Watch This : Riot Grrrl Vid
When reflecting on riot grrrl, Tobi Vail of Bikini Kill says:
“I thought by now there would be so many more female drummers, so many more all-woman bands, and so many more aggressive girl guitar players, and there aren't. That, to me, is really what depresses me about the whole thing”
Why do you think there are disproportinate numbers of men in music, especially in the punk scene?
5 comments:
I'd be willing to wager that in the "industry" of music, the wheeling and dealing and signing of contracts and all that, there are probably a disproportionate number of men involved. But then that's just an assumption of mine, because, you know, in most industries, the majority of the money that changes hands, and decisions being made, are still predominantly made by white men.
But in terms of performers? I don't think so - going through my own list of favorite artists, I feel like it breaks down pretty evenly, and I think it would be the same for most of my friends' music collections as well.
As far as the punk scene goes, though - well is there even a genuine punk scene at this point? And is it important enough to pay attention to in terms of gender breakdown?
There are definitely genres that skew towards one gender over another. Heavy metal is one of them, punk may be another. I guess if you consider gangsta rap to be a genre, that's another one that skews heavily male. It's also the most popular genre of music in the world today, so I guess if we're going to be concerned, we should be concerned that there aren't more women in gangsta rap.
hmmm, i think that maybe women SHOULD be in gangsta rap.
perhaps as a response (like the riot grrls) to the misogyny and hegemony of that music scene.
I'm a 40 year old that plays punk rock music. My friends and fellow musicians are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. So yeah, there is a punk "scene," whether or not you think it's valid.
Punk is an attitude. And punk is very contradictory, and ALWAYS has been since I got into it in the early 80s, and I know people who were in late 70s punk bands and I'd venture to say it has ALWAYS been contradictory in that it has been the one realm of rock that was on one hand most accepting of females... (cause we're just another form of misfit yanno) and on the otherhand... NOT so accepting, esp the punks of the more macho testosterone HARDERLOUDERFASTER and/or herd mentality.
As a woman putting out a record w/ very intense female lyrics, yeah, I feel written off by pretty much all but a very few people. But who cares. Being punk was never about being popular or accepted by the crowd, even if it's a crowd that self-identifies as punk.
As for bands, I find them all tough. If your best girlfriends aren't into playing an instrument, it's hard to find a fit. Most girls still don't do it, not to the extent that boys do. The sexism, esp in rock, is still quite amazing, so you have to be a tough, determined, focused, self-believeing person, and much more so as a women.
It's a tough row to hoe, anyway you slice it. Erika
i was in a punk-ish band in high school and almost all of the bands that we were playing parties and small gigs with were all guys or majority guys. why? i don't know. but it wasn't some sexist conspiracy. we made the shows happen themselves, and if girls wanted in on it - believe me - they would be whole heartedly embraced. we didn't look at it like a boys club. we were all trying to get laid - it'd have been nice for the band scene not to have been such a sausage fest.
First: Insinuating that there arent women in hard-core (or "gangsta"/political/what have you) rap is rather inaccurate. It's like saying the only women in alt-rock/punk are those that are shown on MTV. Just as Avril is not the only chick with a guitar in music, Lil Kim is not the only female rapper to gain noteriety. Roxanne Shante, (who actually closely resembled Poly Styrene now that I think about it...)MC Lyte (who dealt with domestic abuse and drug addiction in her lyrics), J.J. Fad (a group produced by seminal gangsta rap group NWA), Yo-Yo (who wrote/performed "It's A Mans World"--a tongue-in-cheek account of rap music and "Can't Play With My Yo Yo" a fuck you to men who objectified her), Ms. Melodie (wife of political activist and rapper KRS-One), Sistah Souljah (a womens/black rights activist), B.W.P. (Bytches with Problems) and H.W.A. (Hoes With Attitude, both groups developed by Eazy E of NWA. Hoes is of course used ironically, the same as cunt, bitch, whore etc. are in riot grrrl).
so...yeah. there are pleanty of female rappers fighting the good fight.
Second:When it comes to punk (both US and UK), women were heavily involved from the beginning. X-Ray Specs, Patti Smith, Raincoats, the Slits etc etc. It is very important to understand gender in punk because well, without punk there wouldn't be Riot Grrrl now would there? What is genuine punk, exactly? Is there a genuine metal scene, or a genuine country scene? Notions of authenticity are highly subjective and decided on an individual basis when it comes right down to it.
Yes, it is skewed in terms of who becomes famous, but there are certainly many women active in most if not all musical genres.
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