What does it mean to society to be part of the SCA?

I have been wondering this myself. And it appears that people put a lot of thought into it. I always thought my involvement was simple. I met a woman that said “I do this, try it out”, I like physical activities so, hitting people with sticks sounded fun and I like to learn and make things and this was an excuse to learn blacksmithing and metal work. Then there is the drinking with the group and acting foolish in which I excel.

Others look for more meaning to it or try to explain it in a more escapist rational.

So there is a book I would like to read but it is to expensive for an ebook and I need to find someone I can barrow it from or get my public library to get a copy. “Medieval Fantasy as Performance: The Society for Creative Anachronism and the Current Middle Ages” http://books.google.com/books?id=SlTk6vpYXh0C

I just read this paper today and it has some other citations I need to look for, The Bonds That Tie: The Society for Creative Anachronism and the Formation of Social Bonds.

Are we (me and my re-creationist friends) part of a sub-culture or is it just that we are normal people with an unusual hobby? Granted there are the SCA members that want to “live the dream” but is that the majority or the minority of the SCA. Can we all be pinned under a defined label or is there more to it or even less? Why is it different than being part of a sports team or a theatrical group in the view of the public and media?

I do not fit in with main stream SCA because I find it weird. I am a fighter and artisan but the whole court and ‘my lady’ and ‘my lord’ stuff just feels odd. It is interesting that you can be an outsider in a group of outsiders. At least as a surfer, skate boarder, rock climber and kayaker people do not consider you weird just slightly crazy. Is it the costuming of the SCA that makes it a fringe sub-culture? If the fighting was in a studio in a shopping center it would be accepted as another martial art. A new trendy form of exercise. Instead we are a sub-culture.

Society is just confusing.