Women, Fire and Dangerous Things in Exklusiv #88 (05.2010)

The wonderful woman Karolina Sulej, music and fashion journalist, scholar, dj, co-organiser of such awesome events as Photomonth Krakow, contributor to Wysokie Obcasy, music editor and vice-editor of Exklusiv Magazine, is inspired by Women, Fire and Dangerous Things in her May music editorial. I could not be more honoured!

"Your Kid Sister


I recently found some tapes from my childhood years. Apart from 2Unlimited and Guns'n'Roses, there were tapes with my own songs. I was ashamed to find out I have over 5 hours of my lyrical and vocal performances of dubious quality on tape.


Karolina Sulej - vice-editor, music editor
illustration: Magdalena Łapińska

The American documentary Girls Rock is a story about how important it is for girls to "sing to the tape recorder". That is, about how they shouldn't be afraid to express their feelings and be who they are. Specifically, about a summer camp. A rock camp. Young girls, from the age of five or six to teenagers, learn to play, compose, write lyrics, form bands, and at the end, give a concert together. The camp is visited by female rock stars. When Beth Ditto came over, even the tiniest babies pogoed to Standing in the Way of Control. Rock and roll is supposed to work as a way of releasing anger, fear and frustration, as well as of learning to communicate with others, making friends with those similar to you. The girls who came to the camp include: a daughter of drug addicts, sent from one orphanage to another, a chubby Asian girl bullied at school for being a "freak", a girl with ADHD, another with anxiety neurosis. The campsite, in the middle of a forest, was a meeting ground for young girls of all races and classes - a real ersatz America. They say they're afraid of school. That nobody likes them. That they're fat. That they're ugly. That they don't fit in. That they can't believe they can succeed in anything. The teachers want to explain to them that MTV and a few popular girls at school can't dictate their self-worth. And music, again, becomes a mainspring of evolution - in this case a small one, restricted to a few people, but big enough to heal some traumatic experiences of growing up. The little Palace, who at first couldn't cope with other girls, bit, hit, and argued about everything, is smiling widely at the closing concert, fondly looking at her equally little guitarist and singing lyrics she wrote herself: "San Francisco can be so boring, I don't want to go on this trip with mum, because she only thinks of herself, I'm gonna watch this city burn, burn, burn". She drops the piece of paper with song lyrics. We get a close-up: "I wanna be a SOUPer star". I'd like to be a star like that too.

Or one like Your Kid Sister, or Maia Vidal. The frisky Spaniard pulled a right stunt at old hardcore punks. She recorded the hit Poison in a version which easily floors the old hands. Time out, boys. From Maia's MySpace: "The character that was created is a (duh) younger sister who, having found your Rancid records, dragged them into her room and learned to sing along. As you can tell, she never understood that Punk was a movement, a state of mind, or that she was doing it all wrong". You can listen to her "singing along" record on the internet, and also see the video to Poison - a little masterpiece comparable to Bat For Lashes' What's a Girl to Do. Unfortunately, from my childhood adventure with the tape recorder and playing "the keys" I'm only left with the ability to play Kumbaya my lord, Kumbaya and singing Whitney Houston songs correctly on karaoke. And of course, because I couldn't become a musician, I became a music journalist. A female music journalist, actually. Oops.

I recently found an interesting zine online. It's called "Veto" and is about the situation of women in the media. "In 2007 the Fawcett Society collated data from nine leading daily British newspapers: they document two female to seventeen male editors, one female to seventeen male deputy editors and one female to seventeen male comment and review editors. The International Federation of Journalists notes that in 2001 in Canada and North America only 28% of all newspaper journalists and 37% of television journalists were female. The Canadian Newspaper Association records that in 2002 women represented only 8% of all editors-in-chief and publishers for nationally recognised broadsheets." That's a part of the opening manifesto. Are female journalists really still at a risk of bumping their heads against the glass ceiling? I don't think so - the glass ceilings are breaking one after another, even if we get our pretty faces scarred in the process. And for those who wish us hell, we can only sing: Some people are poison, Under my skin like opium, And I'll stare in their eye to annoy them, Yeah they're poison.

I found out about Your Kid Sister and the "Veto" zine from Women, Fire and Dangerous Things - www.womenfiredangerousthings.blogspot.com - a blog ran by female journalist Marta Owczarek. We're publishing her interview with the Spanish band Tu Madre next month."



Nothing makes me happier than to think that this blog actually inspired someone and spread the word about women and their various activities. The blog gets a mention, but the editorial really is about Your Kid Sister and "Veto", and I'm infinitely glad I could support both like this. Maïa Vidal is really French-American and not Spanish, and the blog address is www.womenfiredangerousthings.blogspot.com, but those are minor details that I hope don't spoil the sheer pleasure of seeing this editorial in print for anyone. They certainly don't spoil it for me, I'm giddy like a five year old on stage, Girls Rock-like. Thank you so much, Karolina!

VETO zine

I posted about Tiffany Daniels and her music zine Drunken Werewolf a while ago. I also posted the call for submissions to a one-off fanzine on women in the music industry. I have failed entirely to contribute to it, which fills me with embarrassment and grief, but the final project is ready and available. I quote the original post by Tiffany below:



DOWNLOAD PDF OF ZINE

During the past few months myself, Caitlin Wittlif (I'm Wide Awake, It's Caitlin), Lucy V Hay (Write Here, Write Now), Marisa Gunzenhauser (Filthy Little Angels and a prolific producer) and Clare Potts (I Like Tweet) have been putting together VETO, a fanzine dedicated to women in the media and music industry. It includes an informative manifesto, four detailed articles on the state of the sector, the sexism that lies within and our personal experiences, and an illustration explaining the glass ceiling effect.


Please send it around and spread the word - we're not doing it for personal gain, we're doing it to get the message out there. And let me know your thoughts - we've got a voice and we're not afraid to defend ourselves!


Related links:

VETO on Tumblr

Women and music, continued

DrunkenWerewolf is a music blog and printed magazine ran by Tiffany Daniels, who in the user info for the blog says:

"My name is Tiffany Daniels. Yes readers, that means I'm female.


Originally I didn't want to list any personal details here at all (I don't see why, when it comes to honest music recommendations, I should) but it's become necessary, because it sincerely annoys me when:
i) People assume I'm male.
ii) People realise I'm female and consequently assume DrunkenWerewolf's male writers are behind the wheel, and I'm some sort of scivvy, or, people realise I'm female and consequently assume I'm a lesbian.
iii) I only cover musicians because I have an ulterior motive.


None of the above is true. I started writing because I'm shit at playing music myself. As the ever quoted Kurt Cobain once claimed, "All music journalists are failed musicians". I cover under-exposed innovative artists because I genuinely believe they deserve more credit for what they're doing, and without blowing my own trumpet too hard I put a lot of effort into it. Certainly, the majority of the effort put into the magazine and this blog is my own. This does not mean I want to shag so-and-so or network to get myself a decent job. It simply means, I, a female, want to show support for the music that I love."

The project is incredible in its DIY ethic and self-funding, focus on local and unsigned/unhyped artists, open approach to collaborations, and an insistence on printing each issue, because "print >>> pdf". After it sells out, each issue is put up online for free: check them out here. And/or order the newest issue. Both can also be done from the magazine's MySpace.

Recently, Tiffany posted the following message:

"HEY WOMEN,


Feminism has extended its empowering hand and had an evening of sexist-related rage collide with Women's Enterprise Day. It's motivated me to do something about the sexism women face in the workplace, particularly in the media and music industry. I really think Joe Public associate sexist issues in the music industry with female musicians and female musicians alone; they don't appreciate the problem extends to the every day worker. Please shout about it with me! Repost this to your blog, journal, website, Twitter, MySpace, FaceBook etc...I want as many women involved as possible.

To celebrate the women who work behind the scenes in the media and music industry, I'm going to compile a one-off fanzine with a view to organise related events in the future. If you're a writer, editor, promoter, illustrator, designer, fan, manager, PA or PR...anything, so long as you care about and contribute to the media and music industry, please contact me on drunkenwerewolf@hotmail.co.uk."

She also posted a video put together by Kill Rock Stars, a record label with a "tradition of being queer-positive, feminist, and artist-friendly". It is awesome so I will repost it here:


Women Who Rock from Caitlin Wittlif on Vimeo.


This ties in very well with the Riot Grrrl videos I mentioned in the previous post, but focuses the attention on music journalists. Music business is infamous for an extremely exclusive attitude towards women, and there's not nearly enough reaction to that kind of treatment. From my personal experience as a former radio dj, former zine co-editor and designer, and current concert-goer, record shop visitor, and music fan, I can say that doing anything with music is very gendered. And as a woman you are expected to know less, have inferior taste, and a less serious approach to everything. The zine I was co-editing and designing was published by UCLU Live Music Society, whose president was surprised to see me at one of the society's meetings, failed to recognize me as a valid important member, and instead, asked me patronizingly if I, too, was interested in music. Then he proceeded to undermine any suggestion I made, especially if it was critical, and exclude me from any decision making or discussion. I was the only female present, of course, and I left the meeting with a firm intent to stick to my own business and never again try to influence what was to be done under the greater scope of the society. Unfortunately, similar things frequently happen in casual conversations about music. A lot of my male friends who have a serious interest in music tend to talk about it only with other males and address them specifically, even if women are present during the conversation, and they have an interest in music as well. It's considered "a man's thing" to the extent that many of my female friends, discouraged by this exclusive dynamic created by their friends and boyfriends, have stopped trying to express their point of view and participate in the male-dominated discussions. That often also means they have become convinced they don't know anything about music, that their opinion doesn't matter, and their tastes are irrelevant. It makes me furious, it makes me sad.

But thankfully, not all women are like that. My friend Kate Ross is a bright example that women can hold a strong and serious interest in music, and execute it with brilliance. Kate co-hosts a radio show on Rare FM, every Sunday at 8PM GMT (9PM CET), has interned for Mojo magazine, and I dearly hope will become a professional music journalist following her graduation. She has an unparalleled knowledge, especially of anything related to the 70s punk scene, a dedicated and vivid interest in many genres of music, respect and recognition for unsigned/local artists, and an attitude that lets her express her opinions confidently and defend them, no matter how many self-important male wannabe-music experts are involved. A woman to admire, an example to follow!

If you have any thoughts on women in the media/music industry, let DrunkenWerewolf know, and spread the word about their request. Comments to this post are also greatly appreciated!


ps. There is an ace event going on in Espai Motel in Barcelona tonight - an inauguration of a film cycle dedicated to women. First screening: La ciénaga by Lucrecia Martel, and a gig by Your Kid Sister. A blog post will follow.

First Editorial: Hello

Nadine and I had had an idea of making a zine already two years ago. Then it turned into a blog idea but for various reasons never came into fruition, and our two year's worth of feminist rants and discoveries went unpublished and undocumented. In the beginning of this week I saw some movies that convinced me I should have a higher motivation/purpose in life, and then thanks to someone's helpful suggestion I watched a documentary on Riot Grrrl on YouTube (Experience Music Project's Riot Grrrl Retrospective; all 11 links to the YouTube clips in the Jezebel article). As an effect of these seemingly random factors, I decided to revive Women, Fire and Dangerous Things, and make it a good goal and purpose to promote all kinds of female activity. In the documentary, Layla Gibbons says of how she first formed her band: "We were like, OK, let's just do a band, and it doesn't matter if we're like, not any good or if we make mistakes, let's just do it cause otherwise we're never going to be bold enough to get on stage, and it's important that we represent ourselves." I felt like that was true for this project too - if we don't start now, we might not ever, and so what it might not be perfect, but at least it will be there, we will have something to believe in and care about.

The idea also came together in my head because of my thesis on feminist uses of image and word, for which I'm doing research this year in Barcelona. I'm finding quite a lot of female artists, though not loads that fit my criteria of using both images and words, and it seems a bit of a shame to leave them out completely. As I won't be able to fit too many into my thesis, I thought this project could resolve this, and all sort of female activity, regardless of specifics, could be celebrated.

There's another quote on the blog, stating that "We're not anti-boy, we're pro-girl." I thought it explained well that though feminism may have a lot to do with opposing to patriarchy, it is not, as is widely presumed, an attack on everything with a penis. However, to oppose another stereotype, I think women are still very often undermined in a lot of professions, the world is still male-dominated, and women are under a lot of pressure to conform to traditional roles, accept double standards, and suffer discrimination. And I don't mean in Islamic countries, I mean everywhere. I'm reading a book on women graffiti artists now, and one girl talks about her experience of trying to establish herself as one: she says it was super hard for her to even get people to take her seriously - most presumed she slept around lots and went out to paint with these guys, and that she got them to "help her" paint all her stuff. Graffiti is maybe an extreme example, but it seems to me that in every domain of life it is important to promote and inspire female activity, expand the scopes of femininity, dispel stereotypes and cushioned conceptions of perfect equality, and protest against discrimination and stereotypes that fuck with female and human dignity.


I would love this to be a collaborative project, like it started, so apart from Nadine and myself, I asked a few good friends to collaborate. I was thinking of posting about women we know, or women we heard of, women who do stuff, engage in activities, whatever they may be. It would be great to have all kinds of opinion posts, and I suppose anything that seems fitting for the subject. Yeah? All ideas and discussions and comments welcome!

xoxo
Marta