‘It’s not about candy’. Music, sexiness and girls’ serious play in after school care

Abstract

This article explores the musical practices of a small group of pre-teen girls in an after school care centre in Adelaide, South Australia. These practices constituted 'serious play' as the girls attempted to transform and reconfigure the space through their engagement with popular music. The article illustrates how the girls challenged the power relations of the institutional setting both musically and sexually. It concludes that the music that the young girls listened to and the way they played with such music were 'not about candy'. Rather, the girls' musical engagement in after school care was related to constantly shifting fields of power and a struggle over western cultural beliefs regarding asexual childhood.