FEATURE:
‘24/7
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The Ongoing Issue of Misogyny and Inequality in Music
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THIS may sound like me…
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covering something I have written about a lot. You would be right though, as it concerns something very serious, it is worth repeating. There is no doubt that the music industry has always had an issue with misogyny and sexism. This leads to inequality and huge issues It is not only the music industry. Hollywood and the acting industry too. From notable omissions during the Oscar nominations through to the pay gap between men and women, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. With men still holding most of the executive positions – and welding the most power and influence still -, we are always going to see slow progress. Rather than something quick and long-lasting. In terms of music, there are hints of light and progress in various corners. Even if the BRIT Awards finally included more women and tipped the balance in favour of them – it took complaints and women pointing out the imbalance to get their act together, rather than them realising that something needed to be done! -, certain categories had one or no female nominees. When it comes to the band market and genres like Rock and Hip-Hop, women are vastly under-representation and lacking. It makes us ask questions about the industry and areas where women are struggling to get noticed. Not enough done to foster their talent. With every seeming move forward in one area, there is stagnation or a move back in another. Frustrating to see the industry not doing as much as it should. Before moving onto a couple of news pieces/interviews that caught my eye, it is worth noting that award ceremonies like the BRITs making long-overdue changes hopefully will lead to changes regarding festival line-ups.
Still, with women dominating music, this is not being reflected in terms of festival line-ups! Big festivals like Reading & Leeds choosing very few female headliners; other ones relying on tired and samey legacy male acts to headline rather than expanding shows a real lack of respect for women. I know there are festivals that have a balanced bill and are making change. Glastonbury are expected to both have two female headliners this year - and, one hopes, have at least a fifty-fifty balance across the rest of the line-up. In the past decade – or, let’s say, ten festivals – Glastonbury has had only five female headliners. One of them, Florence + The Machine, was a replacement for Foo Fighters. With two this year, that only means seven in the past eleven years. Not even a third of the headliners being women! Compare it to the twenty-eight male headline acts and you can see how women are viewed. Glastonbury has never had more than one female headliner in a year (I mean the three acts who play the Pyramid Stage and not the Legends slot). Women not headline-worthy? This is rubbish! One only needs to look around the music scene from the past decade to see all the amazing queens who were worthy of headliners! Rather than there being genuine and good excuses – women not available or there being conflicts of schedule -, the fact is they are not being asked at all. A recent feature from God Is in the TV highlights the fact that many festivals are recycling male acts and not taking chances on female artists. Those who would be perfect and refreshing headliners. It makes for depressing and sadly predictable reading:
“Look at some of the recently announced festival line-ups coming out of the UK right now, taking extra notice of the mid-level festivals such as Y Not, Kendal Calling, Isle Of Wight, and Tramlines. Now take another look at them, this time without paying attention to which is which – can you distinguish between them? Probably not. Why is this? Well, it’s easy to see why. They all have the same headliners, or at least from the same pool. It feels like a discussion that gets bought up every year, and it seems to get more infuriating with every year that passes. Why are festivals in the UK so scared to diversify their line-ups?
Although achieving a more gender-diverse split would be nice, it is not just about gender. Festivals should strive to attain gender-diverse line-ups, and this can be made possible by following the PRS’ KeyChange movement that aims to increase gender balance in the music industry. What is important is for people to feel inspired when they look at these line-ups. However, can festivals achieve this when they are so focused on making their events a nostalgia trip? I don’t think so.
It’s disheartening to look at these line-ups to be greeted by a Gallagher brother – past his sell-by date and riding on the success of albums almost 10 years older than the average YNot Festival attendee (with the Derbyshire-based festival being quite widely known in the Midlands for being the one that teenagers go to post GCSEs) with most throwing in The Kooks, who haven’t had a relevant release since 2006, and, more often than not, The Vaccines, who peaked with their 2011 debut, for good measure. But, why is this the way forward for most of these mid-level festivals?
The answer lies with lad culture. Festivals are almost certain to make more money from nostalgia acts, as these are the crowd that they attract. Festivals look to the one-time-a-year festival goer and accommodate them, knowing that these people will rock up with their cans of Strongbow Dark Fruits, flares in one hand, bucket hats in the other, and they will do so with a large group of mates that will spend hundreds of pounds on the bar, ultimately resulting in more profit for the promoters involved.
But if this is what is believed to be the ‘way forward’, then who will be headlining these festivals in five years time? Who will be there to sell the tickets if festivals today aren’t helping to promote the next big thing? Here is where festivals like Truck Festival, Deer Shed, and Bearded Theory excel – as they often break away from the norm and offer new, not-seen-before headliners a chance to show attendees what they’ve got. This year’s Truck Festival sees Isle of Wight sensations Wet Leg step up to the challenge, receiving their first major headline slot, marking their festival season comeback off the success of their self-titled debut album, not only doing something different, but something exciting too.
Festivals need to diversify their headliners by inviting new acts to fill the stage. It may be more of a risk for them financially, it may result in a change of demographic, but it will inspire more festivals to take the same risk. If festivals want to have a crowd that is more representative of the population, they need to pay attention to the full-time gig-goers who are continuously pushing new artists to the forefront, it’s time to give the Wolf Alices, the Fontaines D.Cs, the Young Fathers and the Amyl & The Sniffers of the industry a chance to prove themselves. It’s the only way to save the industry from caving in on itself”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Rahul Pandit/Pexels
If there is some progress happening at some festivals, award ceremonies and areas of the industry, it still is eclipsed by the huge gulfs and sexism that remains elsewhere. One hopes that festivals yet to announce their bills do better. This constant lack of respect for women. Insulting their talent and potential. An industry that needs to address its misogyny and bias against women is not doing enough. Very few male allies and those in positions of power doing enough to confront a continuing issue. It is not only inequality that continues to rear its head. Attitudes towards women. Misogyny and abuse that keeps making the news. I was reading an interview from The Guardian. They spoke with Nadine Shah recently (her album, Filthy Underneath, is out next month). Rather than there being particular and recent occasions where Nadine Shah has been affected by sexism and misogyny, mentions of her past work that addressed these subjects made me think how many other women in the industry have faced similar things. Many women have struggled with their mental health and addiction issues. Whilst it can feel stigmatising for all genders, one feels there is this judgment against women. The way they are portrayed in the press. Shah speaks about and has addressed the gender pay gap. How music journalism is dwindling (many female voices being taken away). How few women have spoken about their experiences with rehab. I wonder if there is still this attitude towards women when it comes to personal struggles and addiction. If they are scandalised and hounded rather than supported:
“She is writing a memoir about her time in rehab because there are so few accounts of it by women. “I was ashamed about being there,” she says. “There was shame in being a woman who was an addict, whereas male musicians might have been revered for it. One of the reasons we can’t get many women into recovery is because of the stigma.” I mention Amy Winehouse; Shah was briefly friends with her. “She was ridiculed so awfully,” says Shah, but “she was an unwell person”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Suki Dhanda/The Guardian
Shah is a singular force in British rock, as funny and charismatic in person as she is on stage and in song. The Tyneside songwriter’s atmospheric, tragicomedic post-punk songs tackle tough themes with an acid tongue, and find absurdity in bleakness: her 2017 Mercury prize-nominated album Holiday Destination had songs about the Syrian refugee crisis and Islamophobia. The follow-up, Kitchen Sink, sent up the sexism she has experienced as a woman in her 30s, and depicted men selecting mistresses as if they were livestock.
After her debut album, 2013’s Love Your Dum and Mad, written after the deaths of two former boyfriends, Shah became an ambassador for the mental health charity Calm; she has called out issues such as the music industry’s gender pay gap, the unfairness of the streaming economy for musicians, or the “racist bullshit” she’s faced because of her Muslim surname (her father is of Pakistani heritage). Now, drinking tea in a London bar, she is self-effacing: “I think a lot of people found me righteous before, like: ‘If she’s not talking about how we should save refugees, now she wants to fix streaming. And here she goes again.’”
There has been quite a lot written this year already that has sparked anger. Pitchfork being incorporated into GQ means that the industry will lose some incredible female journalists. With there still being imbalance and issues when it comes to highlighting female voices, it seems like another body blow. Women like Nadine Shah speaking about their experiences with sexism through the years. How there are nerves and reluctant to speak personally and open through, perhaps, a fear of being judged or subjected to tabloid-style scandalisation. Hoe progressive is the music industry?! Certainly, a lot more so than the 1990s I feel. Even so, at a time when there should at the very least be equality across the board and a lot of respect given to all women, we seem to miles away from that! Still, this male bias exists. It extends beyond everything covered so far. Many women have been subjected to online harassment, sexual harassment and abuse. This is another stain and huge problem that is not going away. The last thing I want to mention is a recent case of deepfake technology being used to produce pornography featuring Taylor Swift. I have seen so many reactions online – mainly from men – making light of it. Saying it is a bit of fun. Even worse, seemingly getting off on it! It shows that there is still such a debasing attitude towards women.
PHOTO CREDIT: Andrea Piacquadio/Pexels
Horrific indignity and disgust is greeted with acceptance and cheer by many! The Guardian explained what is currently happening. Even some of the most powerful women in music are being abused and degraded. Showing how women are still valued because of their bodies rather than their talent and minds. A vile and disturbing case of degradation that adds yet more toxicity to the music industry. Like I said: with every step forward, there seems to be a bigger step back:
“The rapid online spread of deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift has renewed calls, including from US politicians, to criminalise the practice, in which artificial intelligence is used to synthesise fake but convincing explicit imagery.
The images of the US popstar have been distributed across social media and seen by millions this week. Previously distributed on the app Telegram, one of the images of Swift hosted on X was seen 47m times before it was removed.
X said in a statement: “Our teams are actively removing all identified images and taking appropriate actions against the accounts responsible for posting them.”
Yvette D Clarke, a Democratic congresswoman for New York, wrote on X: “What’s happened to Taylor Swift is nothing new. For yrs, women have been targets of deepfakes [without] their consent. And [with] advancements in AI, creating deepfakes is easier & cheaper. This is an issue both sides of the aisle & even Swifties should be able to come together to solve.”
Some individual US states have their own legislation against deepfakes, but there is a growing push for a change to federal law.
PHOTO CREDIT: Ed Zurga/AP
In May 2023, Democratic congressman Joseph Morelle unveiled the proposed Preventing Deepfakes of Intimate Images Act, which would make it illegal to share deepfake pornography without consent. Morelle said the images and videos “can cause irrevocable emotional, financial, and reputational harm – and unfortunately, women are disproportionately impacted.”
In a tweet condemning the Swift images, he described them as “sexual exploitation”. His proposed legislation has not yet become law.
Republican congressman Tom Kean Jr said: “It is clear that AI technology is advancing faster than the necessary guardrails. Whether the victim is Taylor Swift or any young person across our country, we need to establish safeguards to combat this alarming trend.” He has co-sponsored Morelle’s bill, and introduced his own AI Labeling Act that would require all AI-generated content (including more innocuous chatbots used in customer service settings, for example) to be labelled as such.
Swift has not spoken publicly about the images. Her US publicist had not replied to a request for comment as of publication time”.
In a larger sense, it makes me wonder whether we will see any real progress in the music industry. I know there are developments happening. Influential women being commended and highlights. Some festivals doing better regarding their line-ups. Some radio stations working towards a balanced playlist. People, the vast majority women, calling out sexual abuse and the toxic side of the industry. Sexism and misogyny is still rife. If attitudes towards women are not as regressive as they were years ago, things have not come as far as they should. With every story about inequality, discrimination, ignorance or misogyny, it makes me wonder whether there is this unmoving perception of women. If their music is being celebrated and spotlighted, why does this not result in greater visibility, opportunities and respect?! Maybe it is the fact that men have too much of the influence still. Too few male artists and those in the industry speaking up and out. This year should have been one where we saw improvement. If a minor success story at the BRITs has patched over one hole, there are other (stories) that take us into a dark place. Women need to be championed more. They deserve more opportunities than they get! They deserve fewer/no barriers in their way. Not only do venues and spaces need to be safer for women. The online world does too. Perceptions around women, in so many ways, seem to be stuck in the past. Unwilling to move and evolve. It is sad and hugely angering to see. Progress and correction needs to happen. It needs to happen…
PHOTO CREDIT: Dominika Roseclay
MUCH faster than it has been!