Feminism Schmeminism

I used to be a poetry major. I romanticized poets of the past, daydreaming of being the next Sylvia Plath (minus, you know, the unfortunate ending). But that all changed in a poetry workshop, when I started to feel like poetry wasn't a way to reach anyone except other poetry-writing academics. I switched my major.

And now, I'm having the same problem with feminism in music. While I'm driven crazy by sexist terminology in reviews and the still-small percentage of women in music, lately I've been feeling like a lot of feminist writing is just preaching to the choir.

Not that this isn't valid, but the people I really want to reach aren't listening. Internet trolls who post things like "SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU SKANKY BITCHES AND POLISH MY KNOB!!" on articles about Bikini Kill don't read feminist critiques of themselves. Neither do music reviewers who write about the hotness of female bands rather than their music. And if they do, it doesn't change their minds. 

I'm not going to give up feminism like I gave up poetry, but I do think that feminist critiques need a way to reach everyone, and not just the select few who already agree.
Riot grrl was good at getting feminism (and guitars) into the hands of young women, but was still regarded by a majority of the population as a bunch of manhaters whining. It was a step forward, but not the solution.

There's not a quick fix for sexism, especially in rock n roll, which has a deep history of excluding women. I think the only real cure for musical misogyny in the mainstream is flooding the market with female artists. As more and more ladies become successful rockers, it will naturally become less acceptable for them to be treated as anomalies or as sex objects.

Poetry might have a comeback, and poets may rise to stardom again, but my money's on ladies in music. Sexism is a problem solved less by rhetoric and more by the sheer force of female musicians.