Canadian Women Djs Sound Off Maren Jane
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STEREO/TYPES: CANADIAN WOMEN DJS SOUND OFF MAREN JANE HANCOCK A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN GENDER, FEMINIST AND WOMEN’S STUDIES YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO SEPTEMEMBER 2020 © MAREN JANE HANCOCK, 2020 ABSTRACT There has been a significant increase in the number of women DJs since the turn of the twenty- first century due to advances in technology resulting in increased access to cheap or free digital music and software, inexpensive and user-friendly hardware (such as controllers), and the networking and promotional opportunities afforded by the Internet. Moreover, emergent local, regional, national, and international initiatives to advance women in DJ culture are converging with established underground networks and actions, resulting in the increased visibility and influence of BIPOC and womxn DJs and producers, who continue to organize collective resistance to misogyny, sexism, racism, and heteronormativity within DJ culture–both generally, and specific to Canada. This multi-dimensional study–conducted from the insider perspective of a professional DJ–explores the ways in which Canadian women DJs’ positionality in DJ culture is impacted by the social construction of gender, race, and sexuality. Particular attention is paid to the effects of homosociality and heteronormativity on women’s engagement with DJ technologies, and how we resist these forces by forming networks to establish our own physical and digital spaces in Canadian DJ culture. Although women’s access to DJ culture and our representation within the culture in terms of media portrayal, diversity, and sheer numbers has improved, the underground and activist scenes propelling these institutional changes are increasingly vulnerable to commercial cooptation that threatens to dilute any revolutionary potential. This study analyzes how women have been excluded from the majority of academic and popular culture discourse on the history of DJ culture, and the importance of documenting our contributions in order to push for a reconfiguration of this history. The research design for this project consists of a mixed-methods approach incorporating qualitative and quantitative data generated from an online survey of 113 womxn DJs, personal interviews with thirty-five womxn DJs, and participant observation. This rich ethnographic data is explored in detail throughout this study. ii DEDICATION To all of the amazing humans that took part in this study: THANK YOU. To my mother Susan Olivia Hancock, and my other mother, Lee Bolton-Robinson. My debt to you both will take a lifetime to pay off. To Rhiannon. For everything. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Jen Jenson, for her unrelenting patience and support, and her invaluable feedback on countless drafts of this dissertation. I would like to thank Allyson Mitchell for being on my committee and giving me vital feedback on my final drafts, as well as her kindness and continued support since I began my doctoral studies. I also thank Didi Khyatt for being on my committee, her unwavering encouragement, and her thoughtful comments on several of my drafts. Special thanks to examiners Natalie Coulter and Charity Marsh, it was thrilling to discuss my work with you both during my defense; your questions and comments have inspired me to pursue further research questions based upon my findings. I am ever grateful to my friends and family, especially my sisters, who instilled in me a deep passion for music. A very special thank-you to Natalie Kalio also, for her expert help with formatting. Lastly, I extend a massive thank you to my research participants. It was a profound honour to have them share their stories with me. Their dedication to DJing and love of music continues to inspire me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ...................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Stereo/Types: Re-defining the DJ ........................................................................................... 1 1.2. “DJ” Defined ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.3. Gender and DJ Culture in the Twenty-First Century .............................................................. 6 1.4. An Insider Perspective ........................................................................................................... 13 1.5. Chapter Outlines .................................................................................................................... 28 CHAPTER 2: LAST NIGHT A LITERATURE REVIEW CHALLENGED AN ANDROCENTRIC VIEW OF DJ CULTURE ............................................................................. 33 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 33 2.2. Hxrstory/History .................................................................................................................... 34 2.3. Régine vs. Jimmy Sa-Vile ...................................................................................................... 42 2.4. Recent Literature on Gender and DJ Culture: Dominant Themes ......................................... 56 2.5. Gender Parity and the Discourse of “Rarity” ......................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 3: INTERSECTIONAL FEMINIST METHODS AND METHODOLOGIES ......... 69 3.1. Designing a Mixed-Methods Study of Womxn DJs in Canada ............................................. 69 3.2. Theoretical Framework(s) ...................................................................................................... 71 3.3. Intersectionality ...................................................................................................................... 74 3.4. Methodological Framework ................................................................................................... 77 3.5. Data Collection ...................................................................................................................... 78 3.6. Survey .................................................................................................................................... 83 3.7. Personal Interviews ................................................................................................................ 88 3.8. Further Ethical and Methodological Concerns ...................................................................... 91 CHAPTER 4: STEREO/TYPES (SIDE A) .................................................................................. 93 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 93 4.2. Hidden Hxrstories of Canadian DJ Culture ........................................................................... 94 4.3. DJ Pathways of the 1980s ...................................................................................................... 97 v 4.4. DJ Pathways of the 1990s .................................................................................................... 106 4.5. DJ Pathways: Campus and Community Radio (CCR) ........................................................ 108 4.6. Canadian Regional and Digital Networks ............................................................................ 115 4.7. DJing, Education, Employment and STEM ......................................................................... 126 4.8. Social Media and the DJ Hustle ........................................................................................... 130 CHAPTER 5: STEREO/TYPES SIDE B ................................................................................... 134 5.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 134 5.2. Multiculturalism, MRWaSP, Whiteness, and “Look, I Overcame!” ................................... 136 5.3. Gender and Sexuality ........................................................................................................... 145 5.4. The Gimmick and the Token ............................................................................................... 152 CHAPTER 6: LICK, STACKED & BLOCKORAMA: QUEER CULTURAL COMMUNITIES FIGHT FOR SPACE ................................................................................................................... 160 6.1. Introduction……………………………………………………….………………………..164 6.2. Lick Club: A Queer Time, Space and Place ........................................................................ 162 6.3. Specific Methodological and Ethical Concerns ................................................................... 164 6.4. The Lick