Ariel Kenny published "'You Gotta Touch Her Again. You Gotta Lick Her Again': Observing Hegemonic Masculinity in a DIY Punk Dive Bar" in Volume I of the Undergraduate Sociology Journal (USJ). The article analyzes how both heterosocial and homosocial interactions may reproduce or subvert hegemonic masculinity in the nightlife of the "do it yourself" (DIY) punk scene. To provide illustrative examples of how these processes occur, Ariel observed and recorded interpersonal interactions at a Toronto dive bar within the scene and analyzed them for their structure and content. The findings show that hegemonic masculinity was reproduced not only through men's interactions with women but by their homosocial interactions with other men as well; male patrons either exhibited passivity towards acknowledging the harassment or vouched in favour of the male harassers. This finding suggests that men in DIY punk may tend to adopt a bystander mentality that excuses them from challenging hegemonic masculinity within the scene–even if they ideologically wish to subvert it.
Ariel is in their fourth year at the University of Toronto and is specializing in Sociology with a minor in English. They are studying sociology to engage with historically neglected and newly emerging social issues to the benefit of those most affected by their impact. Their topics of interest include deviance, gender politics, mental health and social networks. Their favourite sociology course has been SOC204: Intro to Qualitative Methods because it provided their first hands-on experience with conducting research. Going forward, Ariel will pursue graduate-level research and contribute to community development projects for social advocacy and non-profit organizations.