creating the ever distinguishable noise of punk rock.

Queer themes within punk sound is given off by bands such as Borghesia. In the song “On” by Brohesia, queer sexual lyrics are muttered under a synth techno beat saying, “He likes rough sex//And submission//Strong hands//High heel boots”. Borghesia in itself propelled a movement of turning sexual freedom into a political issue through their emergence in the Slovenian art scene. Within the punk movement queerness was a constant. Queerness was fought for and fluid gender and sexuality ideals were brought into light for the first time through the punk movement. With bands like Borghesia, social justice movements emerged alongside innovative sound due to issues brought up in acts of protest in the arts.

 
Gender and Sexuality in Punk Performance