Katie Simone

There’s something I don’t understand: when so many women express their disdain for being called “female” whatever – female artist, female scientist, female writer, female comedian, etc. – how people can continue to perpetuate those labels, and even justify them.

If people with real experiences such as these have made it clear that they don’t like being labeled with their gender, how can people seemingly deny that? How can they ignore it? I mean, people [women] with real experiences.

If you don’t believe me, check out what these women (musicians) have said about being labeled “female” artists:

“To create genre out of gender is just horrible to me. …There’s uniqueness in being a woman, but not that much.” – Jennifer Finch (of L7)

“I don’t like being called a female singer, a female artist. We don’t call Mark Rothko a male painter or Picasso a male cubist. As a person I’m happy to be a female, but creatively speaking, I don’t want to be compartmentalized. I think the best art is unfettered. Unfettered by race, age, gender.” – Patti Smith

And it’s true, double standards most certainly exist – for example:

“Men are able to sustain a career into their 50s and 60s and still present themselves as sex symbols. With women, on the other hand, people say, ‘Why doesn’t she retire?’” – Tracy Chapman

“We were the leaders, the songwriters, the frontpeople and even inside the band, it was hard to be taken seriously, just because of the perception that women can’t lead or do leadership very well, because they’ll be emotional wrecks, for some reason, all of the time.” – Nancy Wilson

“Bad behaviour makes men more glamorous. Women get destroyed, thrown out of society and locked up in institutions.” – Marianne Faithfull

“Gender seemed not to be such an issue in the punk days. These days, if you were Chopin or Bach you’d be known for your music, but I don’t know if you’re a girl that that’s the case. You’re probably known for your looks, and there’s nothing wrong with beauty, but whether it’s actually helping the female cause of being equal to men, you just have to judge for yourself.” – Poly Styrene

“You couldn’t be too thin, too young, or too good-looking if you were a woman in music. The standards were entirely different for any man in rock ‘n’ roll. John Bonham could go onstage with a three-month beard, unshowered for weeks, fucked up, shirtless, and have the confidence that the only thing that would be written about him was how he played the drums.” – Ann Wilson

“I wasn’t looked at as being a female singer-songwriter. People weren’t even generally aware that I wrote my own songs or played the piano. The media just promoted me as a female body. It’s like I’ve had to prove that I’m an artist in a female body.” – Kate Bush

“I learned that to make it as a female musician in a man’s world is gonna be tough, and you need to keep your head held high.” - Stevie Nicks

“You’ve got to be prepared for the names they are going to call you compared to your male peers.…You will be a floozy and a slattern. He will be virile and a ladies’ man. You will be a freakshow, a retching wretch, a sloppy drunk. He will be charismatic, vainglorious, a ferocious drunk and Dionysian. You will be indiscriminate and desperate. He will be generous, tortured and driven. You will be so frail you may break at a mere wisp of wind. He will be alienated and aggressive. You will be greedy and a control freak too… He will be in command, a cocksman, big-dicked, a genius… You will be “blonde ambition” or a tiny little child or a whore.” – Courtney Love

“When you listen to old R&B records, the women on them sang in a really fierce, kick-ass way. In general, though, women aren’t really allowed to be kick-ass. It’s like the famous distinction between art and craft: Art, and wildness, and pushing against the edges, is a male thing. Craft, and control, and polish, is for women. Culturally we don’t allow women to be as free as they would like, because that is frightening. We either shun those women or deem them crazy. Female singers who push too much, and too hard, don’t tend to last very long. They’re jags, bolts, comets: Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday. But being that woman who pushes the boundaries means you also bring in less desirable aspects of yourself. At the end of the day, women are expected to hold up the world, not annihilate it.” – Kim Gordon

 I mean, when these women specifically comment on this kind of thing, I just wonder how people can stick their heads in the sand and go, “’Female artists’ -  doesn’t bother anyone, it just specifies what kind of person is making the art.” And though, in the examples provided above, some of the musicians do also use the “female” label, I’d chalk it up to the fact that people haven’t really been taught for long enough to be careful with their language, and that by using these labels they are intrinsically locking themselves into these specific, less-helpful-and-more-harmful, stereotypes. However, if those who have specifically stated that the gendered label bothers them, have said that, then why are they not, perhaps, taken seriously?

HOW can their comments be ignored? Because they’re women in society, as we are made to be aware of?

TL;DR: Next time you label someone a “female” [insert title here], ask yourself: why do I call women “female” [title], but not men, “male” [title]?

Is there a reason it’s really necessary to do that, besides further perpetuating the oppression of women?

I shouldn’t have to say this, but language is a very powerful thing, and how you use it can definitely affect how people are treated now and in the future. Try to be cognizant of why you say things the way that you do. Promote critical thinking in everybody.