"Not eager to fit in" : The collective work of creating an alternative cosmology of Heavy Metal

Abstract: The celebration of a White heteronormative masculinity is still vivid in Heavy Metal. This has embodied and discursive consequences that are visible in the domination of Metal spaces or the marginalisation of female, trans' or non-binary musicians, but also in an aesthetics of (hetero- and cis-) sexism and racism that is often apparent. Nevertheless, Metal is still empowering and joyful for those who experience exclusion and marginalisation. They have found ways to react and organise an alternative participation in Heavy Metal. Using a queered approach to Cultural Studies, this study aims at intervening in the continuous reproduction of a normative White and straight Metal masculinity. Collecting data from five ethnographic interviews with queer Metalheads and additional autoethnographic data, it shows how queer Metalheads organise their participation in Heavy Metal and create an alternative Metal cosmology. This study is not only a theoretical intervention. As a result of the interview project, a new community of queer Metalheads was created.