Ghosts of Leigh: scripting the monstrous effeminate

Baker, Dallas John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5155-7816 (2017) Ghosts of Leigh: scripting the monstrous effeminate. New Writing: The International Journal for the Practice and Theory of Creative Writing, 14 (3). pp. 327-347. ISSN 1479-0726

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Abstract

This article describes how a practice-led research methodology used to produce a creative writing artefact, a short play aimed at a high school audience, had a transformative impact on a number of levels: on the artefact, on the writing practice itself and on the author’s own self-knowledge in terms of gender identity and subjectivity. The creative writing artefact in question is a short stage play entitled Ghosts of Leigh, an exploration of the gender-bending club culture of the 1980s. The play is set in regional Queensland, Australia, which, at that time, was a strongly homosocial and homophobic environment. The script and this article explore the notion of effeminacy as a monstrous masculinity of considerable discursive potency that simultaneously disrupts both masculinity and femininity. The article also discusses how the practice-led research methodology itself facilitated the development of fresh understandings around effeminacy and how these new understandings interacted with the author’s lived gender and embodied subjectivity.

Statistics for this ePrint Item

Item Type:	Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C)
Refereed:	Yes
Item Status:	Live Archive
Additional Information:	Submitted version made accessible in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Historic - Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts - School of Arts and Communication (1 Jul 2013 - 28 Feb 2019)
Faculty/School / Institute/Centre:	Historic - Faculty of Business, Education, Law and Arts - School of Arts and Communication (1 Jul 2013 - 28 Feb 2019)
Date Deposited:	19 Oct 2017 04:30
Last Modified:	28 Jan 2021 01:20
Uncontrolled Keywords:	effeminacy, monstrosity, Leigh Bowery, self-making, creative writing
Fields of Research (2008):	19 Studies in Creative Arts and Writing > 1904 Performing Arts and Creative Writing > 190402 Creative Writing (incl. Playwriting) 20 Language, Communication and Culture > 2005 Literary Studies > 200599 Literary Studies not elsewhere classified
Fields of Research (2020):	36 CREATIVE ARTS AND WRITING > 3602 Creative and professional writing > 360201 Creative writing (incl. scriptwriting) 47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4705 Literary studies > 470599 Literary studies not elsewhere classified
Socio-Economic Objectives (2008):	E Expanding Knowledge > 97 Expanding Knowledge > 970119 Expanding Knowledge through Studies of the Creative Arts and Writing C Society > 95 Cultural Understanding > 9501 Arts and Leisure > 950104 The Creative Arts (incl. Graphics and Craft)
Identification Number or DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1080/14790726.2017.1317275
URI:	http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/32004

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