All-girl, Female-fronted

[RogueWarrior]

So, I am in the middle of a Q&A for my blog with a member of an all female band. I have done a Q&A with another band member, so this is not a new thing.

However, the circumstances that this came about are a bit unique.

I've been using all-girl, all-female, female-fronted, etc, for a while. Not to disparage, but to quantify.

There were a couple of articles/posts that iterated that referring to a band as all female or female-fronted was sexist.

I have been a big proponent of women in rock. I stated my case as to why I differentiated.

I was challenged. Would I include all female or female-fronted bands in a list of bands? Can you do an interview with a member of such bands without referencing gender?

Of course, the answer to the first question was an easy yes. I don't care who is making the music, as long as I like it. The answer to the second question was also yes. I have not problem discussing gear, music, influences, etc. without referencing gender. That's not important to me.

I have had discussions about this with several people. Both male and female. The consensus I get is that people want to know if a band is all female or female-fronted. Mostly because if it is, they would be more likely to check them out.

Mind you, this is strictly speaking about hard rock/metal. Pop, hip hop, country etc. are a different ball game.

Thoughts?

 

[AlanaTaylor]

I think when it comes to bands such as Arch Enemy (which is fronted by Alissa White-Glutz) it is hard not to base it on the fact that she is a lead female singer and can stand up against many male led bands that are similar.
When it comes to rock and metal, their voices need to match up to the many male led bands out there. There aren't as many super strong female rock bands out there but there are plenty of male rock bands so when one is female based it makes them more of a novelty. There are some that have stayed around with a large fan base (paramore comes to mind but they turned more pop) but they tend to have less of a longevity than male led bands who when they hit big are around for decades!
Not saying that women are not talented in the slightest but it is a more male controlled genre, especially the more hardcore stuff. So yes I think I would want to know if a band was female fronted to see if they were something I was into as its not common in that genre.

 

[gothicfeline]

as a fan of Japanese heavy metal these are all girl bands and kick ass.. .. Gacharic spin , Destrose, Aldous and light bringer. now Fuki the lead of lightbringer and Gacharic spin combine to form Doll$boxx also on the softer side and more hard rock is Lovendor

 

[RogueWarrior]

I think when it comes to bands such as Arch Enemy (which is fronted by Alissa White-Glutz) it is hard not to base it on the fact that she is a lead female singer and can stand up against many male led bands that are similar.
When it comes to rock and metal, their voices need to match up to the many male led bands out there. There aren't as many super strong female rock bands out there but there are plenty of male rock bands so when one is female based it makes them more of a novelty. There are some that have stayed around with a large fan base (paramore comes to mind but they turned more pop) but they tend to have less of a longevity than male led bands who when they hit big are around for decades!
Not saying that women are not talented in the slightest but it is a more male controlled genre, especially the more hardcore stuff. So yes I think I would want to know if a band was female fronted to see if they were something I was into as its not common in that genre.

Your stance is exactly that of mine. I want to know. And probably, I would be more likely to check them out.

To delve deeper, should we have qualifiers when talking about "best". For instance best guitarist vs. best female guitarist? I have some candidates on the chick (and I use "chick" as term of endearment) side that don't need qualifiers. Orianthi, Samantha Fish, Diana Rein, I could go on.
Good music is good music. We don't need qualifiers.

 

[CobraLily]

As the female vocalist, and the only female member, of a metal band, I don't mind at all if that's one of the labels attached to my band. As already noted, the metal genre is super dominated by men, and mentioning female membership is still somewhat out of the ordinary. I personally feel that women still need a little bit of a boost when it comes to being in a metal band. On the other hand, I've seen several bands play up the whole female-fronted or all female thing to the point where that's their main draw, as opposed to actually playing music with any sort of depth or skill. In my opinion, doing this weakens the strength of women in the rock scene, because it just leads to over-objectification. In the end, the music ought to be more important than the members' genders. Like you said, good music is good music!

It's a weird, touchy world of heavier music out there. The whole "best" thing is certainly very convoluted. Since the heavy music world is also dominated mainly by Caucasians, it would be equally weird/potentially offensive to have a category of "best black guitarist." But qualifiers are quite a bit different from just mentioning band membership. I feel that calling attention in a good way to bands with members that are underdogs in the genre is a perfectly fine method to promote diversity.

 

[RogueWarrior]

It's been a minute since I've been on this site. Just wanted to bump this thread in case anyone new has an opinion.