The current issue of The Wire
As an admittedly somewhat infrequent reader of The Wire (the magazine, rather than the cult Baltimore-based TV show) I could empathise with much in this article by writer Anwyn Crawford about why she won’t be subscribing to the music magazine again.
In her opening paragraph, Anwyn tells us
I haven’t been shy about my growing discontent with The Wire over the past few years: with its bloodless writing, dull obsequiousness to a small gallery of icons (perhaps the magazine’s sub-masthead should be A Lee Renaldo Bulletin Board), and above all, its alarming gender imbalance. I had already made up my mind not to re-subscribe, and December’s new issue is an unfortunate justification of my reasons why.
I’ll leave you to read the entire piece yourself – it is fantastically written, with a great dose of humour scattered throughout the scathing critique of what Anwyn perceives as The Wire‘s imbalanced approach to women artists and writers – but for me it echoed so many of the reasons why I am an ‘infrequent’ reader of The Wire.
Unlike other music magazines (or websites), I feel I have to be very deliberate when reading The Wire. It’s not a mag that you can just flick through while drinking a cup of tea on a Friday evening. No. For me, it requires time, space and focus. It brings me back to the UCC library and poring over academic texts in an attempt to formulate an answer for an essay due the next day; the feeling that out of the dry sentences I have to pull something tangible that makes sense to me.
I do love the fact that The Wire is not an advertiser-driven, chart-focused magazine; that I can pick up an issue and only have heard of a small handful (if any) of the artists mentioned within its clinically laid-out pages. It is an education for me, and learning about music is something that I relish. But reading certain articles is like reading a menu in Dutch when you know nothing more than the word for waffle. You won’t get far and you probably won’t learn much in the process.
Music, for me, is about emotions, feelings, the stirrings inside you when you detect a change in beat or when two voices swell in harmony; it’s about the hairs on your arms lifting when a particular lyric strikes you where it hurts. It’s not a dry element. It doesn’t always have to be about chord changes, soundscapes, or middle eighths. Yes, writing about music is like dancing about architecture but there can – and should – be emotion invested in both. Reading The Wire, sometimes it feels as though all the emotion created within and by the music has been sucked out, leaving an arid landscape strewn with rusting, unfamiliar, instruments.
The now defunct music magazine Plan B (you can download the PDFs of all the issues at that link) generally struck a great balance between po-faced deconstruction of musical texts and expressing exhuberant joy at the discovery of fresh, new music. Like The Wire, I learned a huge amount from reading it but never felt I wasn’t intelligent/knowledgeable/prone-to-beard-stroking enough to really ‘get it’.
Unlike The Wire, Plan B (which was created by Everett True of Careless Talk Costs Lives and edited, and later published, by Frances Morgan) clearly attempted to have a gender-balanced approach. I subscribed to it for a year and each time I saw another woman pictured on the cover my heart leapt. There were lots of female and self-described feminist writers of both sexes and so female and male musicians were treated as they should be: equals.
Sure, Plan B wasn’t perfect (some articles could be a bit too self-congratulatory) but it was a sad, sad day when it folded.
Of The Wire, Anwyn says:
Since 2006 The Wire has put seven female artists on the cover, and that’s if you count Trish Keenan, one half of Broadcast, who shared the cover with her collaborator James Cargill in October 2009 – the only woman to appear on a Wire cover that year. 2006 was a seeming high point in gender parity: three female cover stars, and only one for each year since. Seven out of forty-eight covers really isn’t fucking good enough.
Here’s a link to those covers so you can see for yourself.
This under-representation of female musicians on the covers of music magazines is nothing new – next time you’re in a bookshop, take a look at the music magazines (usually housed beneath the ‘men’s mags’ such as Zoo or FHM) and see if you can spot a woman on the cover. (On that point, when I first started buying music magazines and realised they were housed in the ‘men’s lifestyle’ section in Eason I knew that embarking on my dream career of music journalist would be an ‘interesting’ journey for a feminist.)
Why not count how many women you can see on the covers of Q magazine this year (two solo covers: Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga – and two group shots: Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen together in a group shot; and Lady Gaga again in a group shot). The reason I mention Q is that the response to ‘there aren’t enough women on the covers of music magazines’ is often ‘but that’s because it reflects the amount of women working in music‘.
This is not true – particularly in the case of Q, which covers mainstream rock, indie and pop music. In fact, the female musicians it covers are usually from the pop arena. And you cannot argue that the pop realm is oestrogen-free.
Our own Hotpress is actually one of the better magazines for featuring female cover stars but there is still not an equal balance.
Then there are the magazines aimed at bassists, guitarists and other musicians. You could learn how to play the entire Led Zeppelin back catalogue on guitar in the time that passes between the appearances of women on the cover of Total Guitar or Bass Guitar Magazine, for example.
The first woman to appear on the cover of Total Guitar was Brody Dalle, then of The Distillers, in the February 2004 issue. On the cover was written: “The 50 Guitarists You Need to Hear this Year (and yeah, she’s one of them…)”.
The strangely apologetic editorial read:
“Yeah, that’s a woman on the cover. And it’s the first time TG’s had a female guitarist as its cover star (we suspect it may well be the first time any guitar mag has had a female as its cover star). She’s not on there ‘cos we’re doing a feature on ‘Women in Rock’, or because she’s got her tits out. She’s there for the same reason all our other cover stars are – because she rocks…And if it makes you feel better, next month we’re back to hairy blokes who play really fast.”
Phew! She wasn’t there because she was getting her tits out – but if you’re offended, there are plenty of men to focus on instead. Brody was one of two women in the ‘Top 50 Guitarists’ list. The other woman was Ani Di Franco. What did the writers have to say about her? “The words ‘bisexual’, ‘feminist’, ‘acoustic’ and ‘protest-singer’ might strike fear in the hearts of many, but not us (in fact, they give us a hard-on.)”
There may not be a great ‘conspiracy’ to keep women off the covers of music magazines and give them minimal coverage on the inside pages. But there is an acceptance in most quarters that is just ‘how it is’; that putting a woman on the cover of Q or Uncut or Mojo or The Wire or Rolling Stone or the NME a few times a year, or for the ‘women in rock’ issue is good enough.
That showing Lily Allen in her knickers and Muse in their suits is somehow unproblematic and should not raise questions about how female and male cover stars are portrayed in overtly sexual/non-sexual ways.
Sure, there have been magazines solely dedicated to female musicians but the ideal would be male and female musicians on an equal footing. If women are seen as the ‘minority’ or the ‘outsider’ in music magazines then does that encourage women to create music? If women are relegated to the minority in writing for and editing these magazines (notably, Krissi Murison is the first female editor of the NME, while Louise Brown is the first female editor of Terrorizer) then does that encourage young women to write for these magazines?
One thing this lack of women – or invisibility of women – in music magazines has done is ensure women will try to fill the gaps in the music world by writing zines or starting websites themselves (like Pink Noises, dedicated to women and electronic music). So, no, women don’t sit back with a resigned sigh and accept things as they are – they rail and revolt, they enthuse, write, rant and blog. They write about Riot Grrrl and female singers and feminism in music, all things that are rarely, if ever (with the exception of Plan B and The Guardian‘s music section) covered in the music press. They create their own space and give previously mute women an unwavering voice.
Yet, still, equality is not there in the mainstream press.
After reading Anwyn’s piece, I am not going to stop reading The Wire. But I hope that the editors of the magazine read her incredibly thorough and impassioned article and analyse their approach to gender (im)balance in their publication. They owe that to their readers.
For all music publications – both online and off – alienating female readers is not a smart move. We are readers, we are writers, we are musicians, we are creators. We deserve an equal space in the music world and we deserve representation in all arenas.
Why? Because we rock too.
We do indeed rock, Aoife.
Totally unrock ‘n’ roll I know but just off to mind my niece for a few days (the pram is in someone else’s hall, but it’s still slightly blocking the way), so this is a whistle-stop comment. I have the good fortune to edit The Ticket in The Irish Times …. “Ireland’s premier music and film supplement” – ooh that’s my quote. It’s been a total joy to work with “Ireland’s premier music journalists” – me again – and hope that we’re heading towards all square now when we crunch the figures. Lauren Murphy, Sinead Gleeson, Siobhan Long, Anna Carey, your good self, Ailbhe Malone … not to mention Tara Brady in the film corner and gaming guru Ciara O’Brien are all in the Ticket crew.
And if you need a shot of girl power, check out Siobhan Kane’s mouth-wateringly good interview with Beach House in this Friday’ Ticket.
As the first lady editor of this esteemed organ, my first priority is for it to be super excellent … fortunately the women muso journos on the Ticket team are themselves super excellent … so any feminist bandwagons I might be accused of being on are super excellent too.
Yee ha!
Wow, this ‘The Ticket’ seems to be just ‘The Ticket’.
Please spam more.
Hi Anthea, thanks a million for the comment! I just realised that though the focus of the piece was on stand-alone music magazines, I did mention The Guardian (thinking of its website), which did muddy things somewhat.
So although I left out The Ticket as it didn’t fit the initial focus of the blog post, this is a good space to say that in Ireland we are incredibly lucky to have such a publication which is edited by your good self and does not suffer from the gender imbalance mentioned in some publications above.
There is a twitter hashtag (started by Shane Hegarty of the IT) going around at the moment about #greatthingsaboutireland and I think what can be added to that is the huge presence that women have in music journalism here.
Judging by the interest from both sexes in the Dancing About Architecture course, this is going to grow. And as someone who has only moved to the big smoke in the past 2 years I’ve found it an incredibly welcoming and supportive community to be part of.
Plus, there are more and more female musicians emerging in the scene who from what I can see are being welcomed with open arms and supported by their male peers.
Great post Aoife & incredibly well researched. I had no idea that things were that bad in the world of music mags as I rarely buy them (perhaps now I realise why). Those quotes from Total Guitar are horribly sleazy.
We simply cannot put up with this sexism any longer. It is blighting our lives. I for one am absolutely delighted that The Antiroom is kicking up a stink about such blatent unfairness and marginalisation. I really hope that the debate is widened – your post & articles like the one written by Anwyn Crawford deserve the widest audience possible. I think you should send a link to each & every one of the guilty editors. Well done!
Thanks Eleanor!
The Total Guitar quotes are shocking. The magazine belonged to my brother and I used it when writing my thesis on female musicians in Ireland. Women are all but invisible in music instrument magazines.
You should see some of the ads in those mags, however – they often feature women whose clothes are invisible.
“an arid landscape strewn with rusting, unfamiliar, instruments.”
That sounds like my idea of heaven.
I wonder why her Lee Ranaldo typo hasn’t been noticed yet.
Thanks for the comment! It does sound like an interesting landscape now that I think of it…
While I agree with the notion that too often female musicians are featured or marketed more on their looks and sex appeal than their ability for good or ill. And plenty can be made of the different experiences male and female artists can in the music industry. That said I can’t quite see that the measure of equality must be that female and male artists are featured in equal numbers on covers is much of a representative metric or justified. You say
“Why not count how many women you can see on the covers of Q magazine this year (two solo covers: Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga – and two group shots: Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen together in a group shot; and Lady Gaga again in a group shot). The reason I mention Q is that the response to ‘there aren’t enough women on the covers of music magazines’ is often ‘but that’s because it reflects the amount of women working in music‘.
This is not true – particularly in the case of Q, which covers mainstream rock, indie and pop music. In fact, the female musicians it covers are usually from the pop arena. And you cannot argue that the pop realm is oestrogen-free.”
First up, a single year -12 issues- isn’t that much of a sample especially when you say it’s been going on for years and secondly what actually is the ratio of female to male artists, in terms of total sales, albums produced, criticality acclaimed artists, at present in the music world as covered by Q? If you don’t know those numbers then how can you know that 1/6 isn’t an accurate proportion to have, this measure is even more ridiculous if you consider that one more cover would change the Q yearly proportion from one sixth to a quarter. If you’re going to base your argument on numbers then you should actually have some to hand. Merely saying ” And you cannot argue that the pop realm is oestrogen-free.” doesn’t support the notion that covers should be split 50/50. You say it isn’t true but cite no numbers to back you up, so we’re to take your word for it being true I suppose, and demise the word of those working in music mag publishing. For all we know 25% might be an accurate representation and Q simply failed by 1 cover in the year you sampled. It is entirely possible that women are under-represented but you’re actually undermining that argument with this sort of utterly vague post.
Let’s be honest here those mags are in business and have to sell what they produce so what are the gender proportions of the readership? And be honest for many, many years the readership of the oh so worthy music press was overwhelmingly male. I suspect it might still be (not been a regular reader for a good many years now) so they’re going to aim their text at the middle ground of that grouping. It’s not surprising. And dear God help us but the over analytical up their own rears mentality of some of the music press should be a sign that the more mentally balanced elements of the population should steer clear.
These are in effect hobbist publications and the more niche the hobby the more they cater to a single focus tendency that males are more likely but not exclusively to be prone to.
Now, if you’ll forgive me I’m off to dig out that Suzi Quatro issue of Glam & BubbleGum PopRock Quarterly.
Seeing as how covers are used as a mark of distinction for highlighting talent, yes it does matter that there are fewer women on the covers. It is a good measure of how artists are perceived.
Also, what difference does it make what the readership demographics are? Are you suggesting that men are less likely to value women’s contributions or want to read about them in a non-sexualized way? Because if you are, that’s pretty much the complaint that the article is making. You’re actually supporting the author, not disproving her.
Covers of magazines much like those of books are primarily a teaser to get you to buy the damn thing and not an award or mark of distinction as you term it given out like a gold star because the mag thinks the artist deserves it.
As to the demographics, I was primarily asking about the demographics of those selling music and pointing out that the piece spoke about numbers but then had a lack of comparison with what those covers were meant to represent. Would 1/4 or 1/6 covers be a comparable ratio to the amount of material produced or content sold by artists in that area? I don’t know but I’m not the one arguing that the covers were unrepresentative. You might have missed it but I’ve not defended the sexual nature of the covers at all, I merely noted that the magazines were commercial entities and that in speaking to an audience if they were going to visual an intended reader they were going to direct that at a male audience if their audience was overwhelmingly made and this was in respect of the quote included from wire that the Aoife or Anwyn was taking issue with
“Yeah, that’s a woman on the cover. And it’s the first time TG’s had a female guitarist as its cover star (we suspect it may well be the first time any guitar mag has had a female as its cover star). She’s not on there ‘cos we’re doing a feature on ‘Women in Rock’, or because she’s got her tits out. She’s there for the same reason all our other cover stars are – because she rocks…And if it makes you feel better, next month we’re back to hairy blokes who play really fast.”
who would you expect them to talk to? middle aged morris dancers?
Hi Daniel, while I linked to just one year of Q magazines there, you can check out all of the Q covers at the same link http://covers.q4music.com/Default.aspx?year=2010 I chose it as the covers are easily accessible for the reader (the links are all above the pictures of the magazines from 2010)
I disagree with your comment that the post is ‘vague’.
Like LB points out below, it’s not enough to say that just because it is assumed that the majority of readers of these magazines are male, they should cater for them my mainly concentrating on male cover stars – or half-undressed female cover stars.
What is implicit when I speak of ‘equality’ is treating the female and male stars in a similar fashion. In general, women are mostly presented in a more sexualised fashion than men – sometimes, in the case of Lady GaGa because they have this sort of image anyway, which leads us down the road of why female popstars are sexualised in a way that male popstars are not.
As Anna Carey comments below, assuming that the readers of music mags are males, and that men only want certain people on their magazine covers can be self-perpetuating as it can be unwelcoming to female readers.
I rarely read Q anymore as in the years I did read it I tired of its assumption that if I was reading I was male, and its treatment of female cover stars. Then again, my music taste also moved on and I was no longer interested in the mainstream music it presented.
Around 40% of the singles chart in the UK right now is of songs that include female vocalists/band members. http://www.theofficialcharts.com/singles-chart/
Also, if it was the case that women don’t represent 50% of the music world, why should that stop magazines from putting more women on the cover? I would argue that making women more visible on magazines and acknowledging their work helps to encourage more women to enter the music world.
Very eloquently-argued.
“We deserve an equal space in the music world and we deserve representation in all arenas. Why? Because we rock too.”
Damn straight
Thanks for the comment Jerry. Damn straight indeed…
Isn’t the bottom line for magazines always about what will sell the most copy? These ‘women in rock’ special editions have been going on for aeons and are massively patronising, but presumably appeal to their largely male audience (I have absolutely no statistics to hand, so I’m open to correction, but I reckon the readership of the likes of Q and the Wire is overwhelmingly male). It’s tedious, and it requires more articles like this one and the one you linked to to highlight it.
Also, I don’t know if Hot Press deserve to be lauded too much for their cover policies: of their 28 covers so far this year only 5 of them have been women on their own. One of those features Florence Welch flashing her arse and the latest one is Lady Gaga in her underwear.
I really don’t know if the ‘women in rock’ issues appeal to men or women as much as the publishers think. Most women think that it is patronising and I don’t think that men would disagree. Often it seems like it is a token gesture by editors to placate those who wonder why there are less women in the magazines.
Also it treats women as an ‘other’ rather than putting them on the same level as men.
Fair comment about Hotpress but I don’t think I really lauded them, merely pointed out they are better than other magazines at putting women on the cover. You are right that they (especially in recent years- not so back in the 80s) are guilty of over-sexualised covers of the female stars.
Nothing new about this at all, sadly. Happens everywhere
Look at the Content Is King conference today and count the women speakers – http://www.mediacontact.ie/files/conferences/brochure-92.pdf
Agree it is nothing new Ann, but I feel we have to keep talking about this to start a debate about why.
Thanks for the link. Depressing to think that it is not unusual to have no women or one or two women on a panel such as this.
As a aid here is a link to a post with Q’s 20 anniversary issue with 25% of the covers for female artists
http://polaroidsofandroids.com/articles/feature-i-am-cancelling-our-friendship-q-magazine-/2854.html
and someone else who for their own different reasons decided not to continue their relationship with that mag.
There again, if we’re analysing Q covers I suspect that unless some female artists go back in time and actually become U2, Oasis or Led Zep the ratios are never going to work out.
“There again, if we’re analysing Q covers I suspect that unless some female artists go back in time and actually become U2, Oasis or Led Zep the ratios are never going to work out.”
Women didn’t start making music in the last ten years – when it comes to mags like Q, Mojo or Uncut, you’d be forgiven for thinking that only Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush were strumming their guitars ‘back in the day’.
There were many incredibly talented women working in music who never got entered into the music hall of fame. However we are led to believe that the only true musical legends are called John, Brian, David, etc….
I wasn’t saying that women only started making music in the last ten years, rather than Q have such a myopic view of music that they can’t see past the supposed “giants”, like U2, Oasis, the Stones, Beatles and Led Zep and so on. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that 20% of their covers were of just those 5 bands.
Aoife,
I guess these guys know exactly who is in their target market, the spare cash no dependent ages, or older but stunted in their development males, gagging for a glimpse down a top, who treat themselves to a glimpse.
That being said, I browsed though a fair few magazines in the past , and also wondered Why? oh Why did Lilly Allen have to be in her knickers prostrate “artfully means black and white” against a wall to be interviewed in Esquire, or GQ?
Lilly has a great voice, but it took longer for me to be exposed to that than her curves.
And then I think of early Bob Marley in a suit!
and wonder who pushes the buttons?
She’ll rise above that, and has enough on her plate for now.
Norms are rapidly changing, and I trust the discerning voice you, and the super brilliant editor of The Ticket have, will cough in alarm when presented with images that void the progress towards balance that generations of learning have gained.
Hopefully, if the press haven’t taken all the seats , I’ll buy some of you a pint at Other Voices. You can’t beat the buzz of live music, or live dissent for that matter.
Robinson’s barley crushingly yours Aoife.
Frank McNulty
I agree with: “Why? oh Why did Lilly Allen have to be in her knickers prostrate “artfully means black and white” against a wall to be interviewed in Esquire, or GQ?”
It is sad that a woman can’t be interviewed by these particular mags without being pictured in their underwear…
Thanks, Aoife. The contrast, particularly, between Muse (fully covered in expensive suits) and the women (in various states of undress and lingerie) is just depressing. I had already noticed that cultural tendency but to see them side by side is a shock. Like, Alicia Keys loses more talent when she sneezes than Muse have ever had. Why does she need to be dressed in a basque in order to indicate her status and power?
It’s often not until we see the comparison between how men and women are represented on these covers that we realise the huge difference between the pictures of men and women.
Putting the women in their underwear takes the power from them and places it with the viewer – the woman is exposed and it’s no longer about her talent but her ‘talents’.
Not something that male musicians often face.
I think it’s fair to point out, as a regular Wire reader, that last month’s issue featured Jennifer Walshe on the cover, who’s not only female but Irish too, and one of the leading experimental composers in this country. (I’d be interested to know how many readers here would be aware of her work, just as a matter of curiosity.) I haven’t read the new issue yet, so I can’t comment on Anwyn Crawford’s piece, but in my experience The Wire, when it deals with female artists, treats them as seriously and respectfully as it does its male artists, and I have discovered any number of obscure and interesting female composers and improvisers thanks to their pages.
I love Jennifer Walshe! I’ve seen her several times. I’m her Facebook friend! She is awesome.
(accidentally drops name out of handbag) CLANNG
Thanks for pointing that out Jonathan, looking back I should have mentioned it definitely!
)
I don’t think that Wire treat their female subjects badly and I agree they do give a space to women who would never get space in a mainstream magazine.
(Love the ‘regular reader’ mention
Aoife: The ‘regular reader’ comment was not intended as a dig – it’s just that, as I’ve been reading The Wire since 1995, I felt it applied!
This debate has surfaced fairly regularly in The Wire, and in the end of the day the magazine’s opinion seems to be that “look, we’ll do our best, but in the end of the day it’s our magazine and we decide who goes into it.”
The problem with, say, a quota system, which insisted on a 50/50 gender balance in the magazine, would be: how would a woman know if she was being included because of her achievements, or simply because they needed a woman to reach the quota?
Kim V: I saw Jennifer Walshe give a solo performance of some of her vocal works in the NCH last year and she was absolutely incredible.
Hey Jonathan, was taking the proverbial, I didn’t think it was a dig don’t worry. It’s great to hear from a long time reader and I’m really interested to hear that the debate has surfaced a number of times.
I do agree that a quota system is not always ideal and I would hate to see editors putting in people just to bump up numbers. But still I think it is accepted that it is OK to have a majority of men on the magazine covers (for example) and not question why there are not more women on there.
I take particular issue to the argument “well, if the readership is mostly male, the OF COURSE the main attention will be on male talent and OF COURSE the women who are mentioned will be sexualized – it’s demanded by their readers!” If that’s true, it just takes some blame off of the male editors and puts it onto a male audience. Either way, the issue remains the same.
Why is it so hard to believe that a woman can be clothed and still be – god forbid – praised by a a male readership? Why is it just assumed that all men are incapable of having any type of interest in women beyond sexuality? Look at most of the women’s magazines – they all have perfectly clothed, perfectly respectable men featured regularly. And women are okay with that. They like it, even. Men could do that, too.
Well said. And these remarks about the male readership also beg the question of WHY the readership is so male. Could it possibly be because women feel alienated by magazines that don’t take them seriously as music lovers or makers?
I recently uncovered a bunch of issues of Select, which was one of my very favourite magazines in the ’90s. I was genuinely stunned by how much more inclusive of female readers it was than today’s music magazines. There was an assumption throughout that women were half of the readership – which certainly isn’t the case in either Q, Wired or The Word, where there’s often an underlying assumption that the reader is male (something I’m pretty sure a lot of, if not most men don’t even notice). I took Select’s female-friendliness for granted at the time, if I noticed it at all, but I certainly don’t now, and it was quite depressing how much Select’s inclusive approach from 1995 stood out in 2010.
Thanks LB & Anna. There is a huge assumption there that the readers are male and I think that can make women feel they are somehow not ‘meant’ to be the reader of the magazine. Like Anna says, it can make you feel alienated and this can make women pretty sure they are going to face barriers than men do not face in the music industry.
Who is “assuming” that the magazine readership is male? I suspect that the magazines probably have a really solid idea what the breakdown of gender and age, income, musical likes and dislikes of their readership are. They are businesses after all and probably know their existing readership better than you do.
who made the argument that you quote “well, if the readership is mostly male, the OF COURSE the main attention will be on male talent and OF COURSE the women who are mentioned will be sexualized – it’s demanded by their readers!” cos I can’t find it in any of the comments so far. Might that a straw person that you’re inventing?
You were the one who speculated that the readership was mostly male.
My quote was not specifically stated like that verbatim, but I believe that that a sentiment close to that is an undercurrent in a lot of the posts. You can disagree with that if you want, but it’s something that I have run into time and time again in the world.
For example, when the Glee photoshoot came out, with both female stars in skimpy outfits, hanging all over the fully clothed male star, people replied something along the lines of “what do you expect from a men’s magazine?!” This response irritates me because it implies that you cannot expect a group of men to NOT sexualize women – that if a product is targeted to men (Axe, beer, clothes, magazines, etc.) you should just assume that the women will be treated in a sexist manner. Take Maxim magazine, for example. They go entire issues without having a single fully clothed women. Why? Women’s magazine often portray men as real people, why are men’s magazine unwilling to portray women as anything but sex objects? If Maxim had an article about a female scientist, would its reader really complain? Is the demand for sexist material really that high? It’s depressing.
So Liam instead of engaging with the points I actually made you decided to rehash some old arguments you’ve had with others. That’s grand and feel free too while you’re at it to change the discussion from using covers as a metric of music to the content of Maxim.
In reference to the gender proportions of the readership, I said
“Let’s be honest here those mags are in business and have to sell what they produce so what are the gender proportions of the readership? And be honest for many, many years the readership of the oh so worthy music press was overwhelmingly male. I suspect it might still be (not been a regular reader for a good many years now) so they’re going to aim their text at the middle ground of that grouping. It’s not surprising. And dear God help us but the over analytical up their own rears mentality of some of the music press should be a sign that the more mentally balanced elements of the population should steer clear.
These are in effect hobbist publications and the more niche the hobby the more they cater to a single focus tendency that males are more likely but not exclusively to be prone to.”
And that was to point out how focused, niche orientated and frankly anal much of the readership of these specialists magazines tends to be. I was pointing out that their content was intended to cater to a narrow specialised audience in order to make money. If that meant that they ignored some worthwhile content then that’s their problem. I didn’t say anything in support of the idea that because their audience was male that the content had to be sexualised, if you found that in the text above then that’s down to your worldview not mine.
This looks like a business opportunity. If part of the market is being neglected then there is an opportunity for someone to set up a new music magazine that intentionally covers female musicians. If readers are tired of the male-dominated mags they will switch to a more equitable one: lots of money to be made with this.
There are and have been a few music magazines dedicated to female musicians only – Women Who Rock, Rockrgrl (I linked to them in the post) and a more contemporary one, Venus Zine, plus there are lots of blogs etc (as also linked to in the post).
However I think that an issue with these magazines is that they cater for all genres of music so they don’t necessarily appeal to people who are into certain types of music and not others.
Also they are seen by others as ‘positive discrimination’ which understandably not all women are into.
That said, I enjoyed reading Women Who Rock before it folded as it introduced me to new female musicians but also it was very inspiring to read something solely dedicated to women.
I think it is better if existing mags feature more female musicians, but that there is room for all-female magazines.
Good stuff Aoife.
I used to argue with libertarians about the need for governments to intervene sometimes to fix various market failures. They responded by arguing that my ability to see these failures made me a possible entrepreneur! I laughed at the time but it gave me a different perspective.
Instead of seeing sexual inequality in music magazines as a problem, a business mind sees it as an opportunity. If the major magazines today are ignoring half their readers then there is a massive untapped market. It needn’t be exclusively female, or in any way political, but rather a kick-ass music magazine that happens to cover neglected aspects of the music market. (This also needn’t stop at sex, but also cover small sub-genres and non-Anglophone music and other areas that get little attention. Personally my message to editors of The Ticket and Hot Press and others is: MORE METAL please!)
[...] read an excellent post about gender and music magazines over at the quite frankly superb collective blog, the Anti-Room [...]
[...] Installment number eleven in our Mixtape series has arrived in the form of ‘Hey, Who Really Cares?’, 47 minutes of high quality tunes from Aoife Barry. Aoife writes about music on her wonderful blog, presents the Sweet Oblivion radio show on 2xm, writes about food on Adventures in Veg with an accompanying column in The Irish Independent’s ‘Weekend’ magazine and contributes to, amongst others, State.ie and The Anti-Room (where she recently wrote this excellent post on gender imbalance in the music press). [...]
[...] recently, Aoife Barry’s study of gender imbalance in music magazines compares reading The Wire to “poring over academic texts in an attempt to formulate an answer [...]
[...] recently, Aoife Barry’s study of gender imbalance in music magazines compares reading The Wire to “poring over academic texts in an attempt to formulate an answer for [...]
[...] link has been drawn before, in this article about androcentrism in The Wire magazine by Aiofe Barry. Unfortunately the article to which Barry refers is no longer available but her views are [...]