This edited collection provides sociological and cultural research that expands our understanding of the alternative, liminal or transgressive; theorizing the status of the alternative in contemporary culture and society.

Introduction; Samantha Holland and Karl Spracklen Section I: Subcultures 1. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Dressed in Street Fashions?: Investigating Virtually Constructed Fashion Subcultures; Theresa M. Winge  2. Cursed is the Fruit of Thy Womb: Inversion/Subversion and the Inscribing of Morality on Women's Bodies in Heavy Metal; Amanda DiGioia and Dr. Charlotte Naylor Davis  3. Japanophilia in Kuwait: How Far Does International Culture Penetrate?; Thorsten Botz-Bornstein   4. Misogyny as an Artistic Tool in the Construction of '80s Glam Metal's Aesthetics: An Alternative Perspective; Gareth Heritage  5. Reight Mardy Tykes: Gothic/Doom Metal as an Act of English Northernness; M. Selim Yavuz  Section II: Bodies  6. Unwritten Rules and Societal Norms of Tattooed Female Bodies; Charlotte Dann  7. 'Tattooed and Beautiful?': Tattoo Collecting and Embodied Gender Deviance; Beverly Yuen Thompson  8. Russian Feminisms, Queer Activism and the Western Gaze: Female Bodies Between Spectacles and Celebration, Victimizations and (Self-)Marginalization; M. Katharina Wiedlack  9. Out of Time: Anohni and Transgendered/Transage Transgression; Abigail Gardner  10. Irrational Perspectives and Untenable Positions: Sociology, 'Mental Illness' and 'Dis'ability; Kay Inckle  Section III: Spaces  11. Ageing Alternative Women: Discourses of Authenticity, Resistance and 'Coolness'; Samantha Holland  12. Girls to the Front? Gender and Alternative Spaces; Laura Way  13. "In the Land of Grey and Pink": Popular Music Alternativity in the Lived and Imagined City of Canterbury 2017; Asya Draganova and Shane Blackman  Conclusion: Making Sense of Alternativity in Leisure and Culture: Back to Sub-Culture?; Karl Spracklen

In this collection of essays, contributors in cultural studies, feminist theory, psychology, philosophy, music, cultural sociology, and American studies analyze issues and directions in studying alternative cultures. Most contributors are women, and most promote the advantages of using feminist approaches to study subcultures, scenes, and other manifestations of alternative popular cultures in America and other countries. Some subjects addressed include fashion subcultures, madness and disability, aging alternative women, regulation of tattooed female bodies, and women’s bodies in heavy metal. B&w photos are included.