Abstrakt
Youth music subcultures often portray themselves and are understood as a free space where everybody has equal opportunities to express themselves. However, a closer look into these subcultures suggests that there are barriers as well as overt and subtle mechanisms of exclusion that prevent women from the same participation and status available to men. Drawing on classic as well as current literature we formulated number of theoretical claims related to the issues of gender and participation of women in music subcultures: (1) The number of men in music subcultures is still much greater which manifests itself in the creation of values and norms that are in contrast with the notions of femininity. Especially those subcultures that draw on the myth of a rebel or an outlaw create a space where hegemonic masculinity reigns; therefore women can never be fully authentic and, in consequence, reach a higher status within the subculture. (2) The participation and the role of women is designed according to masculine norms resulting in double standards related to evaluation of the quality of production of female artists and to the sexual double standard. (3) In spaces defined by these norms and values women have to negotiate and adjust the demands of femininity with the masculine rules. (4) Accepting the masculine norms creates a hierarchy of different types of women involved in music subcultures. Women acting and behaving as "one of the boys" have higher status than women that are not actively involved in subcultural life. (5) Even subcultures that deal with the gender inequalities; support the participation of women; and challenge the gender roles usually do so only on the rhetorical level. Even here the women rarely reach equal status as men do. Using the example of Czech punk and hip hop where women play active roles, the paper focuses on the strategies of assertion that are available to women in male dominated subcultures.