Feeling your way as an occupational minority: The gendered sensilisation of women electronic music artists

Abstract

This article develops a nascent theory of ‘sensilisation’ – a process of learning to be skilled in experiencing and displaying sensory knowledge according to social convention. In particular, I present data from an autoethnography of learning to be a DJ and producer of electronic music (hereafter ‘electronic music artist’), and in-depth interviews with 36 women at various stages of their careers as electronic music artists to present a tentative, sensory-led hypothesis for the enduring male dominance of the electronic music industry. I offer direction on how a ‘sensilisation analysis’ might be carried out, and conclude by suggesting that the lessons learned from this ‘extreme’ case study might illuminate more everyday encounters with gender, the senses and management learning and in particular, the Othering of minority individuals in occupational contexts. In addition, the article stands as an empirical exploration of Ashcraft’s concept of ‘senses of self’ in the construction and operation of occupational identities, and in particular occupational segregation – her metaphor of the ‘glass slipper’.