In Austin, Texas, amongst the soft rock, bedroom pop, and the slew of independent beat-making lies a queer independent rock scene. Since the rise of Austin punk in the 1980s, queer rock music has pervaded house shows, co-operative parties, and underground downtown venues. Marked by B52s-esque bizarre singing styles, dark and moody sounds, and flashy performance, queer rock music both physically and musically relates to the queer culture and experience; it is kitschy and attention-grabbing with the purpose of expressing the taboo queer experience and differentiating from the more serious or deliberate straight rock scene. 

With roots in the circumstances of WW2, American queer culture has developed around gender-blurring expression and anti-hegemonic presentation. The expression of this form sees complex and often impractical fashion choices, which pair with designated modes of lifestyle, career, and hobbies. Contemporarily, bleached or shaved eyebrows have become a highly prevalent and easily recognizable form of queer social presentation, marking producers and consumers of queer Austin rock and signifying their participation in queer social values. 

Eyebrows have connoted social value and cultural status for many centuries and continue to carry sentiment in the same way as makeup or dress. In the Elizabethan Era, a high and bare forehead connotated purity and upper-class status, leading women to pluck or bleach their eyebrows, connoting a likeness to nobility. American film stars of the 1920s and 30s induced the popularity of thinly plucked and elongated eyebrows. This style aided in emotional expression for actresses and emphasized the dramatic makeup of the time. Most recently, 1990s New York club kids bleached and shaved their eyebrows to enhance their dramatic and shocking presentation, while supermodels of the time employed this style to extend the face in avante-garde looks. Within the queer rock subculture, the meaning of removing eyebrows is distant from the Elizabethan interpretation but further develops those which bookend the 20th century. The style conveys the vivid and stylized emotion of early 19th century actresses and the identity-centric, anti-mainstream values of the 1990s club kids. 

 Although the queer independent rock scene reflects its title in a literal and structural way– referring to independently released queer rock music– the subculture around it relies heavily on aesthetics of human form and artistic taste. The Austin queer rock scene takes broad inspiration from the New York club scene– in value, style, and sentiment. The act of removing eyebrows serves as an aesthetic marker of differentiation in both physical and ideological value. This marker additionally contrasts with mainstream, stylized, and unbleached eyebrows. As the trend of fluffy, textured brows prevails in modern straight culture, bleached/shaved eyebrows emphasize the disconnect from straight identity and its associated values.  

Removed eyebrows allow for space to paint experimental and eccentric makeup while also creating ambiguity around gender presentation and disconnect from mainstream standards. The understanding and embracing of these practices signals the individual’s participation in the scene and celebration of these values. The act occurs in tandem with loud, discomforting, and sometimes unmelodious music, which denies the respectability ideology of straight culture– being vibrant, risky, and sometimes impractical clashes with capitalist and hegemonic ideals of productivity and conservatism. 

In small, queer spaces, presentation serves a defining role for queer consumers and producers of independent rock music. The visual acceptance of queer ideals through markers like bleached or shaved eyebrows signifies individuals as active and passionate community members with knowledge of and pride in the queer experience.