Sexism in the music industry?
 

I am currently making a podcast for my Music Journalism course at Uni on whether women are undermined in the music industry, and why/ why not that might be.
If anyone could spare a few minutes to get in touch with your views that would be great!
Thanks in advance.
Jess x

For whatever reason, the vast majority of musicians are men. Whether that's because of something inherent, or something cultural, I can't say. It obviously doesn't help that sexualization of female artists is fine, whereas no one really cares about sexualizing male artists.

But I imagine the relative lack of non-pop female artists is a more driving factor, since if there were more female artists who weren't looked at as just ****ty pop singers, then they would have more respect. There isn't a female Rolling Stones or Metallica, not just because of sexism, but because there just isn't a female Rolling Stones or Metallica.

Well to be fair, there's no male artists like this either. :tramp:

*looks at Chula's avatar*

*wouldn't masturbate, but would suck dick for Led Zeppelin money*

This thread makes me wonder why there are so few women playing the instruments in a band.
The only time you see the appearance of a woman, is when they add some token female to the group. Like a female guitar player.

Then again, it could have a lot to relate to the genre. Rock and Metal. Yet with the existence of female fronted bands, I struggle to understand why they wouldn't have a female instrumental backing. Most girls have other girls as friends, so why not?

Maureen Tucker is a pretty big figure in the music world for her work with VU who I wouldn't describe as token.

Still, it's mainly men that play drums, with that being an exception. Is it a masculine thing to play instruments? Especially the drums.

Or is it me and I'm not looking into enough obscure indie rock where female instrumentals are ubiquitous?

It's you.

You're all just putting up random videos with women in them. That's the definition of anecdotal evidence.

Laugh all you want, but you're all dancing around the issue that women just don't seem to go into music all on their own, quite possibly without any male interference.

lol

https://media.giphy.com/media/dF73dMfhaFwiI/giphy.gif

Nah, he totally blew it. Right band, wrong member.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l...1xt4o1_500.jpg

That's Led Zeppelin himself, isn't it? That was my whole point.

I think Led Zeppelin is a pretty cool guy. Eh makes good music and doesn't afraid of anything.

What's the difference

Well, they were no New York Dolls.

http://images.popmatters.com/news_ar...73-500x250.jpg

I think it depends what genre of music you look at (or listen to). With rock, especially the heavier kinds of rock, there aren't that many females, so much so that if a rock band had, say, a female drummer or bassist it would be noteworthy. On the other hand women are everywhere in the pop and folk fields. I couldn't quote any figures, but I'd say the numbers in those genres would be roughly equal.

http://41.media.tumblr.com/6UejqWL8l...zJho1_1280.jpg



http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...11_306x537.jpg

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/3084948/th...ICHARD-570.jpg

This video is so great because of the single tracking shot. How many takes did this take?



My point is that I think you need to replace Sexism with Sexuality. I think there's very little sexism in music. There may be some long time held trends but there's been just as many trend busters. If you got the chops and can bring it the doors are mostly always open.

In our days I don't see sexism in a music industry, like in other branches. If you wanna be popular or professional in any business you have to devote a lot of time, put all life to reach a success. But womens want to have kids and family. Pursuit of happiness takes too much time and energy. That`s why mens become more successful in work.

These are sexy men.Yes you're right.

I don't think it's really a question over whether or not sexism exists in the music industry, but rather what forms sexism takes and to what extent they have an effect.

Is it a self-selection process where women feel alienated from participating in "hypermasculine" genres? Are they ignored by their peers when they do participate? Why are certain genres and instruments given gendered connotations in the first place? How are female musicians represented in the media compared to men? How common is female sexual objectification in popular music? What sort of music is targeted to young girls compared to young boys? Are these trends caused by the music industry itself, or by society at large? And so on.

Sexism itself is a very multifaceted and complex thing. Limiting discussions to just "does it exist" doesn't nearly do it justice.

^^^ I agree with the above statement that it's not really a question of sexism.

Why does every observation about gender seem to be required to have a sexism-centered explanation?? This is as absurd as wondering whether the nursing industry is "sexist" against men, purely because it's an estrogen-dominated industry. Or wondering whether the NBA is "racist" against Asians, due to the huge discrepancy between African-American players and players of Asian descent.

Can we stop feigning offense every time anyone makes an observation?? Is it really bigotry that every single industry doesn't have the exact same male-to-female ratio? When REAL examples of bigotry exist, are we really going to sit here and pick gnat sh!t outta pepper, over something so petty as the ratio of male-to-female musicians?

Labels sign artists that they think will make them money-- period. So can we stop crying "exploitation" over female artists who use their own sexuality to peddle their music? That's just consentual and (arguably) smart marketing. In fact, if anything, men are at a disadvantage in this regard, since their success is more contingent upon the public appeal of their music, rather than on their ability to shake their collective @$$ and how nicely that @$$ is shaped. It's 2016: women who want to go into the music industry, do so, taking the same risks as their male counterparts. Likewise, women who want to use their sexuality as an edge to get ahead in life, also do so. What, exactly, is so "sexist" about women choosing their own paths in life, and then living with the benefits/consequences of those choices?

Yes. Yes we can.

Good. Now that we've stopped crying, the fistfights can begin.

[assumes Jack Benny stance]