Why is it so goddamn hard for rock-inclined music festivals and magazines to pay attention to and respect women as musicians? Coachella, Warped Tour and even Bonnaroo have a dismal male-to-female musician ratio. Alternative Press magazine has featured less than five women on its cover in the past 24 months. At least Rolling Stone,
mockable as it can be, has done OK — their covers split in an even 50/50 for 2014, but that’s not 100 percent music coverage. Despite the fact that it’s two-thousand-and-fucking-fifteen, rock music and all its branching genres, is still very much a sexist scene.
Taking the biggest slice of the misogyny cake (frosted with patriarchy-flavored buttercream) is good ol’ Revolver. The magazine just announced its “Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock” issue, paired with the “Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock” tour, which features Flyleaf, The Agonist, Fit for Rivals, Diamante, and Fit for Scarlet. The jaunt lands at Exit/In on April 14.
IS THIS REALLY THE BEST WAY YOU COULD THINK TO FEATURE WOMEN, REVOLVER?
Are these women going to be playing next to propane heaters? Are you going to take their internal temperature to decide who is, in fact, the hottest one while performing? Or are these not human woman but actually little chicks, as in baby chickens, playing guitars while sitting under heat lamps for maximum warmth?
Where’s the “Hottest Dicks” Tour (featuring these guys)? Why, when interviewing these “hot chicks in hard rock” are these women not asked actual questions about the hard rock they sing and play and instead thrown soft-ball bullshit like “Who do you think is hot," “Have you ever felt unsafe at a show,” or “Have you ever had a stalker”? DID YOU EVER THINK THAT MAYBE THEY HAVE FELT UNSAFE OR HAD STALKERS BECAUSE THE INDUSTRY CONTINUES TO TREAT FEMALE MUSICIANS AS THOUGH THEY'RE ANIMATED SEX DOLLS COMPETING FOR A BEAUTY PAGEANT CROWN INSTEAD OF HUMAN BEINGS AND EQUALS WHO JUST WANT TO SCREAM AND PLAY LOUD GUITARS? DID YOU??
OK. Deep breath. I'm calm. I'm OK. But this shit is not OK. And now my penance for giving it even 30 seconds of my attention is to rush over to the Southern Girls Rock and Roll Camp's website and donate money to their great cause. I encourage you to do the same. Girls can rock. They don’t have to be hot and they certainly don’t have to okay with be defined as a “hottest chick” in order to do it.
In a perfect world, all the women on the first date of this tour will take the stage, sing “Don’t Need You” by Bikini Kill, walk off the stage and leave it burning in their wake.
