ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the public perceptions of Strummer as the traditional, Western male rebel against his sense of social responsibility and far-reaching impact on women in punk, onstage and off, during the 1970s and throughout the ensuing decades. It explores Strummer's embrace of myriad social and political liberation movements from the 1970s to the 1990s and his public neglect of one of the biggest Western social movements of that era: feminism. Since Strummer's legacy stems from, and is most prominent because of, his time in the Clash, this work vacillates between studying Strummer as an individual, and the Clash's collective activity when it is problematic to distinguish Strummer's individual decisions from those of the band. Strummer, the Clash, and their symbolism were much more complex than the simple masculinity of the past might imply. A rebellion of gender roles embedded in Western culture for centuries was more rebellious than even the Sex Pistols' then-shocking opposition to British tradition and royalty.
