Abstract: “The term “female metalhead” may sound rather abstract. What does she look like and what does she think? Is there a typical female metalhead? This article summarizes qualitative research on woman’s motivational resources for participation in the contemporary Czech metal subculture. It discusses factors related to why women listen to metal and the role of men in this process. The research is based on seventeen semi-structured interviews with women in Czech metal. Respective research questions focus on female metalheads’ understanding of their position inside the subculture, their visual appearance, reasons for inclination to metal (e.g., partner’s influence or an attraction to the metal community), the issue of sex symbols in the metal industry, and issues of elitism and exclusivity. Results show that women within the metal subculture strike a balance between masculinity and femininity and often judge their surroundings from the perspective on these two poles. However, the primary inspiration still drives from the male perspective with its typical visual and musical characteristics.”
“This article is a reworked version of Gabriela Stašová’s paper Za vším hledej muže? Motivační zdroje poslechu metalu u ženského publika (A man behind everything? Motivational sources of metal listening among female audiences) presented at the 5th Czech Conference about Metal (Brno, 2021) on the theme scenes, gender, identities. Due to its topic, the conference (with Stašová’s contribution in particular) received a broad response from the public and aroused controversy within a sector of Czech metal subculture. The controversy centered on the perception that the study of gender problematics (gender studies) and metal studies – as well as the social sciences and humanities in general-–are useless pursuits (see Miroslav Vrzal’s article in this issue)” (Source for both: this article)