PTSOTL: The 'Girls in Music' Problem Is Solved

Monday, January 14, 2013

The 'Girls in Music' Problem Is Solved

I was reading a bit of news on the Boston Phoenix today about our man Richard Bouchard, (formerly of Boston Band Crush, and an erstwhile PTSOTL contributor), taking over local booking duties for the Central Square club TT the Bear's today, and that was nice for everyone involved wasn't it? But this being the internet, some idiot had to parachute into the middle of the discussion to hammer their own non sequitur agenda into the mix. Normally one looks at a comment on a blog post and says "Oh." then goes back about their normal routine, but this is something I see expressed a lot regarding music in the year 2013, and I think it's time we put this lie to bed.

Bouchard is quoted as saying he wanted to "match up young bands with older guys that maybe haven't played there in a while..."

"AND LADIES, hopefully!" chimed in a commenter.

Setting aside the fact that guys is largely taken to be a gender neutral term (for better or worse), is it really that difficult to find women in music these days, particularly in Boston? Boston has one of the proudest traditions of women in bands of any city I can think of, something that's influenced new generations of bands, (and gotten help for the future in no small part, to the efforts of groups like the Girls Rock Camp). Quick, when was the last time you even heard of a popular/indie/or local music act that didn't have at least, like, one hundred women in it? This issue has been solved. Next?

I'm as sensitive to the idea that women are underrepresented in many, many fields as the next man can be, but this idea that women are being shortchanged somehow on the performative end of music is ridiculous. You want to talk about the people that are holding the purse strings in the greater music business world, sure, let's do that. You want to talk about how the ways in which we react to, and our expectations of women in show business are different than they are for men, by all means -- these are problems that actually exist. As far as women simply making music? We're good there.

Here's a quick list of some of the nominees from the Boston Music Awards this year to use one reasonable metric.

Amanda Palmer, David Wax Museum, Debo Band, Karmin, Mean Creek, Gem Club, Young London, Streight Angular, Air Traffic Controler, Dirty Dishes, Earthquake Party, Quilt, You Can Be A Wesley, Dutch Rebelle, Shea Rose, Banditas, Stereo Telescope... alright, I'm getting bored going through the list, but you get the idea. It's harder to find a band without female representation in there than the opposite, across all genres (except producer, because that's for men silly). Have you ever listened to Boston Accents with my man Michael Marotta? Playlist off that shit reads like the waiting list at an OB/GYN.

You may notice a pattern, and by pattern I mean a shit load of uteri. And this barely even scraped the surface of the vast sea of musical boobie-havers in the city. It's almost to the point where it's like, ok, already, can we get a few more dudes playing music again you guys. At one point being in a band was not seen as a viable option for many young girls. That point has passed. I can say this as a middle-aged white man.