51 Women in Modern Music
In This Chapter
Read the three online articles listed below about women and feminism in the music industry. Issadora Tulalian’s article in Backstage Pass discusses the male dominance of the music industry and what women can do change the status quo.
Cheryl Wang’s text, a direct response to Ariel Levy’s book Female Chauvinist Pigs, seems to concur. It focuses on how sexualization is trending in popular music as a vehicle for success, using several female artists as examples.
Safi Bugel’s more recent article points out disparities in female representation on the production side of the music industry.
“Gender Inequality in the Music Industry” (Issadora Tulalian)
https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=backstage-pass
“Celebrity Raunch Culture: Is It Feminism?” (Cheryl Wang)
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/cheryl-wang/celebrity-raunch-culture-_b_6511570.html
“Women and Non-Binary Producers ‘Vastly Underrepresented’ in 2022’s Top Songs” (Safi Bugel)
Use the questions below to dig into and discuss major themes covered in these articles. Compare them with your own and your classmates’ personal experiences with music.
- All three texts seem to agree that the music industry is male dominant. Why? How?
- What elements of music are considered feminine or masculine? What stereotypical dichotomies are created out of this?
- How does each text define “feminism” within the music industry? Which attitudes and behaviors are considered feminist and which are not? Why? How is this a grey area?
- How are female musicians both acknowledging and breaking free from these stereotypes? What examples are used in the text? What other examples can you think of?
- Following Madonna’s lead, Miley Cyrus and Nikki Minaj both claim to support feminism through their image (according to Wang’s article). How do they validate this argument? Do you agree or disagree?
- Is female music really viewed differently from male? Why is this important?
Sources
Bugel, Safi. “Women and Non-Binary Producers ‘Vastly Underrepresented’ in 2022’s Top Songs.” The Guardian, 12 Apr. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/apr/12/women-and-non-binary-producers-vastly-underrepresented-in-2022s-top-songs
Tulalian, Issadora. “Gender Inequality in the Music Industry.” Backstage Pass, vol. 2, no. 1, 2019, https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/backstage-pass/vol2/iss1/14
Wang, Cheryl. “Celebrity Raunch Culture: Is It Feminism?” Huffington Post, 6 Dec. 2017.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/cheryl-wang/celebrity-raunch-culture-_b_6511570.html
