Applying the concept of doing gender to the world of heavy metal, a review of research in other areas of inquiry in which the notion of doing gender has been used will be helpful to situate, and develop a perspective useful for, our empirical investigations. This discussion will explain important dimensions of the homosocial form of hypermasculinity, even in societies expressly committed to gender equality, in order to advance our analysis. Specifically reviewed are examples of othering, objectification, and doing gender that have been researched in the workplace, in sports, and in a variety of more and less deviant subcultures. What these various settings have in common with the heavy metal community, we will show, is that they undeniably are, or at least traditionally were, dominated by men and hypermasculine as a result and, additionally, that they have undergone changes that today make them more gender-mixed in character than in the past. We review these issues along with a review of the relevant literature on heavy metal in order to situate our own empirical investigations.

Social Structure and Subculture: Hypermasculinity in Work and Play

The workplace and the sports world are both highly competitive social structures involving the pursuit of monetary and other rewards. With respect to workplaces historically dominated by men, research has uncovered gender issues posed by women taking up political offices, leadership positions in companies, and positions in jobs that have traditionally been defined as masculine because of the physicality and mentality that is held to be required, such as fire fighters, police officers, and the military. Women entering these hypermasculine environments have been shown to be criticized as less skilled and enterprising (Berg and Budnick 1986; Craig and Jacobs 1985; Davis et al. 2010; Guajardo 2016) and are subjected to gender marking to differentiate women's presumed aptitudes from those of men (Hauser 2011; Morgan and Martin 2006). Although parental socialization of children has been found to reproduce gender inequities in work (Platt and Polavieja 2016), gender also becomes less salient, and negative stereotypes of women decrease over time, as more and more women enter such workplaces (Huffman 2013; Lawless 2004; Rosen et al. 2003).