Extended Blog: The Contemporary Voice in Female Rock n' Roll

The contemporary female voice in rock n’ roll is one that speaks of liberation, confidence, anger, feeling, and frustration.

The contemporary female voice echoes characteristics of second and third wave feminism.

Women with second wave feministic voices object to being dominated by a patriarchy that seeks to keep them in submission. These feminists advocate for power by playing with social constructs like sexuality, and the ‘woman’s place’ through their music.

The post-modern mode of third wave feminism also informs the contemporary female voice, especially in recent times. In our society many social constructs have been undermined, like body, gender, sexuality etc. Female artists in this category readopt the lip-stick, high-heals, and cleavage exposing necklines that feminism initially identified with male oppression.  

These grrrls are strong and empowered, shunning victimization, and defining feminine beauty for themselves as subjects, not as objects of a sexist patriarchy. There is a rhetoric of reappropriation—like wearing the bright red lipstick, using derogatory words like “slut” and “bitch” in order to undermine sexist culture and deprive it of verbal weapons.

I think the media, social networking, and basically the internet—which is disembodied—gives users the opportunity to cross gender boundaries, and the idea of gender and sexuality has become more blurred and unclear. There is a sort of celebration of ambiguity and a deviation from the tradition “us-them”. They construct themselves through performance, rather than sticking to fixed structures and power relations.

I think this is true of most contemporary female artists. Some, however, such as Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus {though perhaps she is breaking out of this} are stuck under a patriarchal power and their voice is not entirely their own. They flaunt third wave feminist ideals like baring and being proud of the body, sexualizing their image, but not for the right reasons. They are being actively objectified, but I don’t see it as being empowering as I do with other artists like Lady Gaga, or Beyonce.  

Women still sing of love, vulnerability, and emotion--but in a take charge kind of way. They stay true to what it means to be a women--putting all of that frustration, emotion, love, and nurture into their craft. Whether showing their bodies, or not.

Thematic Collection 5: Porn Sells

Porn products have been reintroduced to society as artifacts of pop culture, the lines between the two blurring so that now what we consider mainstream, pop culture looks a lot like soft-core porn…including advertisements.  

We are desensitizing men and boys by teaching them that degrading women is “normal” and accepted, women and girls are brainwashed through conditioning to believe that they are nothing more than sex objects.

Supply and demand; porn is a commodity, and it sells well. It is a product in high demand, it sells pretty much whatever you want it to—it is the perfect marketing tool, and that’s how it is being used.

It sells products; perfume and stars, burgers and cars. And it has become a part of normal society. It is exploitation, not glorification of the female form. It cultivates a sexism and racism that keeps our society from moving forward.

The sad thing is, and I include myself in this, that we don’t really notice it much anymore. We find these adverts funny, perhaps a little shocking, but nothing out of the ordinary. That we have been socialized to not be bothered by these images is unnerving.  

Thematic Collection 4: Indie Music: Wizard Rock

I touched on this briefly in my post about Indie music, but I wanted to delve further into this ultra-indie, wyrd genre of Wrock.

I think “Indie” can be defined as being built around a counter-culture, and the music as artifacts of this community. Wizard Rock embraces a “do it yourself” style, and the bands self-produce their recordings, distributing them online through youtube or myspace.

The culture that this music comes from is the Harry Potter Series. This is a genre where the subject matter is solely hailed from Harry Potter which goes against mainstream bands that have songs that reference many different things.

The indie genre, as being in revolt to mainstream culture, has become convoluted and a part of a mainstream culture; cancelling itself out. But I don’t believe true indie is dead. I think it perhaps needs a new name, though. Harry Potter is very popular within mainstream culture, but this extent of fanaticism is still about under the counter.

When performing live, wizard rock bands often cosplay, or costume play—a sort of role playing of one of the characters from the series. The bands usually show up at fan conventions, bookstores and libraries—and of course, house parties.

There is a documentary on Wrock called, We Are Wizards. You can watch it on Hulu or Netflix for free. Here's the trailer:

Thematic Collection 3: Black Women in Rock

In class when we looked at riot grrrl and the feminist punk scene, it was pretty much a consistent affair, with a lack of racial diversity. The movement was relatively homogeneous, so this glossing over isn’t that big of a deal to me personally, but I thought it would be interesting to look at some black women who might fall (even if a little loosely) under this genre.

First up, Grace Jones.

Of the women I’ve included in this post, Grace Jones is the probably the most iconic. She has been recording since 1977, released ten studio albums and is a successful actress. Jones adopted the New Wave music style, and tailored a very strong visual presence and androgynous look, with square-cut hair and angled sharp clothes. Ironically her “flat top” hairstyle which she wore in her concerts in the ‘70s, became popular among black men in the ‘80s. Jones is known for her unique look as much as she is for her music, with her elaborate costumes during concert performances and music videos.

I saw X-Ray Spex on the documentary “Punk in London” that I watched with my dad. Poly Styrene, the lead singer, is pretty wonderful; her vocal style is unique to the punk scene, and her hair bows and bright outfits gave X-Ray Spex’s overall reputation as one of the more inventive bands of the mid- to late-‘70s punk era. As a feminist punk she was already nonconventional, but as a braces-wearing, mixed race lead singer, she was even more so. The band was a little pre-riot grrrl movement, and the band’s music focuses more on anti-consumerism and anti-racism.

Fefe Dobson is definitely more commercial than the previous musicians, but she battled with the same kind of racial bias when she broke into the pop punk world previously dominated by female artists like Avril Lavigne. Fefe was constantly stereotyped as a contemporary R&B singer because of her race, despite her interest in rock music, and thrashy punk sound.

Beyonce Knowles, I know this doesn’t fit, but let’s just agree that this cover is awesome.

Thematic Collection 2: White-Washing

We touched briefly on the idea of “white-washing” in class when we read the article by Bell Hooks, “Madonna: Plantation Mistress or Soul Sister?” “Blonde ambition” or “white-washing” is a desire, envy, or appeal for white culture that black female artists may have and appropriate into their image.

These women perform this way to assimilate and be accepted. This reflects the assimilation and acceptance black women must suffer in society.

They are the accessible black female figure; still black for all intents and purposes, but not too black as to cause discomfort. Sure they might sing R&B, they might rap, because those aspects of black culture are cool, hip. These women have just enough swag to claim the responsibility of empowering other black women, and enough whiteness and “class” as to be acceptable and appealing to the masses.

This might not even be the artists conscious choice, magazines or managers might “lighten them up” to make them more culturally “beautiful” and acceptable. 

Hindustan Times article about Indian Actress Aishwarya Rai's intent to Sue Elle for alleged white-washing

Or, conversely, to shoot female models in such a way as to darken the skin of African women to further exoticize them. 

Aside from the more obvious reasons behind this play into acceptance, there is a more subtle one in the media arena. Black bodies are constantly portrayed as negatively sexual, as corrupted, wild, feral and impure. 

Thematic Collection 1: The Star as Commodity

We’ve talked a lot in class of the idea of the artist/performer/star as product. It stands to reason though; an entertainers purpose is to entertain. Consumers create a demand, and the industry creates the product—a commodity that buyers need—the product informs consumers what is in, hip, now and cool by creating “the next big thing.”

The product in the music industry is no longer the physical records, or albums, or songs that sell; it the brand of the star. Byproducts may include dolls, lunchboxes, decals—whatever. Artists create themselves as artifacts of a packaged brand in order to sell themselves. Celebrity doesn't just sell themselves or their music, it is also used to sell items completely unrelated to them; phones, proactive cremes, headphones.

The interviews, the music video (product placement), social networking sites—all are venues through which an artist can push her brand.

Staying consistent to the brand is fairly important; Britney Spears, for example, revolts against her All-American girl-next-door, sexually available yet unattainable, fun and flirty image when she first has kids, gains weight, gets a little crazy and eventually shaves her head. And America rejects her, and exiles her.

Britney had to reclaim her old image, and make a “come-back”; the consumer would have it no other way.

The product the artist portrays is in demand, and smart artists play into that. In Lady Gaga’s case, she sells a sort of lifestyle of liberation. 

Many artists create a "look" that goes along with their branding. Nicki Minaj's brand is strong, empowered, black female rapper. A "Crazy Bitch" who does whatever she wants. Nicki Minaj is a marketing guru; she's a bankable brand that has influenced trends through her music, fashion, make-up and hair.

Pop Goes The Porn Culture from Pornland, by Gail Dines

Porn as celebration. As integral part of mainstream pop culture by design. Porn industry reconstructing porn as fun, edgy, chic, sexy, and hot. The cleaner the industry became—stripping away the “dirt”—the more it seeped into pop culture and our collective unconscious.

Porn products are reintroduced as artifacts of pop culture, the lines between the two blurring so that now what we consider mainstream, pop culture looks a lot like soft-core porn…including advertisements. 

Girks Gone Wild

Joe Francis sells drunk, naked girls. The franchise is sex, but Francis cleverly crafted the Girls Gone Wild product as hot, sexy fun that pushes the envelope. The show has become a recognizable part of American mainstream pop culture.

The Image that Francis has created for Girls Gone Wild is one of young college kids having some good ‘innocent’ fun, and that is why it is a socially accepted brand.

It is specifically women that Francis is selling; hardcore porn includes intercourse, erect penises and ejaculate; because Girls Gone Wild features “real” young women engaging in sexual activity, it is considered soft-core porn.

The ‘realness’ of the girls is crucial and Francis’ main selling point: the idea that the Girls Gone Wild footage is real and uncut, gives the impression that everyday women are sexually available, that “all women are sluts.”

There is a exhibitionist/voyeuristic relationship that takes place between the girls being filmed and the consumers.  The metaphorical “first time”; of being filmed having sex, taking the good “girl next door” and making her “just another slut in porn.”

Manipulation is not difficult as these girls are brainwashed by society to see themselves as sex objects.

The male cameraman telling the women what to do is terribly disconcerting. He has all the power.

Jenna Jameson

The first real porn star in both porn culture and mainstream culture; she is considered to be iconic. She claims to be in control of her own life, and a living testament to how women can make a successful career in the porn industry. Jameson’s story puts the focus on her success, thereby cleanse up porn, and making her the face of an industry, rather than the men who actually own and control it.

In truth, Jameson was hurt by the industry, and her life wasn’t as glamorous as the media makes it. She does admit to feeling degraded, but also claims that she was empowered in her role as “Sex Queen.”

Vivid Entertainment

The largest and most successful porn studio in the world. Steve Hirsch, the man behind the studio wants to make porn mainstream, and his endeavor has been somewhat successful. Vivid Entertainment exploits women in hardcore pornographic videos, becoming more rough every day. The films are penis-centered; the job of the woman is to pleasure the man. ugh.

Queries:

Do you feel desensitized in our culture? Are you as shocked as your parents are when you see racy material?

How has the music industry affected this “bridging” or blurring of the lines? Do you think female performers are treated much like the young women in the porn industry?

 Black women are the lowest level of the porn industry {thank God}, do you think this is because of the idea that the black body is "dirty", and the opposite of innocent?