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 Everett True

Sexism etc – a further update

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The following is taken from a recent conversation on Facebook.

Everett True
Folk are all like “oh, how dare you suggest you might print sub-standard music criticism simply cos it comes from a female”?!
What about the fucking TONS of crap music criticism written by male critics that gets published every fucking minute of every fucking day? What’s their editors’ excuse?
That they’ve got shit-for-brains? Or doesn’t it matter, because it’s from men?

Debbie Schow, Becky Randall, Erika Meyer and 8 others like this.

Stephanie Novak
are you still on the hunt for writers? I have the enthusiasm!

Joanna Nilson
it’s not crap male journalism, it’s just crap journalism. I’m sure plenty of crap female journalism gets published too, there’s no argument here. Journalism is the problem, not what’s in someone’s pants.

Everett True
Yep sure am, Stephanie.

Rachel Beth Coburn
Must they be Australian, these writers?

Everett True
Jo, you’re simultaneously right and wrong. The issue is journalism, but writing about music happens to be on a 95/5 male/female split (or whatever)…. perhaps if it was the other way round then journalism wouldn’t be the issue? Who knows? It doesn’t look like anyone will ever find out, the way folk refuse to acknowledge there’s even a problem.
I’m suggesting the problem might well have its roots in gender imbalance. Enough men have had a crack at writing about music for people to know that most of them are crap at doing it. I really don’t see what’s so radical about that view.

Everett True
No, they don’t Rachel.

Rachel Beth Coburn
you’re getting the standard anti affirmative action responses, it appears, my friend…

Hannah Levin
You look good in my dress. Get your friends to clean the mess.

Joanna Nilson
there is no fucking argument here. It’s just patronizing. affirmative action is garbage. should be skill not gender based.
music journalism is CRAP these days because magazines rely on mainstream advertising from large record companies and are owned by conglomerates who are breathing down editors’ necks- they can’t push the envelope. has fuck-all to do with women. women can go write if they want to. i never came up with any sort of opposition. There’s nothing stopping girls from writing a blog. or a zine. and they do. you aren’t looking hard enough.

Bianca Rosemarie de Valentino
Encouraging female writers and providing them with a platform is a positive which ever way you look at it.

Joanna Nilson
empty rewards based on gender for the sake of encouragement?

Bianca Rosemarie de Valentino
It depends on your viewpoint… look at it in whatever way you want I stand by my comment: Encouraging female writers and providing them with a platform is a positive…

Everett True
‎”empty rewards based on gender for the sake of encouragement?” …. that’s how male critics have got away with it so long

Larry Pickleman
Pity there aren’t any female writers with chips on their shoulder

Sadie Anderson
Well, in my view, it’s the entire world of “rock” which is still completely male dominated. If you want to play in a band as a woman and you want to yelp and howl rather than sing nicely in tune then you need to be pretty bloody stubborn. It’s not just the journalism which is gender biased.

Sadie Anderson
Also there is a subtle but important difference between advocating positive descrimination ( which could and does feel patronising) and recognising the gender imbalance which exists and encouraging more female involvement. I believe that Everett is suggesting the latter?

Patricia Reece
dear everett true, I adore you.

Mathias Aduke
Word!

Sue Langland
Maybe because I come out of the first wave punk tradition and remember that on the West Coast of the US that one of our most important rock critics was Kristine McKenna who wrote for the Los Angeles Times, not to mention the many women involved in doing fanzines, and then there was Caroline Coon in the UK, that I haven’t given this bias much thought–but I hope that you find that elusive female rock critic Everett–>one who can also write her ass off.

Sue Langland
BTW, I would like to see a gender break down of who reads the rock press, is it 50/50 men women?

Särä Sörënsön
Obviously, these people work at Guitar Center. *Here.* A jealousy-deflecting helm of protection for you. Ignore that it’s constructed from tin foil and adorned with macaroni-embossed pine cones.

Gillian Gaar
‎@Sue, the last time I saw a survey done for a music pub I worked for, there were def more male readers; it was 60-70%. This was a decade ago though. And only of one mag. I think it’s a good gauge for most though, but I’ll bet Guitar/Bass Player type mags it’s even more male readers.

Dennis R. White
@Everett. WTF? Of course you don’t have a problem telling anyone who says such crap to shove it up their asses so far it feels like a sore throat.

Louis Pattison
Bit late on this, but a couple of points re: the UK music mag market.
A look at NME at the moment suggests that the balance of male to female writers, while not completely closed, has changed significantly in the last few years – I would estimate that it’s more like 60:40 these days, which is a generally positive development (and may be to do with the fact that Krissi Murison is editor, but then equally, may be more to do with a generally more equal landscape, etc).
Mags like Kerrang! and, I think, Rock Sound have for some years had a readership that’s slightly more balanced towards female rather than male. However the titles aimed at older readers still register a largely male readership (and the writers are, almost exclusively, male).
That Pitchfork appear to have zero female music writers is really strange, I think.

Dennis R. White
‎@Everett & Gillian
As a former staffer at Seattle’s defunt Rocket it now occurs to me that we had alot more women writers than was usual for the time. And they were all STRONG writers. There was no need to seek them out to fill some kind of quota. AFAIR, most showed up at the door pitching themselves. Was it an aberration? I don’t think so. Maybe I’m totally wrong. I’m sure I’ll be corrected.
I believe people go where they’re accepted and appreciated-even though it seldom translates to cash… You’re going to come up with some brilliant talent.

Sue Langland ‎
@Dennis, was this during the late 80’s-early 90’s? If so, maybe it is no mistake that some of the hardest rocking chick led groups were making great music then–L7, Babes in Toyland, and The Gits among others, and one of the great albums of the last 30 years was produced, “Live Through This.” That time period was great for the female rock artist, IMO. Now–I don’t know, I don’t feel invested in current music nor the criticism that accompanies it…

Dennis R. White
‎@ Sue. Yes, although the women at The Rocket didn’t primarily focus on women in music. They had, and still do, a broad range of knowledge and skills. Kudos to all the cool writers like Gillian Gaar, Veronika Kalmer, Robert Penn, Dawn Anderson. There were others I can think of who didn’t contribute to The Rocket-among them Daina Darzin Ann Powers and Xan Nyfors plus -many more. As to current music and criticism. I’m not really much on nostalgia, but I long for music that is exciting, rebellious and breaks new territory.

Johanna Buccola
Love.

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