Oh, hey, here is a thing that is exciting: I wrote a piece for Broadsheet! It is about Annie Clark (or “St. Vincent,” as the kids call her) and her interview with Spinner, which is (a) weirdly lady-bashing, (b) weirdly feminist, and (c) weirdly correct on most counts. So, here is the piece, anyway! What I think is that you should read it now. Partly because I am proud of it! Partly because you should be reading Broadsheet already! And partly because we must all shield ourselves now from the terrible, feelingful, guitar-strumming return of Lilith Fair. Arm yourselves with knowledge!
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10 Comments
You know, I read that piece this am and for some reason didn’t look at who wrote it.
But — I thought about this blog while I read it, as well as some others I follow, like “Geek Feminism”.
What does this mean? Probably that marvelous young feminists’ writing has an effect.
Love, C.
That was an excellent article; It frustrates me though, because now I’ll be thinking about this delicate line for the rest of the day. I must consult my fellow lady!friends on this matter.
Yeah, I always feel a hint of sexism in people who discount ladies with guitars. I mean, a) They probably had to learn to play alone with their guitar because: can you imagine most high school dudes inviting them to join the band, and treating them as equals? and b) What’s with the idea that being loud and aggressive, or not making a clear statement about your emotions, is better? It is more stereotypically male, and maybe a personal preference, but why better?
Also, the idea that oppressed people are responsible for their own marginalization is so totally annoying to me. Sarah Mclachlan started Lilith Fair because when she tried to get her stuff played on the “alternative” radio stations, they told her they only play one woman at a time, and Tori Amos had an album out. She started her own thing because the men literally wouldn’t let her be part of theirs.
It reminds me of white people who get mad that black people have their own spaces, or people who complain that the Queer community has “marginalized itself.” The history of black people being forced out of the white spaces and made to create their own, and of Queer people getting the shit kicked out of them when they tried to be part of straight culture, is conveniently forgotten.
Ashley, are you referring to that one dudely commenter at the Spinner interview who says “they do it to themselves, and then they complain about it”? That guy cheesed me off too.
IMO it was a mistake on McLachlan’s part to limit Lilith to accoustic folksy artists. It would have probably attracted a broader audience if it presented a more diverse range of styles. But of course lazy dipshits prefer to take a superficial glance and declare the oppressed to be their own oppressors. It’s just easier that way.
Hi Snobographer–Actually, I was referring to what Clark herself said. All the stuff about Lilith Fair being marginalizing and women only doing music “without an edge to it.”
I’m all for her doing the kind of music she likes, but there’s a real sense that she’s subtly valuing traditionally masculine styles over traditionally feminine styles, and envisioning equality as women being equally recognized for doing the same (clearly better) sort of things that men do, rather than a combination of increased access to traditionally “masculine” art for women and increased valuing of traditionally “feminine” art for everyone.
And not “seeing” music “on gender terms?” I wish it were that simple to remove the gendered implications of any damn thing you do in this culture, but I just don’t think it’s so. Pretty much anything imagined to lack gender becomes default masculine.
Though I do agree with some things she says… As Sady says, she’s kind of a mishmash of feminism and ladybashing. And she’s right about many of the artists at Lilith Fair appealing only to a white audience.
“Pretty much anything imagined to lack gender becomes default masculine.”
Oh god totally. I empathize though. I’ve been there, where I didn’t want women’s accomplishments to be a groundbreaking – I wanted them to be normal. It’s a sort of pre-feminist-awareness denial of how marginalized you are, as a female person, whether you like it or not. Or anger displaced onto whoever points out that you’re marginalized, rather than onto who’s actually marginalizing you. A kill the messenger type deal.
I’d like to see those go up against Bonnie Raitt, who is a total guitar slinger, blueswoman/man (when she goes there), and R&B lady, with all the vocal, musician and administrative chops to run the whole she-bang.
Which she does.
Particularly right now on the BonTaj Roulet concert tour this summer, which is a superb show. Taj produced Bonnie’s first album, and now, finally, they are doin’ it together.
Love, C.
Yep I read this on Salon and didn’t realise it was Tiger Beatdown Sady. It really really resonated with me though.
In Australia we just had one of our radio stations do a poll of ‘Hottest 100 songs of all time” and there was a woeful amount of ladies featured…really woeful. Like 2 or something. So I’ve been thinking about it a lot. I think we often associate masculinity with “Great” so when asked for ‘greatest’ no one thinks of us ladies. also, i think how we are portrayed (if it all) in the media affects public conscious far more than people expect.
all of which you basically said in your article. so i’m just repeating it. because it really resonated with me. which i just said before. anyway…
i’m a musician, so i think i worry about how people listen to my music…
It reminds me of white people who get mad that black people have their own spaces, or people who complain that the Queer community has “marginalized itself.” The history of black people being forced out of the white spaces and made to create their own, and of Queer people getting the shit kicked out of them when they tried to be part of straight culture, is conveniently forgotten.
Over and over again we’ve seen that the instant – the instant – the privileged folks acknowledge your existence and invite you to tag along, you are supposed to be so honored that you abandon any space of your own you have created during the long era in which you were excluded, in infinite gratitude at being included in the “important” space. If you do not do so, members of the privileged class feel that not only are you denying them their cookie for being big enough to invite you in, but maybe you’ve begun to see “their” space as less than the all-important, only place worth being. This makes them unhappy, which they do not deserve – ever – to be. Else why would they have merited privilege in the first place? (You do not want to suggest that perhaps it was not merit which won them their privilege.)
The thing is that when you have been forced to create your own space in any field because of not being allowed in the mainstream space, that is your space. And so you decorate it, and create within/through it, and you care for it, and you create community within it, and that space becomes very meaningful to you, so that by the time the mainstream folk finally get around to inviting you in, you have made a place you love and which feeds what you do and you are unlikely to react by saying, “Oh thank the stars we can finally join the important people” and immediately turn out the lights on that beloved space you have created and abandon it forever. At which point you have shown yourself to be insufficiently grateful for the big, life-altering effort the privileged people made to be “inclusive”, which makes them feel grumpy and cookie-deprived, and you are therefore declared to be marginalizing yourselves.
Hello! I am delurking to say that I linked to this article on my women-in-music blog.