On his website, Ernst was kvetching about the dearth of female musicians in the punk scene, and wondered aloud why a female presence was so "exotic" in rock bands. As a female who has played drums and guitar in a punk band, I decided to share my experience, and perhaps shed some light on the causes of this problem. It's been awhile since I've played in a band. We started playing shows in the spring of '95, and the last show I played with them was in February '96 (opening for Pansy Division, our only claim to fame, ha ha). We were two boys and three girls (until one of the boys quit).
One possible reason that there aren't as many girls in bands is that, to state the obvious, we get heckled a lot more frequently. And this heckling is often more threatening than the heckling a boy band would be subjected to. It often focuses on our tits, our instrumental capabilities, etc. My old band tried hard to instill our music with a pro-female message. We donated the money we made from gigs to feminist causes, wrote songs with political lyrics, and made use of subversive and thought-provoking artwork. One time, before starting a show, a friend of ours took the mic and read statistics about rape, domestic violence, etc., and some boys in the back of the room started booing us. "Who cares about the women," they yelled. "If we wanted to learn something, we'd be in school!"
My friend Diana has been in bands for over five years, and still gets heckled on account of her gender. She feels like she has to prove herself worthy as a guitar player and songwriter, even though in my opinion her songs are way above par and she's a much better guitar player than most people. There was also the scuzzy promoter-guy who wanted to take naked pictures of her in exchange for gigs. As Diana says:
…I've literally been the target of bottles and cans aimed for my head, and such epithets as "bitch" and "dyke." Lots o' fun. I've also been the recipient of such comments as, "I bet you had to suck your band-mates' dicks so they would let you in," and "Can you actually play that (guitar)?" Anyway, I was not into the whole riot grrl phenomenon, but was instead more interested in emulating the molten metal sounds of such acts as Slayer, Motörhead, and AC/DC. I now seek to allow the forces of evil to speak through my SG, via garage rock trash with a spooky sound, all about wholesome things like mass murder and hearses. THE POINT? Even though I try to present myself as a quasi-professional musician, I still get asked if I can be photographed in the nude whilst posing inside of an open casket. The aforementioned scumbag promoter also informed me that there was going to be a huge party with record executives and big wheels in the in-dustry. When I asked if I should bring a demo tape, I was told to instead "wear something nice and tight." When I objected, he said, "How do you think that Jewel and all those other female singers got famous? They flirted with every guy in the industry!" It is doubtful that Bob Dylan or Lou Reed were asked to show a little leg. I did not end up attending that party. Ecch, I don't know what else to say. Oh yeah, one more thing: I HATE ALL-GIRL BANDS, and despise the notion that because I am female, I must be in one. The end.
You can sit there and say, "Girls should be strong! They should be in bands anyway, and if they get heckled, they should blow it off!" Easier said than done. I think girls are a lot more insecure than guys are, and I think that this insecurity is enculturated. Maybe I'm just projecting myself onto the general female population, but junior high and high school completely destroyed my self-worth. I was totally treated like shit. (I won't go into the gory details of my sob story. Suffice it to say I was the late-blooming nerd who bought her clothes at Target and was subjected to verbal, sexual, and physical harassment. And it really fucked me up.) I think this probably happens to a lot of girls; their self-esteem is destroyed at the hands of certain boys. Puberty sucks, and girls may feel as if they're "on display," subject to boys' criticism. So when they get older, they really don't want to repeat their pasts by getting up on a stage, sub-jecting themselves to scrutiny, etc etc.-especially when a lot of stock is placed on our physical appearance. If we're hot or cute, the boys will approve of us, albeit for all the wrong reasons. If we're plain or ugly, we have to be beyond phenomenally talented to get any attention, and even so, we still might simply be dismissed as an ugly bitch or what have you.
Lastly, being in a band just doesn't occur to most girls. The stereotypical teenage boy is "supposed" to have an electric guitar, and he's "supposed" to turn up the amp real loud and drive his parents crazy. Then he starts a short-lived garage band and plays a cover of "Born to be Wild" at the high school talent show! The stuff sitcoms are made of! The stereotypical girl does not do that-sadly, she sits on the sidelines, looks cute, and watches her boyfriend perform. Lots of boys form bands for status, while lots of girls derive status from being the girlfriends of boys in bands.
I'm not saying that it's not getting better. It's getting better every day. I really think that Riot Grrrl™ gave things a real kick in the ass-and was beneficial even to girls like me who never identified as riot grrrls. And, although punk is far from perfection, certainly female musicians are not as aberrational in the punk scene as in other music scenes. We are really being punk-centric to think that the state of punk is so dire in regards to female participation, when one takes into consideration how punk is so much more of an equal-opportunity employer. What other genre of music is as inclusive of females as punk rock? Not very many. It is sad that right now, the only real opportunity for female musicians is as a member of a punk band, or as a diva, ŕ la Célene Dion. And don't forget the Spice Girls.
