Sex
and Gender Roles in Rock
Katie
J. Anderson
Anoka
Ramsey Community College- Rock and Roll History
Sex
and gender roles have been said to be clearly defined. This paper will examine
if this is true. Male and female role models are said to have certain
expectations, yet there are many cases of androgynous role models in rock. This paper will address these presumptions to
establish what the proposed roles of sex and gender are, against the argument
of androgynous models that break these presumptions. We will examine two roles:
The masculine roles of being rebels, more into performances, and degrading to women;
and the feminine roles of not belonging
in rock, appearing more motherly or feminine in nature, and being ignored by
research and the people in general. The counterpoint to this argument will be
the roles of androgynous rock stars that
not only break the rules, but have had wide success using them. The proposal of
this paper is that further studies of sex and gender roles versus a mix of the
two must be made.
Male
roles in rock have been suggested to be clearly defined. Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie (as cited in
Martin, 1955) wrote, “works with conventions of masculinity and femininity that
situate both performers and audiences along clear gender lines: males as active
participants.” (p.53) Males are expected to be fully into a performance. They are
supposed to be the center of attention, the more ludicrous the performance, the
more the band was loved.. They are also supposed to be the rebels. Reynolds and
Press (1966) stated that, “there are rebels who look for causes to validate
their insurrectionary temperament. What, if anything, unites these boys, these
men? Precisely their masculinity.” (p. 2.) In order for men to be considered
masculine, they must rebel. This present a clear idea that men must be ‘manly’
men. It is also suggested that men should treat women as sex objects. This idea
is presented vastly in media. Vincent, Davis and Boruszkowski (1987) did a
random sample of 110 music videos on MTV, and found that, “56.9% of
observations were given the highest rating of sexism—Level I—where the women
were portrayed in condescending ways, as less than human or as sex objects.”
(P.7) They were expected to be aggressive and women as lower than them. They
were the kings and the women the peasants. Rebellion and hatred towards anyone
unlike them was rampant and idolized.
Women’s
Roles in rock seem to also be clearly defined. Women faced sexism from every
direction. Rhodes (2005) wrote that many women faced hostility and resentment. Women
were initially unwelcome in the scene, or had to have a specific code of
conduct. Many were faced with losing their careers if they did not conform. Women were supposed to be the more motherly
figures. Seidman (2009), in another
random sampling of 182 music videos, stated that, “females were more
affectionate, dependent, nurturing, and fearful than males.” (p.209-216) Women
must be soft and feminine, always looking up to the men. The paragraph above
discusses the first set of music videos we are talking about, showing that
women were being shown as submissive to men.. Even scientific research has been
affected by the gender stereotype. Groce and Cooper (1990) wrote, “Social
Scientistists have investigated many facets of popular music over the last 25
years. The vast majority of these efforts have been on men… a traditionally
male-centered and male-dominated activity. “ Women seem to have been tossed out
of the mix, or slighted, these would all suggest. We still have to take into
consideration, the gender bending roles.
Androgyny
roles have been popular for a long time in Rock. Androgyny is when no clear
gender or sex is shown or preferred. Tilla (as presented by Seidman, 2010)
writes that the artist prince (or the artist formerly known as prince), “uses
popular iconography to blur the distinctions between spirituality and sexuality.”
Prince defies gender roles and sex stereotypes. The ‘king of pop’ Michael
Jackson also defies the stereotype. Michael
Jackson was around for decades in the music scene before his death. Berman (as
told by Kaufman, 1982) wrote, “(Michael Jackson) gives you the
sense that you can play with anything--with being a man or a woman, black or
white, scared or scary, or some funny combination of all of them.” (P. 113.) Michael Jackson broke all the rules,
and one of his albums is the number one bestselling albums of all time. David Bowie
is another great example of gender bending. He created the fictional character of Ziggy
Stardust and performed as the character. Erlewine (n.d.) wrote, “Bowie succeeds
not in spite of his pretensions but because of them, and Ziggy Stardust --
familiar in structure, but alien in performance -- is the first time his vision
and execution met in such a grand, sweeping fashion.” David Bowie was also the
star of the Cult Classic Film the
Labyrinth. Madonna is also known for using androgyny in her music videos. Madonna
is also known as a cultural icon. If so many big stars can gender bend, is
there really a gender or sex role? If androgyny is so widely used, this
contradicts the feminine/masculine roles and stereotypes.
In
conclusion, we have shown the traditional roles of males and females in the
music industry. The two traditional roles are: Males are supposed to be more
aggressive and manly, and higher then everyone else; while the women are
supposed to be neither seen nor heard, and if they are, they must be motherly
or feminine. We have counterpointed these stereotypes and roles with
androgynous stars that have made a career out of breaking these rules
successfully. If the rules can be broken, are they truly rules? If the standard
still exists do the cases to counterpoint just prove an exception to these rules?
Are men and women always expected to have these roles no matter what the
circumstances, and the exceptions just the ones that got lucky? Or do rules and
roles not apply at all, and this is just a thing of the past? Too many
questions still remain unanswered and not enough scientific data exists. No conclusion can be made from these, except
that more research would have to be done to endorse any of the standpoints.
References
Berman,
M (1982) All that is solid melts into air.
Simon and Schuster. pg.69-80. DOI: 10.1080/13617671003666761 http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/200912/george-and-lennox-gaga-and-lambert-androgyny-creativity-and-pop-culture
Erlwine,
S.T. (N.D.) David Bowie-The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the
Spiders from Mars. http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-rise-and-fall-of-ziggy-stardust-and-the-spiders-from-mars-mw0000626129
Groce,
S. & Cooper (1990) M. GENDER &SOCIETY Vol. 4 No.2, p.220-229. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/189613?uid=3739736&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=47699117790767
Martin,
C. (1955) The Naturalized Gender
Order of Rock and Roll Journal of Communication Inquiry. vol. 19 pg. 53. http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66933/2/10.1177_019685999501900104.pdf
Reynolds,
S. & Press, J. (1966) The sex revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock n’ Roll.
Pg. 2 Harvard University Press. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Acq7ZOYd_AcC&oi=fnd&pg=PT14&dq=The+sex+revolts:+Gender,+Rebellion+and+Rock+n%E2%80%99+Roll&ots=fBVwSf-CB2&sig=XBuLfDCnpU_E7DxsQu9ETsWeYMk#v=onepage&q=The%20sex%20revolts%3A%20Gender%2C%20Rebellion%20and%20Rock%20n%E2%80%99%20Roll&f=false
Rhodes,
L. (2005) Electric Ladyland: Women and Rock Culture. University of Pennsylvania
Press. http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14155.html
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S. (1992) Profile: An investigation of sex‐role
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R. (2010) Pop stars and idolatry: an
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