Whether artists such as Bjork wearing huge headdresses, or Ellie Goulding at Glastonbury being referred to as ‘the gold bra’ on Twitter by The Guardian, fashion can be used against performers in sexist vitriol. If Bjork were to stroll on stage in a pair of high-waisted mum jeans and a white t-shirt, the musical performance would be swallowed by a torrent of guesses as to what was ‘wrong’ with her. The issue all along has been how female front-women have to, or feel pressured to, live up to expectations. In almost every interview now a woman is asked whether she’s a feminist or not. The answer is irrelevant. A female singer shouldn’t be asked if she is a feminist, because it shouldn’t be surprising if she is. The pressure is already on by the fact that the question has been so changed, morphed, demonised and misunderstood over the past 20 years that it’s become an extremely unfair and weighted question.
Alanna is the front-woman for Joanna Gruesome. Alanna is a feminist. That’s not a revelation, a gigantic political statement, or an admittance to violent activism. She’s just a woman who believes in equal rights for women. But the division between women is so rife and raw right now, that somehow feminism has become an issue that women sometimes have with other women. The pressure to be a ‘perfect feminist’ with unwavering confidence to fight, is an unrealistic expectation in itself.
‘I remember there was a youtube comment once,’ said Alanna. ‘We played this show, and the sound was awful, I couldn’t hear anything, so I knew I was out of tune and this comment said “well at least she’s pretty”.
‘Sometimes I feel like I have to look nice, or make an effort to look “pretty”, because I feel as though even if it sounds bad then I’ll have something to fall back on, which is awful and so unhealthy. Yeah there’s definitely a pattern of, if you do something to your appearance that’s supposedly a ‘feminist statement’ you’ll get grief for it. But if you don’t then there’s feminist pressure there, and you feel like a failure,’ the singer adds. My mother and I had a similar conversation a few days later, in which I stressed to her the importance of not condemning a woman because she appears to be appealing to objectification. Women shouldn’t walk around miserable just to reinforce the feminist cause. However, I feel we should, at every opportunity, discuss why, and from where, that pressure comes. This is something that both girls translated into music. This is where the male technicians come in. Women musicians have to prove themselves to such an extent that D.I.Y. music takes on a whole new meaning.
‘Yeah like that’s the same thing that crops up in conversations with men who are very convinced that the reason there isn’t that many female guitarists is because they’re not very good. Where you have to sit and count and prove how many amazing female guitarists there are. Why should I actually have to do this? I shouldn’t have to tell you all the women who play guitar who are amazing at guitar, for them to be valid in music,’ says Alanna.
And it’s not just guitar music that becomes stereotyped, but the incredibly male-dominated realm of electric music, can also become a bigger challenge. For a woman to prove herself there’s an enormous pressure to show expertise over equipment.
That women, as we know, face far more pressure in the music industry than men. Not only do they have to constantly prove their own talent but even, as aforementioned, their own beauty. Unfortunately, it may be that sometimes that a male member of the media will be perversely staring at the leg angrily stomping to the music, rather than the music itself. So next time you go and see an all-female band, or a band with an incredible female singer like Menace Beach or Joanna Gruesome, turn around if you have to; just celebrate the music without analysing the gender politics.
Jessie Jones