Do It Yourself

Resumo: O texto aborda as dinâmicas de atuação de jovens mulheres nas cenas rap na capital do Rio Grande do Sul de forma a refletir sobre os aspectos comunicacionais de seus distintos papéis e funções através da midiatização de suas performances. Assim, o artigo está fundado sobre uma etnografia das cenas rap da Região Metropolitana de Porto Alegre (RMPA) – RS, Brasil, realizada entre 2014 e 2017. A pesquisa empírica, que orienta as discussões apresentadas, resultou em um aprofundamento sobre as práticas de consumo musical expandido entre jovens participantes da (sub)cultura hip-hop, o que envolve a produção e o consumo de rap. Como resultados gerais do recorte proposto aqui são apontadas as principais práticas de garotas ou grupos de mulheres que compõem e performatizam rap, a fim de compreender como elas vêm reconfigurando as relações de gênero na (sub)cultura hip-hop.
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Abstract: The text approaches the dynamics of young women acting on rap scenes in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) in order to reflect on the communicational aspects of their different roles and functions through the mediatization of their performances. Thus, the article is based on an ethnography of rap scenes from the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre (RMPA)-RS, Brazil, conducted between 2014 and 2017. Our empirical research, which guides the discussions presented, resulted in a deepening of the practices of expanded musical consumption among young people
participating in (sub) hip-hop culture, which involves the production and consumption
of rap. As general results of what we’ve proposed, we analyzed the main practices of
girls or groups of women who compose and perform rap music in order to understand
how they have been reconfiguring gender relations in hip-hop (sub)culture.
Keywords: rap; DIY; women; mediatic society; youth.

The development of individuals’ digital skills has received much attention as a remedy for digital inequality. Although some researchers favor courses and guided learning for skills development, others propose learning by trial-and-error. Unfortunately, studies examining the value of the so-called “do-it-yourself approach” for the development of digital skills remain lacking. One difficulty lies in the vicious circle of lack of skill leading to infrequent Internet usage and vice versa, which limits the value of cross-sectional data for assessing the impact of this approach. We present longitudinal data on a random sample of Internet users in a Dutch city, which show that more frequent Internet use leads to more digital skills, but not the other way around. However, contrary to expectations about the potential of trial-and-error learning to reduce inequality, results also suggests that this approach is not always more beneficial to the “have-little” as compared to the “have-more.” The only inequality-reducing effect of this approach is that that older users profit more from it than younger users do.