Bad Housekeeping Post - Patriarchy 1, Politics 0 (Radio Raging)

Was rather chuffed last week to have Bad Housekeeping put up my post. The still fairly new online magazine focuses on gender and feminism discussion but features posts from students, postgraduates and academics. Wonderful idea and here's hoping it continues to grow (and thanks again!)

Radio 1's What The F: The Story Of Feminism And Pop

I was really intrigued when I found out that Radio 1 were going to be broadcasting a show about feminism and pop. I missed out live but caught up on it the next day (headphones whilst sat in a very warm, sunny yard in March nonetheless!) It was a bit of a disappointment. Whilst I think it's fantastic Radio 1 are giving airtime to discussing feminism and bringing it to mainstream radio, there were two problems for me. 1) It seemed to lack real substance and just felt like it was skimming the surface... 2) ...and maybe that was because of the focus being feminism and pop music, rather than feminism more broadly, but if that's the case then it was also limited in scope. For instance, there was discussion of some of the issues concerning women in pop music but I was also expecting more on feminism within pop e.g. the impact feminism has had on pop music itself But as I've said, I do appreciate that it provided an opportunity for feminism to get public attention through a mainstream radio station. And having musicians such as Professor Green being quoted saying he considers himself a feminist may do some good in opening up some of the audience's eyes to issues concerning gender inequality.

Four Female Punk Bands...

...that changed women's role in rock

Agreed?

Thinking outside of 'female punk bands'...Lydia Lunch tends to be a prominent feature on similar lists of influential punk females (and technically was also in a band albeit not all female) and I can see why.

For me, Katie Jane Garside was always quite influential when I was younger. I guess it might be hard to see her in the same vein as some of the other punk artists but Daisy Chainsaw gets close. I don't ever really see much wrote about her though in retrospectives concerning female musicians of punk or riotgrrl even.

Rave, Jewish Punks and Female Masturbation

Some interesting pieces on The Guardian today: - the secret history of the UK's 'punky Jews' - images of 90s rave culture - pop music and female masturbation

NME Awards 2014 - Blondie

Nice to see Blondie receive the NME 2014 award for Godlike Genius. There has been some backlash over this, namely that this is the first time a female musician will have been awarded this (emphasis on musician, see Penny Smith 2002). And fair enough, that considering how many female musicians there are there does appear to be a disproportionate amount of male musicians who have received the award. Not too convincing are the mumblings regarding the award being given to Blondie as a band, rather than Debbie Harry in her own right (it's been awarded to bands previously to recognise the genius of said band, their collective effort). But that aside, it does seem to further emphasise that despite the increasing numbers of females in the music industry (whether creating, playing, producing or distributing), there is still a prevalent focus on the men. On a side note...also disappointing to see a number of news reports on Blondie's receipt of this award using very dated images of the band. They're still active so why not use an image which reflects them today?

Song lyrics I'm currently hating...

...and keep on having to hear on the radio

and the best is no one knows who you are
just another girl alone at the bar

don't trust a hoe never trust a hoe wont trust a hoe wont trust me

shush girl shut your lips do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips
i said shush girl shut your lips do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips

From 'Don't Trust Me' by 303


I know how I read into this and it's not good! What about you?


x-posted to Subtext