Performing Femininity: Young Women's Gendered Practice of Cigarette Smoking

Abstract

Throughout the last 20 years in Australia, young women have started smoking at a higher rate than young men, and they seem less inclined to quit. Moreover, smoking has dire health consequences that are unique to women, and smoking is now seen as a ‘woman's issue’. The research reported in this article explores what cigarette smoking means to young women, to see if smoking forms part of their performative gender identity. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with a volunteer sample of 20 women smokers aged 18–24 to explore subjective interpretations of cigarette smoking and the gendered meanings associated with smoking. Grounded theory was used in the analysis of the data, and to generate a theory around the shared phenomenon of smoking. The analysis indicates that the concept of femininity is important both to the accounts that young women give about smoking and to their gender identity. For example, they choose cigarettes branded as feminine, and hold and ash their cigarettes in ‘gender-appropriate’ ways. Drawing upon the notion of gender performance, I argue that smoking is a gender act that can be internalised and which, when repeatedly performed by women in gender-appropriate ways, constructs a ‘feminine’ gender identity.

Keywords:

• Cigarettes
• smoking
• femininity
• gender identity
• performativity
• young women

Notes

¹ Incidentally, at this time, Craven A cigarettes were awarded the certificate of the Institute of Hygiene for quality and purity (Hilton, 2000, p. 99).

² Twenty six percent of the films were unrated because films released before 1968 were unrated, 33% were G rated (films classified as suitable for general audiences of all ages), 52% were rated PG or PG13 (parental guidance suggested for audiences under the age of 13) and 15% were rated R (films classified as restricted, with audiences under the age of 17 requiring an accompanying parent or legal guardian). There were no X-rated films included.

³ ‘Tobacco events’ included: implied or actual consumption of tobacco; tobacco paraphernalia (such as ashtrays and matches); talking about tobacco; no-smoking signs; and tobacco product logos.

⁴ My argument is not that non-smoking women are any less feminine because they do not smoke. Rather, my point is that when gender is broken down into acts, and smoking is performed in a socially legitimated feminine way, it can be seen as one of myriad acts that go to make up gender.