ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the gender relations of British barbershop community as a significant, though not all-determining, aspect of what it means to be a barbershopper. It outlines the musical and institutional practices by which barbershop organizes itself according to a modernized version of the 'separate but equal' model. The chapter presents a picture of the British experience that is most distinct from that of North American barber-shoppers. Mixed quartets, octets and choruses do exist, not least as a means for family members to sing together, but these operate outside the structures and without the support of barbershop organizations. Singouts bring choruses and quartets into close contact with other local groups, and chorus or quartet rehearsals substitute the barbershop social circle for work and family relationships for only a few hours per week. The chapter concludes that musical manifestation of the doctrine of separate spheres displays both the potential for female autonomy and the dangers of women's marginalization.
