| In Style Matters, I argue that rock climbing is a complex social activity situated within the discourses of masculinity and whiteness. The theory of Deleuze and Guattari (1972/1977) illustrates how we can read masculinity as a working of desire, and I isolate the use of style in rock climbing as a technique of this working. My framework can allow for a detailed reading of the interaction between masculinity, whiteness and heterosexuality, a reading that I show through the rock climbing discourses of risk and masochism. However, the textual reading of rock climbing also needs to take place at the local level of climbing activities. To this end, I provide a starting point to the consideration of our leisure habits as both constructions of and constructors of discourse through representations at the University of Alberta Campus Outdoor Centre climbing wall. |
