The article in question:
“Metal’s Problem With Women Is Not Going
Away Anytime Soon” by Kristy Loye
(Appearing on the Houston Press website,
written Nov. 15, 2015)
I don’t even know
where to begin regarding this article. This piece of propaganda recently
surfaced within my circle of acquaintances and has subsequently drawn a
reasonable amount of attention and debate. After reading through it several
times, my opinion hasn’t changed. If you want chip-on-the-shoulder
ultra-feminism, I suggest you read it. Perhaps it’s a product of the social
media trend in the last few years in which ‘feminism’ has become more and more
extreme. Perhaps it’s a product of chosen ignorance. Perhaps it’s just another
attack on the “white male” that has seemingly become popular as of late.
I
completely disagree with the author’s very insistent stance that metal is
exclusive toward women. Perhaps if you only choose to put blinders on, fail to
do a little research, or fail to truly delve into the realm of metal, you could
come to this conclusion. Frankly, I find it ignorant. Metal definitely allows
women to play a greater role than being a “live prop”. Saying that the message
delivered excludes women from being serious fans, or musicians, is nothing
short of naïve.
The
entire section titled “Female Musicians Need Not Apply” really doesn’t make
much sense. Sure, the author is trying to prove that female metal musicians
aren’t put into the spotlight as part of headlining acts. Sorry, but not every
band can be a headliner. The simple fact that there are fewer female metal
musicians obviously makes it less likely that a band with female members will
be a headliner. Should a band that includes women be a headliner for the simple
fact that it includes women? Definitely not.
The
author keeps referring to decidedly mainstream media sources and fairly
mainstream metal bands. Sorry, but a lot of the best metal isn’t actually
mainstream and hopefully never will be. Not all journalists that write about
metal are white males. There are several female music journalists, and they do
exist both in the online realm and in print media. Pick up an issue of any
metal magazine off the shelf, and you can probably find some quality content
written by female metal heads. You can also find some quality content written
by “white males”.
I
have a hard time NOT picking this misinformed argument apart sentence by
sentence. Statements such as the one that follows, quoted from the article,
should make serious metal heads shake their heads.
“The
empathy gap in metal is so enormous that the problem is systemic. Until metal
fans can appreciate metal for the music and not just who plays it, metal will
remain the dark fraternity that it is.”
Seriously?
I would hazard a guess that metal is a genre where people truly do appreciate
the music, and really don’t care about who is playing it. Probably much more so
than more mainstream musical genres. You hear about amazing picking techniques,
superb song structure, incredible vocals, and insanely fast drumming a lot more
than you hear about what a musician was wearing, whether they’ve gained a
little weight, or whether they are attractive or not. I have doubts that people
listen to, or do not listen to, Ensiferum because they have a female band
member. The same goes for other bands with female band members. (And yes, dear
misinformed author, I can name twenty bands with female members without having
to do an internet search).
A
few more very questionable quotes:
“Even metal fandom is exclusive.
Women who are metal fans come under the constant scrutiny of male metal fans,
and have their motives questioned. They're either assumed to be a poser or a
girlfriend, no more than a fan by association. Often they must prove their
fandom to suspicious men who require authenticity. Ridiculous.”
“Women have every right to be at a
metal show, whether on the stage or in the pit. And none of them have to prove
themselves to anyone...ever.”
Perhaps there are
some huge cultural differences between wherever the author is from in the
States, and Canada, northern Europe and Scandinavia. I’ve never had to ‘prove
my fandom to suspicious men’. Metal shows are decidedly inclusive. There are
more females in the audience, in the pit, and on stage at metal shows now than
ever before. Women aren’t questioned, or harassed, about whether they belong at
a metal show. At least, not by the vast majority of men in the audience. You
might encounter a few sexist moron meatheads running rampant, but this
certainly isn’t the norm, and it’s bound to happen to some extent everywhere.
Not just at metal shows. In fact, there is much less of this type of behaviour
at a metal show than in your average nightclub. Women do have every right to be
at metal shows. Just like men at metal shows have every right NOT to be
automatically classified as sexist pigs, incapable of accepting that a woman
can be a true fan of the music.
As for having to
prove themselves, everyone has to prove themself to some extent. A female
musician should not a get a ‘free pass’ simply because she’s female. Like any
male musician, she should have to prove that she has some kind of musical
talent or affinity. Outside of metal, this is why certifications and professional
designations exist. Proving that you have some knowledge or ability to make you
an ‘insider’ of a chosen group. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, so
far as it does not get taken to the level of harassing or being ignorant of
those who are ‘outside’ of that chosen group of association. Nothing is more
irritating than a female who jumps into the pit and expects special treatment
for the sole fact that she is female.
As for the part
of this article that discusses the themes of violence and rape in metal music,
well, you can make up your own mind about that. Metal isn’t exactly meant to be
a mainstream societally acceptable form of music. Themes that may not appeal to
everyone come with the territory. If you’re uncomfortable with the violent, horror-filled
content often present in death metal, don’t listen to it. If you can’t separate
lyrical themes from reality, you have bigger issues to worry about. I dare say
that the majority of metal heads are reasonably well-adjusted, intelligent
people who are capable of separating the content of a song from the reality of
the daily grind. It would be ignorant to say that there haven’t been
exceptions, but when one considers the number of people that listen to metal,
these exceptions aren’t any more common than what is seen in society as a
whole.
I
view this article as a misguided effort at engineering a problem that doesn’t
exist. There is no need to introduce gender bias directed at males into the
realm of metal music. Jumping onto the reverse discrimination bandwagon, so
often perpetrated by outspoken individuals and spread throughout social media,
is something that a female metal head should avoid falling victim to. As a
female metal fan myself, I don’t want to see the inclusivity and equality
present in metal eroded by extremist feminism. Equality is fine; having to
tread delicately around one gender while villianizing the other is not.
