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Women in punk rock

Women's music history

  • 25 min read
  • 6 chapters

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Through Feminism and Taboo

Rock historian Helen Reddington wrote that the popular image of young punk women musicians as focused on the fashion aspects of the scene (fishnet stockings, spiky hair, etc.) was stereotypical. She states that many, if not all women punks were more interested in the ideology and socio-political implications, rather than the fashion. Music historian Caroline Coon contends that before punk, women in rock music were virtually invisible; in contrast, in punk, she argues, "It would be possible to write the whole history of punk music without mentioning any male bands at all – and I think a lot of [people] would find that very surprising."

Johnny Rotten wrote that "During the Pistols era, women were out there playing with the men, taking us on in equal terms ... It wasn't combative, but compatible." Chrissie Hynde echoed similar sentiments when discussing her start in the punk scene, "That was the beauty of the punk thing: sexual discrimination didn't exist in that scene." The anti-establishment stance of punk opened the space for women who were treated like outsiders in a male-dominated industry. Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon states, "I think women are natural anarchists, because you're always operating in a male framework." Others take issue with the notion of equal recognition, such as guitarist Viv Albertine, who stated that "the A&R men, the bouncers, the sound mixers, no one took us seriously. So, no, we got no respect anywhere we went. People just didn't want us around."

History and context

Musicologist Caroline Polk O'Meara has written that female experience, feminism and taking a pro-woman stance empowered women's participation in punk rock beginning in the 1970s. In rock music, there has been a gendered "distinction between public (male) and private (female) participation" in music. "[S]everal scholars have argued that men exclude women from bands or from the bands' rehearsals, recordings, performances, and other social activities." "Women are mainly regarded as passive and private consumers of allegedly slick, prefabricated – hence, inferior – pop music..., excluding them from participating as high status rock musicians." One of the reasons that mixed gender bands were traditionally rare was that "bands operate as tight-knit units in which homosocial solidarity – social bonds between people of the same sex... – plays a crucial role." In the 1960s pop music scene, "[s]inging was sometimes an acceptable pastime for a girl, but playing an instrument...simply wasn't done."

In the UK, the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 allowed women the same access to jobs as men. Some men thought that this legislation put them at a loss and felt that women were taking away positions that traditionally belonged to them. This, and the election of Margaret Thatcher, led many young women who felt disenfranchised to the punk rock music scene.

Suzi Quatro is considered to be a major influence in the early British punk culture. Quatro refused to be sexualized by the media and indirectly dealt with the issue of sexism by embracing a tough, rocker persona while producing music that could thrive in the mainstream. Bands like X-Ray Spex and the Slits took this feminist rock culture and combined it with a more extreme, aggressive style of music. This genre reflected on social, cultural and political changes of the United Kingdom at the time, and continued to do so in other locations.

In the US, women such as Exene Cervenka and Joan Jett made contributions to the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Cervenka's aggressive style and her unconventional looks drew more young women to the scene since it was inclusive. Many of these women sought to fight public sexual harassment and encourage body positive attitudes through their music. Leather jackets, short skirts, fishnets and choker necklaces were part of the punk style and culture, and this style made many punk women targets for sexual harassment in the streets. They often spent much time outside waiting for shows, smoking, and meeting with one another, which created a kind of vulnerability. Women punk musicians retaliated by educating the young girls involved in the scene, taking legal action, and writing songs on the matter. While punk in New York City and San Francisco emerged in the 1970s, the Los Angeles scene was at its strongest point in the 1980s, as a response to the conservative policies of Ronald Reagan's administration. Mainstream rock such as Christopher Cross or Hall and Oates did not tend to address political issues, which left a space for rebels like Joan Jett and Blondie within the charts.

The feminist ideologies of punk rock in the 1970s and 1980s persevered into the 1990s via the riot grrrl movement in the Olympia, Washington, area. Riot grrrl addressed more than the sexism of punk culture alone. Rather, the movement applied feminism on a broader scale by taking on issues such as sexual assault, systematic sexism, and the idea that sex is taboo for women. Riot grrrl began by primarily using homemade magazines, known as zines, and group meetings.

Eventually, the movement developed into a genre of music that was more aggressive than the mainstream rock of the decade. This genre reflected the same values as the zines. It was within this era that the LGBT community began to use punk rock as an outlet for advocacy as well. Groups from the early 21st century such as Pussy Riot combine feminist and queer values in their music and films.

The constant push for gender equality over three decades has resulted in a more inclusive punk rock culture that is no longer divided by sex. No Doubt is one example of this accepting culture. They are a co-ed musical group with a female singer who addresses feminist issues. One of No Doubt's songs, "Just a Girl", made it to the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 23 back in 1995. Sleater-Kinney and Le Tigre are groups known to mix feminist ideologies with other social justice themes. Following George W. Bush's administration's response to the September 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, these female-led groups offered political criticism through politicized songs. Sleater-Kinney's song "Combat Rock" was anti-war in nature and directly criticized the U.S. government's decisions regarding the Middle East.

"The rebellion of rock music was largely a male rebellion; the women—often, in the 1950s and '60s, girls in their teens—in rock usually sang songs as personæ utterly dependent on their macho boyfriends". Philip Auslander says that "Although there were many women in rock by the late 1960s, most performed only as singers, a traditionally feminine position in popular music". Though some women played instruments in American all-female garage rock bands, none of these bands achieved more than regional success. So they "did not provide viable templates for women's on-going participation in rock". In relation to the gender composition of heavy metal bands, it has been said that "heavy metal performers are almost exclusively male", "at least until the mid-1980s", apart from "exceptions such as Girlschool." However, "now [in the 2010s] maybe more than ever–strong metal women have put up their dukes and got down to it", "carv[ing] out a considerable place for [them]selves."

When Suzi Quatro emerged in 1973, "no other prominent female musician worked in rock simultaneously as a singer, instrumentalist, songwriter, and bandleader". According to Auslander, she was "kicking down the male door in rock and roll and proving that a female musician ... and this is a point I am extremely concerned about ... could play as well if not better than the boys".

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