Risky Pleasures?: Club Cultures and Feminine Identities

In this book Fiona Hutton provides a fascinating insight into women's experiences of clubbing. Based on a rich ethnographic account of the Manchester club scene, Risky Pleasures? is set within the context of the theoretical literature on youth subcultures, female friendship, consumption, risk and the city. The work highlights both the producers of club scenes - promoters, DJs, dealers - and the consumers - women negotiating pleasure and risk in club spaces and in the city at night. It explores the range of club spaces, developing a typology of 'mainstream' and 'underground' clubs, and considers how different types of participants are attracted to different 'scenes'. It examines women's recreational drug-use within a club context and discusses issues of sexuality, tolerance and the importance of 'attitude' in terms of women's feelings of safety. Revealing the important role of different spaces and different atmospheres in how women participate in club scenes, Fiona Hutton argues that drug taking and sexual pleasure are always contextualized within the environments created in different spaces, and that the risk and danger negotiated by women clubbers are counterbalanced by fun and pleasure - and ultimately empowerment.

Table of Contents:
Introduction, Fiona Hutton; Chapter 1 The Invisible Woman? The Part icipation of Women on Club Scenes, Fiona Hutton; Chapter 2 Gendered Experience of Club Spaces, Fiona Hutton; Chapter 3 Negotiating the Night Time Economy; Women as Drug Dealers, DJs and Club Promoters, Fiona Hutton; Chapter 4 Pleasure and Risk: Drug Use and Club Scenes, Fiona Hutton; Chapter 5 Safety, Sexuality in the Club and in the City, Fiona Hutton; Chapter 6 Consuming and Producing Club Spaces: The Negotiation of Risk and Pleasure by Clubbing Women, Fiona Hutton;

About the Author :
Fiona Hutton is a Lecturer in Criminology in the Institute of Criminology at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

Review :
’Risky Pleasures? is a groundbreaking book, which foregrounds women's experience of Manchester's contemporary club spaces. Situated within a detailed discussion of risk, pleasure, drug use and sex, Hutton draws on interview material, highlighting the ways women negotiate tension and conflict. An exciting read which provides a new and relevant agenda for the discussion of women in club spaces.’ Sheila Whiteley, University of Salford, UK ’This ground-breaking book uses the voices of young women to address the everyday gendered negotiation of risk and pleasure in clubbing. It makes both an important contribution to the risk thesis literature and to setting an innovative feminist agenda for exploring sexual and drug-based behaviour in club cultures.’ Jenny Ryan, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK ’The book is important in drawing on the voices of young women in both mainstream and underground clubs, exploring their experience and attending to the value of "attitude" in respect of women's feelings of safety and security...It is by bringing gender differences to the fore that [the author] is able to show the oppositional potential in female clubbing practices.’ European Journal of Communication ’...makes a useful contribution to the academic enterprise of club studies.’ Cultural Sociology 'The book weaves a coherent picture of how drug use, sexuality and risk are part of the defining style of female club culture. We learn about 'new femininities' merging expressions of sexuality and femininity in the controlled spaces of club cultures... Most interesting is the chapter on those women who have specific roles in the club scene. Hutton shares some pioneering data and commentary on female producers involved in clubs: DJs, club promoters and drug dealers.' Theoretical Criminology 'The title of this book attracted me as contemporary leisure activities like club participation are rarely studied within leisure research...Women are mostly seen as vic