From The Backyard Of The Arousal Industry Summary

In the memoir From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry, Justin Pearson sheds light on how society functions according to gender inequalities. In simple words, men are superior to women in a patriarchal society. This means that men possess more authority and power in comparison to women. The memoir explores a punk subculture, and pays particular attention to the ways in which it reinforces ideas of societal norms of male superiority. Moreover, it addresses these societal norms by highlighting the actions of woman in a punk society as references. Although many are eager to achieve equality in society through the ideology of feminism, they prevent themselves from speaking up, further emphasizing inequality between the genders. Feminism “examines

representations of the roles of men and women in cultural narratives in order to consider how culture shapes, critiques, and re-imagines who a woman can be” (Grinnell). In attempting to challenge such inequalities and gain the respect they deserve, women undergo physical and psychological transformations. Women in a punk subculture tend to play an insignificant role; they play the role of outcasts, consequently making them feel inadequate.
While some say punk culture contests mainstream norms, I argue that it is more than this; it does not only contest the norm but also, surprisingly, reinforces them. According to Mullaney, “even though a subculture deliberately carved out to oppose mainstream norms and values ends up reinforcing masculinist ideals and male-defined gender expectations” (387). In making this comment, Mullaney urges us to look at the bigger picture; how punk culture affects gender especially women, which is frequently overlooked. I agree that subculture enhances masculine ideals and male-defined gender expectations; however, a point that needs emphasizing is how women are treated differently, and what they do in order to overcome the patriarchal norms that they matter less than men. While it is true that women change their physical appearances and what they think about themselves in order to feel accepted, it does not necessarily follow that women are able to overcome the differences they encounter by doing this. Nevertheless, some readers may challenge my view by insisting that women do not put in the effort to overcome these differences, which is the reason, why they exist. I will show this by examining how Pearson’s memoir represents women, by looking closely at how women are treated in this punk culture scene and how this leads to a patriarchal society.
According to Pearson’s description, gender plays a significant role in punk culture and leads women to be seen as a minority compared to men. Participants are predominantly males, thus causing an imbalance in gender that contributes to its discursive gender bias. Mullaney acknowledges this clear gender bias: “ American punk ultimately fell short in its quest to bring gender equity to the scenes” (385). In Pearson’s memoir, Nick’s girlfriend is a perfect representation of gender bias. She is a perfect example because she is used as a trap, she “ tried to befriend [Pearson] so she could steal [his] shoes, [his] jacket, some of [his] records…and hand them over to Nick and his loser crew” (Pearson 27). This is gender bias because Nick and his friends knew that she would intrigue Pearson because she was an older woman, which at a young is thought to be ‘cool’ when an older woman takes a liking to you. A male could not have done this since Pearson is heterosexual; he desired the opposite sex. Nick’s girlfriend was sexually objectified, without regard to her dignity, although she didn’t mind, she was not aware that she was only used to gain whatever Nick and his friends wanted from Pearson, that was her sole purpose. She was not respected for her sexuality, thus her gender was used to their advantage.
Due to gender imbalance, “ there is a risk that women’s voices are hidden and their contributions overlooked, even where attempts are made to challenge gender norms” (Griffin 71). This is what happened to Nick’s girlfriend, if it was not for her they would have never gotten what they wanted, they used her as an object to trap Pearson.
Women have always been treated differently when compared to men that was common during the time, still is till this day.

However, in this particular punk subculture women treated differently was very visible. Women were prize possessions; they were used to show off by men to others that they had a girl. Lahickey mentioned “girls were always the supporting cast, never the stars” (112). If a female were in a band with males, she would not get the same respect a male band partner would. This is due to the male dominance in the punk culture that overpowers females. Studies on women in a music subculture have highlighted the ways “ women exist in these worlds while never collectively reaching the degree and depth of participation by men” (Mullaney 387). Women are treated poorly, they are always assumed to be someone’s girlfriend, never as an equal band participant. Men were not respectful towards women and thought of them as irrelevant. In From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry Joey, a band member of Pearson’s at that time spat at a girl in the crowd (Pearson 120). Spitting in general is considered disrespectful due to the mere cultivation of ethics made by society over the progression of civilization (regardless of genders). It was particularly rude in this case, although the girl was wrong for yelling at them when in reality her boyfriend was the cause of the fight. However, instead of spitting on her, Joey could have politely asked her to stop, while taking into

consideration that she is a woman, and they should be respected. But the boys in the band “were subconsciously pushing buttons and testing boundaries,” (Pearson 118) which lead to Joey disrespecting the girl, who was never at fault. Therefore, the book highlights how in a punk society the men unintentionally disrespect women, which is a representation of a patriarchal society where men are above women, and are able to do as they please.
These vast gender inequalities lead women to change who they are and how they look in order to fit a into the ‘punk’ appearance.

They have to uphold theses ‘punk’ appearances in order to fit into the crowd. Body tattoos and piercings were common in the punk scene, which could be a representation of rejection towards social norms and expectations. Furthermore, “as many women struggle to overcome notions of passivity, compliance and naivety, for some, tattoos, piercings and wearing non-traditional clothing may signify resistance to these stereotypical or ‘natural’ notions of femininity” (Griffin 69). However, in Pearson’s memoir, Jesse, his ex-girlfriend, is a perfect representation of a woman changing in order to fit in a punk society. She broke up with Pearson because she believed that he “didn’t like her as a person and thought that [Pearson] didn’t care about her” (Pearson 50). The reason behind this is that during that time, Pearson was very focused on his music, which as a result took up all of his attention leaving none left for her, this caused Jesse to change. After the break-up she began to hang out with a different local rock band, “who had no respect for girls, or themselves” (Pearson 51). This band intrigued Jesse because they gave her the attention she deliberately wanted from Pearson but never got. Her interest in the ‘punk’ society, lead her to suppress her true feelings just to feel accepted. Although she was never fully accepted in this new band, she was

merely used for pleasure and to screw around with, these guys led her to make bad decisions like drinking and doing cocaine. The feeling of being powerless causes women to change who they are, allowing them to have power over something, which they usually hope is a man, but in reality the man has power over the woman. Furthermore, women in a subculture punk society feel pressured to present themselves in a particular way in order to meet the expectations within the punk scene, Jesse being the perfect representation in Pearson’s memoir.
In From the Graveyard of the Arousal Industry, Pearson displays the influence of societal norms on a punk subculture and how these norms affect women in particular. The effect of these norms, leads women to change their appearance and how they act in order to fit into this ‘punk’ subculture. Therefore, the message that Pearson is trying to convey through his memoir is that although society today believes women are given their equality, that is no true because in most situations; may it be in a work place or just in general, we continue to live in a patriarchal society. Nonetheless punk is often viewed as progressive, however, it retains damaging mainstream norms regarding the inequality of women. A subculture that objectifies women consequently causes a decline in the progress of feminism.