If you’re just joining the conversation, Anna blogged about the “sensitive male chauvinist” and Nicole responded that Bob Dylan’s been called out for his hostility to women in his music. That made me think of this great piece called “Where the Girls Aren’t” by Jessica Hopper. It was written a few years ago, and it immediately sparked a pretty intense debate among my friends, who were hardcore indie rockers at that point.
Music like punk and emo (and its cousin, indie rock) is assumed to be pro-gender-equality, just because a)in some ways it started out that way b)the whole sub-culture is kinda counter-cultural, with the do-it-yourself, and rejection of cookie cutter pop. BUT, Jessica Hopper argues that this rep is actually totally false and that emo in particular is extremely male-dominated, and lyrically very misogynist.
Seriously read this article! It was one of the first things in a long chain of events that slowly turned me off boy-rock (and other things. like, you know, patriarchy). Anybody wanna buy my Get Up Kids box set?
PS If you had trouble before 4 p.m. EST on 10 August following that link to the full article, try it again now.
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three comments
Love Jessica Hopper, and love this article. Her column is the first thing I read when I get a hold of a Punk Planet... especially now that all Al Burian seems to write about is doing coke in European nightclubs, or something. Anyway, she's a whip-smart gal.
Back when I wrote an article for the very first Shameless (sigh...) on community radio, I interviewed one woman who mentioned that some of the most messed up, misogynist, anti-feminist things she's ever heard came out of the mouths of so-called punks, who are supposedly "liberated from" and "indifferent to" social norms and stereotypes about women. Bullshit, ain't it.
Posted by Anna
August 10, 2006, 3:13 PM
I also love this article. I think it partly explains why female music geeks are _still_ actively interested in Riot Grrrl thirteen years after the fact. Women have made gains in music, without a doubt, but there's still a deficit of places for us outside of the singer-songwriter or folk genres.
Posted by Kat S
August 11, 2006, 1:54 PM
i really need to get hold of this article? can it be found on the internet ?
Posted by charlie
January 8, 2007, 11:26 AM
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