The Trailer as Erotic Capital. Gendered Performances—Research and Participant Roles during Festival Fieldwork

Irene Trysnes

doi:10.3390/soc9040083

Abstract

This article examines different roles and field relations of the researcher in studies of young people at Christian festivals. The main questions are how the researcher gains access to the “flirtation field,” which flirting roles the youth participants engage in, and how the researcher copes with flirtation in the field. The article’s theoretical approach draws on feminist methodology on how positions, roles, and relations are negotiated in fieldwork, and discusses the notion of erotic capital. Christian festivals in Norway attract among 100,000 people every year. One of the main activities that was brought to my attention by a car trailer was the importance of flirting between the young boys and girls at these festivals. At the Christian festivals, flirting takes place within a heterosexual framework. In order to be part of this game, the girls are supposed to be feminine and available. The boy’s role is to be active and take initiative. Both sexes work hard to become participants in this game of winning attention that represents two different worlds for boys and girls, and in which there are both male and female losers. The rules of the game seem doubly strict for the girls since they are expected to administer both their own and the boys’ lust.

Highlights

The argument of women working harder at their gender performance and sexuality indicates that erotic capital does not occur in a powerless vacuum. This further leads to the question of when flirting, or the erotic capital turns into being considered sexual harassment? Sexual harassment, according to
I argue that the notion of erotic capital combined with Connell’s understanding of hegemonic masculinity is able to capture both the power relation between young boys and girls, and flirting as a performance between young boys and girls at Christian festivals
In the recruitment process I tried to get in touch with different types of participants with different connections to the Christian festivals

Summary

Introduction

This article examines different research and participant roles and gendered performances in studies of young people at Christian festivals. Studying flirting strategies in Christian festivals is of sociological interest because this is a field that represents different kinds of rules and social norms than what many of the young people meet in other parts of society. The argument of women working harder at their gender performance and sexuality indicates that erotic capital does not occur in a powerless vacuum This further leads to the question of when flirting, or the erotic capital turns into being considered sexual harassment? I argue that the notion of erotic capital combined with Connell’s understanding of hegemonic masculinity is able to capture both the power relation between young boys and girls, and flirting as a performance between young boys and girls at Christian festivals

Materials and Methods

It Started with a Trailer

Erotic Capital and the Body

Strategies for Adapting to the Flirting Arena

Methods