THE POTENTIAL OF TRALLPUNK : Constituting masculinity in a Swedish punk scene

Music is a ubiquitous part of society and has some capacity for spurring social change by stirring emotions with people. The music genre of punk is overtly political and promotes different kinds of social change, and all this makes punk relevant to study for the social sciences and humanities. However, on one hand, research suggests that punk scenes are masculinist and partly excludes women. On the other hand, other studies point to possibilities for alternative constructions of gender to take form through punk. Furthermore, research on punk is comprehensive, but the Swedish subgenre of trallpunk seems to have been overlooked in studies. Therefore, this thesis aims to investigate how masculinity is constructed in trallpunk. Drawing on a discourse analytical approach, supplemented by the concepts of performativity and hegemonic masculinity, song lyrics and interview data are analyzed in order to discern constructions of gender in trallpunk. The main conclusion is that trallpunk carries a form of transformative potential pointing to the transformation of gender discourses. Such a potential suggests that restricting and oppressive discourses of gender and hegemonic masculinity could eventually be eradicated, which would be an important step towards a more open-minded and inclusive society.