Commercial gender: Fracturing masculinity in the case of OzRock

This paper examines the relation between culture and organizations in terms of the cultural meaning and contradiction that can be located in the 'products' of the entertainment industry. Specifically, we focus on the meaning of Australian masculinity as it is located in the cultural expression of commercial Australian rock, or OzRock as it is commonly referred to. We explore how the myth of Australian masculinity is fractured by complex and subtle gender relations that make its representation in one of its most successful business forms a failed project of the repression of the feminine. Despite its association with mateship, aggression, physicality, sexual prowess and social dominance, we highlight the instabilities inherent in Australian masculinity through a gendered reading of commercially produced and mass-consumed popular culture.