Misogynistic Lyrics, Groupies and Useless Rock Idols:

Is it time for another Riot Grrrl Movement?

Chances are you’ve heard that new chart-topping Robin Thicke song ‘Blurred Lines’.
You know, the one that glorifies rape culture? Is that the kind of message we should
be sending to women? That they mean so little to society that songs blatantly
disrespecting them can become the biggest hit of the year?

The madness doesn’t stop there though. Throughout the pop industry, songs
disrespecting women are becoming a social norm. Huge artists, such as Eminem,
Tyler the Creator and even Taylor Swift, with her slut- shaming lyrics are doing the
music industry no good.

What’s going on in the rock scene is more disgusting still.

Because it’s not usually in the public eye, people generally tend to ignore the blatant
misogyny ever- present in the rock industry. The pattern’s generally the same- most
band members are male, and the very few females who have actually succeeded in
the rock industry are usually highly sexualised. In rock music, it’s considered okay to
have disrespectful lyrics about women, because no one cares anyway, and there’s a
lot more freedom to express theiyour opinion, with ‘deep and meaningful’ (yet
degrading) lyrics about women – who’s going to stop them? Fans?. The videos show
women being abused or dancing around in skimpy underwear. In fact, 57% of rock
music videos portray women as a sex object, a victim, as unintelligent, or in a
condescending way.

Worse still, groupies are still a huge part of the scene. How are teenage girls
supposed to react when their musical idol finishes the show? Bby sleeping with
barely-legal teenage fangirls? How will they be able to respect themselves? They are
shown constantly that the only way they will get far in music is by sleeping with band
members. These ‘talented musicians’ clearly have major respect for these strangers
they choose to spend the night with, as individuals and future musicians. And these
poor females grew up with the same belief: that the only way they could become
successful musicians was by using the fame of male band members to launch their
career.This is not the right message we should be comfortable with sending young
girls. Groupies have been a part of the culture since the 60’s, but with the recent
development of the internet, these girls have actually become famous in their own
right. Girls actually look up to the likes of Audrey Kitching and Hanna Beth.

The fans themselves are no better. Male fans tend to consider themselves fans of the
music, and their female counterparts purely fans of the men who make it. Girls
looking to start a rock band are usually laughed at, and told that rock is no place for
girls. Sexual assault at concerts is not uncommon, and being a small girl such as
myself, concerts are a scary place, full of big angry men.
Being a huge surf rock fan, I attended a FIDLAR concert with a few of my male
friends back last summer, and while waiting outside we encountered a rather
intoxicated fan a few years older than me. He proceeded to question me about what I
was doing at the show as they were a ‘real’ band, and whether I was a groupie.
Strangely though, my male friends were not given the same interroigation.Needless
to say, I have never been so insulted in my life.

If we look further back into the history of rock, we find many serious female
musicians, who noticed these flaws in the equality of rock music, and dedicated time
to making a change in the rock industry. Joan Jett took the world by storm with her
famous all girl rock band ‘Tthe Runaways’, in a time when the rock scene was
completely dominated by males. Courtney Love showed that she could party every bit
as hard as her male counterparts, and still take her music seriously during the
process. Kathleen Hanna started a movement which changed the opinions of women
who liked rock in the 90’s- ‘tThe Riot Grrrls’.

The Riot Grrl manifesto wasn’t purely about punk music, although bands such as
‘Bikini Kill’ and ‘Huggy Bear’ did play a big part. It was about empowering women to
be whatever they wanted to be, and showing them through their lyrics that they could
achieve just as much as men could. Being a Riot Grrrl was a way of life. Bands all
around the world joined this underground feminist punk movement, adding pro
feminist lyrics into their music, and supporting the rise of female artists. The
movement included literature, zines, art and politics as well as music. Angry
statements such as ‘BECAUSE we are angry at a society that tells us Girl = Dumb,
Girl = Bad, Girl = Weak.’ made girls feel angry and empowered, ready to pick up a
guitar and tell the world why. Things were finally looking up for women in music, but
where are the Riot Grrrls now?

Taking a look at the rock music scene now, you’ll notice few female faces. You may
dislike Hayley Williams for her teeny pop-rock’, Lzzy Hale for her whiney voice, or
Taylor Momsen for prancing around shouting in practically nothing, but these are
women who have made it. And everyone of them is famous for being sexy first, and a
musician second. But why shouldn’t they be able to do whatever they want? You can’t
call yourself a feminist yet believe females should not have free choice. These are the
women we have in the rock scene, and these are the women we need to support, as
musicians, because without them, we, the female rockers, are an endangered species.

Kurt Cobain once said ‘I like the comfort in knowing that women are the only future
in rock and roll.” It’s up to us to prove him right. To all those girls at home practising
their drumming, while dreaming of playing rock to masses of people; don’t give up.
There’s still hope for us in this industry, but it’s our job to make it happen.

We need to be careful because of word length here but this has the making of a very
strong written task Georgia. It is slightly weaker at th ebginning but builds in
strength. We need to draw attention more to the language of gender. There is
potential for this in what you start talking about re. groupies. This needs refocusing,
instead of being around girls wanting to get in music to why girls are groupies and
what is said about girls that are. Why don’t male fans behave like female fans? Why
this total adoration and self-sacrifice and why are other fans reactions to thme so
vitriolic.

A few examples of lyrics and how they reflect empowerment would do more to show
knowledge of gendered language too. I would maybe tackle these ideas and over-
write then we can take out weaker bits afterwards.

Good job – this shows great knowledge of the topic.