women and rock

Women in Rock: Are Females Losing Their “Place”?

Abstract

This paper will display the effects rock music has had on the influence of gender stereotypes. It will begin by showing the changes women have made using rock and roll and then looking at the challenges women still face within the rock performance scene today.
Introduction
Rock music has always stood out because of its rebellion. Descending from Blues music it brought together whites and blacks at a time when racial discrimination was prominent. It was known for it’s sexual lyrics during a decade when intimacy was saved for marriage. Hippies grew out their hair and later on punk rockers sported the Mohawk. This radical change did not fit the women’s role of complacency in this male dominated scene. (Rogers 14-16)
Throughout the decades prominent female figures in rock and roll had made changes that encouraged women to discard the gender role and be whatever they wanted to be. In this paper I will show the effects women in rock music have had on the acceptance of gender roles and the challenges they still continue to face.

Literature Review
Several of the pieces I used as a reference were introduced to me in class. One of these pieces was titled Sex and Gender: What Do We Know? By Margaret Mooney Marini. This article takes a look at the current gender roles in America and analyses the gender-biased characteristics to see if there are any truths behind these roles. I then read a piece entitled Content Analysis and Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Books by Frank Taylor. This article looks at the effect children’s books have on developing gender roles within young children. The piece did an excellent job showing the less subtle yet prominent aspects of our culture that affects our own perceptions. I also read an article entitled Big Girls Don’t Cry by Andrea Sachs. In this piece the author shows the prejudice against crying because of the lack of masculine association with the particular trait. This prejudice represents the prejudice against “female” characteristics, or in other words, against females in the work place. I also read various interviews with leading female rock and roll stars and conducted an interview with a local female musician. I did a comparison analysis of the movies Bye Bye Birdie and Across the Universe to see what gender roles have changed since the early 1960’s. Finally I read an academic essay titled Violence, Rebellion, and Rock and Roll: A Comparative Analysis of American Youth Culture 1950s and 1990s by Geoffrey Rogers that explains the rebellious aspect of rock and roll.


Methodology
I began learning about my topic by reading the assigned articles in class. This gave me a decent start into understanding gender stereotypes and picking a topic. When I picked a topic I did research into what made rock and roll stand out. I then did more research into the women who had a role in this field. After that my knowledge was strong enough to compose interview questions and I interviewed a local female musician to try to understand what the music scene was like today. Finally I did a comparative analysis of two movies from different time periods.
Discussion
Roles We Play:
Gender Roles are the roles men and women identify with in American society. Many believe these roles are inborn but research has shown there are few natural differences between men and women. The areas with proven differences, like a young girl’s verbal skills compared to a young boy’s, are small. Still, gender stereotypes are common in America and begin to influence us at a young age (Marini 99). Parents who are already believers in defined gender roles will raise their child to act within that role (Marini 109). Influence can come from other more subtle areas such as children’s books. The most popular children’s books in America contain gender stereotypes. They will generally display the female character as weak, content, and subordinate. The male will be independent, assertive, and brave. (Taylor 303-304) It is easy to see why many people have ideas of what male and female is when there are so many influences in our culture.
Rock and Roll Rebellion:
Rock music is characterized by its rebellious nature. It challenged racial segregation, fashion, ways of expression, and levels of modesty. It’s very roots were a result of blues music and jazz. This fact brought together different races as the Caucasian race took over the genres and gave it their own twist. It’s grounds in sex also date back to it’s beginning in blues as it obtains its name from an old blues expression meaning sexual intercourse. This genre was a controversy during a time when modesty was much more important in society. (Rogers 14-16)
One Sided Music Scene:
Rebelliousness is not a female gender role characteristic according to the coding frame of female and masculine traits. (Taylor 304) This could explain why rock and roll began as a male dominated field. In the 1963 film Bye Bye Birdie, the woman’s role in rock music was a sex object who swooned over the male rock star. In the coding frame sex object is listed as a female trait. This gender role didn’t last for very long within rock music as Joan Jett decided to start the first all female rock band in 1977 called the Runaways. The band sported a tough image that intimidated the men that came to their concerts. Clad in leather and wearing clothes that drew attention upward to their eyes they looked as if they were the ones who wanted to have to sex with the boys. The Runaways reversed the roles on the men and refused to be their objects (Bijhan).
Past Influences the Present:
The Runaways formed to show women they could do whatever they wanted. Jett, continually questioned on why she didn’t wear dresses or talk like a lady, responded with, “Who made the rules?” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BA6R15iVGM)
Cyndi Lauper brought the feminist movement into her music in the early 1980s. Her hit song Girls Just Want to Have Fun was about encouraging women to feel as free as men felt to do whatever they wanted. (Gaar 264-265) Lauper also made a fashion statement by bringing rebellious punk style clothing and hair to pop culture. She also wore a corset, an object used to bring in the waist at the risk of difficulty of breathing, during part of her career to show the imprisonment of gender roles. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciwnWx3Vj4)
Debbie Harry, the female front woman of Blondie can be said to be the first to have taken control of her sexuality and use it at her own discretion. She made punk sexy but wasn’t trying to be a used sex object. At the same time she challenged the levels of modesty for women. This displayed a strong sense of rebellion coming from a female musician. Her style influenced the future attitude of Cyndi Lauper. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciwnWx3Vj4)


Times Are Changing:
When I watched the 1960s movie Bye Bye Birdie I noticed the women’s roles had a part of subordination to the men. Across the Universe, made in 2006, also takes place in the 1960s but the portrayal of women’s roles is very different. This movie showed a female rock musician outperforming her male counterpart. Also the leading female character played an active role in the hippie movement, displaying leadership within a rebellious period in history. Though both films intended to reflect culture of the same time period, the latter contains independent, rebellious, and socially uninhibited female characters.
I interviewed a current local female musician, Cici Blegh, to see if she thought gender biases were still present in the rock music field. Cici noted that initially views towards her role as a sex object were evident in the audience, but as the band progressed in gaining a standing within the communities the audience saw the band and not just her. Interestingly she noted that she hasn’t encountered any prejudices with the bands she’s worked with. She says, “ I’ve met a lot of great dudes and bands that we’ve played with. They’ve been really supportive.”
Conclusion
60 years ago women didn’t have a place in rock music because gender roles didn’t make room for them. Because of women like Joan Jett and Debbie Harry not only are women gaining place in the rock scene, but they are also influencing the way women continue to see themselves. This change is being reflected in movies as well. Movies like Across the Universe and The Runaways are showing much more accurate portrayals of women in rock music and also reflecting a stronger more independent portrayal of the female character. They’ve reversed the tables from being the controlled stereotype to taking away its control.