Music and Gender

I don’t know of any official research or studies that have covered this topic, but based on an array of gender stereotypes it’s not difficult to speculate about expectations regarding listening habits. I imagine society would expect males to lean more towards heavier music (rock, metal, etc.) than women would. Additionally, I believe women would be expected to prefer more “mainstream” music, such as the pop music generally played on the radio.

These expectations are influenced not just by the issue of gender, but also the topic of sexuality, as opposing these expectations can sometimes lead to something as serious as homophobia. For example, it’s considered normal for women to like both male and women artists but men are not usually expected to enjoy music made by women. This issue doesn’t seem to be as prominent when it comes to the music women are expected to listen to, but men who enjoy more mainstream pop music by women, or possibly boy bands, will often be judged through a lens of homophobia.

        

This intersects with expectations about what sort of music men and women are expected to produce. While there are many examples that go against these stereotypes in modern music, I do think it’s considered to be more common for women to produce pop music and write about topics such as love and relationships. While it’s common for men to write about these things as well, I think they’re also generally expected to branch out more and produce the heavier and more intense music that they’re also expected to listen to. My personal experiences are what made me think of this issue specifically. Throughout middle school, I went through an intense boy band phase and I found that these artists were often viewed through a homophobic lens, as producing solely “poppy” music targeted towards young girls was considered out of the norm for men.
        

I don’t have a wide array of personal experience with music ensembles or which music-related jobs tend to be delegated to which genders. However, I do recall a few observations from elementary-high school. As far as I can remember, the conductors in ensembles have always been male. My experience with teachers is a bit more inconsistent, as my music teacher in elementary school was a woman but the chorus and band teachers in middle school were both men. Since coming to Converse, this has changed a bit because I know so many music majors who are women, and they’re always the ones managing music projects, organizing equipment, and other jobs. I don’t believe I have enough experience with the various instruments and choir sections to notice any gender differences or similarities.
        

For the most part, I think a majority of genres consist of more male performers than women, with the exception of pop music. One of my favorite genres that tends to be pretty male-dominated is pop-punk. Of course, there are a lot of women within this genre as well, but the majority of the popular artists are bands with male leads. I went to the Vans Warped Tour in 2018 and most of the bands I saw consisted of male vocalists and instrumentalists, including Mayday Parade, Crown the Empire, and The Maine. However, there were a couple of women-led bands there that I still listen to. The main one is Doll Skin, an all-women band that makes a mixture of pop, punk, and rock music. Their 2019 album specifically features various songs that give off what I can best describe as a Lisbeth Salander/The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo vibe, focusing on the struggles and rights of sex workers and women who may have experienced some sort of assault or violence. The other woman-led band I saw, which I don’t listen to as often, is Tonight Alive.

(Just as a warning, this video features a good bit of flashing/strobing so feel free to skip if that will affect you in any way!)

Some other genres I enjoy are indie folk, indie pop, and rock. Most of these are made up primarily of male artists as well, including Hozier, Arctic Monkeys, and Hippocampus. However, there are some notable women performers in these categories. A couple of my favorites are Florence + The Machine and Phoebe Bridgers. Both of them have really powerful and beautiful voices and I think the lyrics of their songs are so interesting to listen to.

My Musical Culture

Hey, my name’s Savannah! I’m from the very small town of Campobello and I’ve lived in SC my whole life. I’m majoring in psychology, minoring in women’s studies, and I’ll be graduating in May! What I love doing most during my free time is reading, listening to true crime podcasts, and watching TV/movies with my friends. I’ve never really been involved in music or performing at any point in my life but I do have music playing at almost any given time, especially when driving or cleaning. My favorite genres are probably mixtures of pop, indie, punk, and rock.

A song that's ended up in my "On Repeat" on Spotify recently is “Misty” by Butterknife. This is one of only two songs that they’ve released so I can’t say they’re necessarily an artist I love but I do really enjoy this song. I guess the reason I like this song so much at the moment is because it always makes me think of some of the people I care about most. While it sounds mostly like a romantic love song at first, the lyrics “You feel like home to me, even when I lose your key” and “Butterflies in my chest, I know you know me the best” remind me of my best friends and the way they make me feel. I also just enjoy the slight city ambience sounds at the beginning and end of the song because they make it feel a bit more immersive.

A song that resonated very strongly with me as soon as I heard it is “hope ur okay” by Olivia Rodrigo. The lyrics perfectly convey the ways you can lose touch with someone but still care for them and wish them the best. It also has a more underlying message of acceptance and self-love that has the potential to benefit so many people in a variety of ways. I think all of the verses are good but my favorite part is probably the bridge because it manages to feel both suspenseful and comforting at the same time.

One musical genre I've never really connected with is EDM. I understand how it could be enjoyable in a party setting. However, I personally enjoy music that showcases the vocals more than, or at least equal to, the instrumentals. Because of this, most EDM has a bit too much going on all at once for my taste. I’m sure it’s not all the same, just like the music of any other genre isn’t all the same, but a lot of the EDM I’ve heard also seems to become kind of repetitive throughout the span of a 3 or 4 minute song. I don’t particularly like this song either but since Hozier is one of my favorite artists and he collaborated on it, I have listened to it a couple of different times.

I’m including this one just because I mentioned Hozier above and wanted to showcase an example of his music that I really love! I like the song itself but there are also several live versions of him performing it, all of which showcase his vocals over the instrumentals. But at the same time, they show how talented he is both vocally and instrumentally.