David Bowie – the trans who fell to earth: cultural regulation, Bowie and gender fluidity

Abstract

This article seeks to address and interrogate cultural regulation in the context of the complex gender identity of the late, great David Bowie as a figure who has persistently and obstinately operated outside societal norms. In the 70s, his emergence into British popular culture at such a specifically revolutionary moment in time, locates him within the circuit of culture in a unique way, where his very being is nuanced by the processes of representation, identity, production, consumption. Through placement of his diverse personae into their cultural and socio-political contexts, it is possible to understand the cultural forces being brought to bear upon his identity; as an artist; as a musician; as a performer and as a gender-bender. The concept of regulation as part of the circuit of culture is particularly pertinent and by viewing Bowie through this lens it is possible to not only demonstrate his significance as a central figure that influenced the notion of gender as fluid rather than fixed, but also to understand how the system of cultural regulation operates to question, contain and ultimately assimilate all transgression, so as to reassert order and stability.