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IN THIS PHOTO: Paramore’s Hayley Williams/PHOTO CREDIT: Lindsey Byrnes for the Los Angeles Times
Is There Still Sexism Towards Embracing Women with Guitars?
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I am not sure whether…
IN THIS PHOTO: Wet Leg/PHOTO CREDIT: Chris McAndrew for The Times
it extends to every genre and stage in music, but I think there is still the perception that either women do not play guitars. That, or else there is surprise and a patronising attitude towards women who do play. Perhaps more reserved to the electric guitar, I wonder whether there is still this age-old sexism that assumes men are Rock stars or play guitar. It seems strange that, in the modern day, there are women in music who feel like they cannot play guitar at gigs, lest there are comments or judgement from the audience. Things are perhaps not as bad as they used to be. I saw an NME article from December, where Paramore’s Hayley Williams has said she does not play guitar on stage, fearful of comments or even abuse. Maybe the audience cannot get their heads around the fact that it is perfectly normal for women to play guitar. Some of my favourite modern guitarists like Anna Calvi and St. Vincent must have faced these attitudes and this misogyny:
“Paramore‘s Hayley Williams has discussed sexism in music with Wet Leg, saying she doesn’t “dare” play guitar on stage due to sexist comments.
The artists were speaking to each other for a new podcast from The Face, when they discussed the higher bars set for female musicians in guitar-led spaces.
Wet Leg vocalist Rhian Teasdale said: “I think for us one of the hardest or most irritating things about being women is probably just the stupid comments on the internet like, ‘Oh she’s holding that guitar but she’s not actually playing it’.
She continued: “Like, for example, when I am just not using my guitar but then I need to play it in the chorus or something, there will always be a comment being like, ‘Girls shouldn’t play guitar, women shouldn’t play guitar,’ and it’s just like… it’s so dated but it’s still there! And I just hate it so much. It’s so frustrating.”
Williams added: “I know those people so well, and I don’t even play guitar on stage. I don’t even dare, because I love to play guitar but I don’t know if I could handle… man. I feel you so hard.
“I just hate that people even need to point it out,” she said. “I don’t even really think about my gender at all, when we play the music especially. It’s just not part of the picture. I’m trying to lean into femininity and empower that part of myself more in this era of my career, but do you ever get on stage and feel ‘other’? You feel like this alien thing that’s powerful and beautiful.”
Wet Leg’s Hester Chambers responded: “It’s a scary thing to be confronted with. When it’s just us being ourselves in a room, I’m not thinking about it at all. But as soon as you have a gig and an audience, you become a bit hyper-aware”
Whether the same attitudes are levied at women who play bass or drums I am not sure, but there is this opinions that men shred and play guitar, whereas women sing or play other instruments. Do people need to point out the fact that a woman is on stage with a guitar in 2023?! It seems completely angering and baffling. Something natural that needs to be embraced and celebrated, established acts are already finding that they have to hold back or face endless comments and idiocy from fans and those in music. Does that men that young women coming through learning guitar might feel reluctant to go into the industry because they will not be accepted? I do think that Hayley Williams and Wet Leg’s experiences are not isolated. I know a lot of fans are not to blame, but I think it is mainly men that are turning their noses up at any woman who dares to play guitar. Like they shouldn’t be doing it. How frustrating it must be for artists who are trying to do what they love and are having to encounter such dinosaurs and sexists. Women are dominating music right now so, whether people like it or not, they are defining the sound of today. As part of that, of course they will be playing guitar – and anything else they want to! We should be encouraging girls and young women to pick up guitars and follow their heroes and heroines, but it is going to be devastating if there is this barrier in front of them. Rather than dismissing and judging them, the brilliant women who are influencing others to pick up the guitar should get nothing but…
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