Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses: The Treatment of Women in Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom Metal, and Grindcore by Sarah Kitteringham, MA

Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis | Studia de Cultura, 2023

The term “female metalhead” may sound rather abstract. What does she look like and what does she think? Is there a typical female metalhead? This article summarizes qualitative research on woman’s motivational resources for participation in the contemporary Czech metal subculture. It discusses factors related to why women listen to metal and the role of men in this process. The research is based on seventeen semi-structured interviews with women in Czech metal. Respective research questions focus on female metalheads’ understanding of their position inside the subculture, their visual appearance, reasons for inclination to metal(e.g., partner’s influence or an attraction to the metal community), the issue of sex symbols in the metal industry, and issues of elitism and exclusivity. Results show that women within the metal subculture strike a balance between masculinity and femininity and often judge their surroundings from the perspective on these two poles. However, the primary insp...

2017

In presenting this thesis/dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying of this thesis/dissertation in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or professors who supervised my thesis/dissertation work or, in their absence, by the Head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which my thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis/dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis/dissertation.

Words, Music and Gender, 2020

This chapter will provide a linguistic analysis of the representation of women in the lyrics of the 1980s glam metal band, Mötley Crüe. An analysis of the band's discography gives insight into the roles and characteristics typically accorded to women, shedding light on their perceived role during this time in music history. The way in which male glam metal bands expressed and performed gender could best be described as controversial, even oxymoronic. The machismo and misogyny expressed in most glam bands' lyrics contrast heavily with the performers' feminine appearance and vocals. It has been argued that by appropriating traditionally feminine characteristics, male glam metal bands prove that gender is something that is performed, thus liberating women by subverting traditional norms on gender appearance and behaviour (Sollee 2011; Simon 2014, 59). On the other hand, the intense sexism and misogyny of many glam lyrics, and the actions of artists on and off stage, can be interpreted as precisely the opposite. By appropriating through performance what is socially perceived as feminine behaviours and attributes, while simultaneously behaving in a traditionally macho way, male glam rock artists ended up by occupying all possible roles in the genre, leaving little or no space available for women on the stage and in the music itself.

Throughout rock music’s history, its stars have explored the boundaries of dress and sexuality, but none have done it quite as fascinatingly as those of glam metal, a particular subgenre of heavy metal which took hold in the United States in the mid 1980s. The stars of glam metal often appropriate exaggeratedly feminine modes of dressing, such as extensive and highly styled hair and makeup, yet still successfully communicate an overtly masculine, even hyper-masculine, persona designed to snare women through their clothing, lifestyle, and the presentation of both in popular media. As musicologist Robert Walser writes, metal is a cultural entity that offers lots of opportunities for doing identity work, and accomplishing gender is one form of identity work that merits particular focus. Using the visual material contained within the metal “pin-up” or centerfold, this paper takes upon itself the task of understanding how glam metal musicians accomplish gender, with particular emphasis on the way ideas about masculinity are packaged and presented to the consumer of such imagery. The metal centerfold is compared to its more famous female counterpart, the Playboy centerfold, to illustrate the way clothing and body posturing influence our reading of gender and sexuality, and the cowboy imagery that defines musicians such as Bret Michaels of Poison is compared to the image of the cowboy as viewed in Marlboro advertisements, demonstrating glam metal’s emphasis on projecting a carefully calibrated sense of masculinity to its audience.

2012

Throughout rock music’s history, its stars have explored the boundaries of dress and sexuality, but none have done it quite as fascinatingly as those of glam metal, a particular subgenre of heavy metal which took hold in the United States in the mid-1980s. The stars of glam metal often appropriate modes of dressing culturally associated with the idea of the feminine, such as extensive and highly styled hair and makeup, yet they still successfully communicate overtly masculine, even hyper-masculine, personae designed to snare women through their clothing, lifestyle, and the presentation of both in popular media. The resultant balancing of sartorial signifiers demonstrates glam metal’s emphasis on projecting a carefully calibrated sense of masculinity to its audience. As musicologist Robert Walser writes, metal is a cultural entity that offers lots of opportunities for doing identity work, and accomplishing gender is one form of identity work that merits particular focus. Using the visual material contained within the metal imagery, “pin-up” or centerfold, and the music video, this project takes upon itself the task of understanding how glam metal musicians accomplish gender, with particular emphasis on the way ideas about masculinity are packaged and presented to the consumer of such imagery. This project engages with the musical genre’s efforts to construct ideologies using the process of bricolage and also to subvert popularly received notions of gender, sexuality, and authenticity. (keywords: gender, sexuality, authenticity, artifice, masculinity, performance)

Extreme metal can be seen as a genre that embraces the monstrous. Its guttural growls, high tempo low range riffs and powerful backbeats identify it as abject from mainstream popular culture and allow it to occupy a liminal space between popular music and the stuff of nightmares. It is not just the music itself that embodies monstrosity but those who perform it too. Extreme metal is often criticised as a misogynistic form of music where the hyper masculine image attached to the predominantly male body of musicians within it verges on the excessive with men's pursuit of metals 'brutal' idea of masculinity often degrading their image to that of beast without reason rather than the traditional ideal stoic man. Women who enter this genre often adopt a monstrous image in keeping with the pre-existing qualities of the scene but their rendition of the monstrous differs in its overt femininity through the embracing of a transgressive and liminal sexuality that critiques the hyper masculine characteristics of the genre. The persona of the monster seemingly allows for easy access to the genre for female metalheads but destabilizes and threatens this abject subculture with the monster it truly fears, the loss of power through the pollution of the space of protest masculinity set against mainstream culture. This anxiety regarding the affects of female monstrosity (or lack of it) is rooted in how the genre defines its 'otherness' through the feminizing of mainstream culture and stems from social and economic anxieties facing the genres predominantly working class audience and musicians. The female monster threatens the idea of femininity which this form of protest masculinity defines itself against and thus questions the construction of masculinity in contemporary extreme metal. This paper therefore will investigate the performance of gendered monstrosity within the genre of extreme metal in relation to image and presentation (iconography, music videos and stage personas). Through this it will investigate how monstrosity dually allows women to enter the largely masculine world of extreme metal while also destabilizing the monstrosity of the genre as it critiques the hyper masculine world in which extreme metal operates within its socio-economic setting.

IASPM@Journal

Based on ethnographic research within the extreme metal community, Unger offers a thought-provoking look at how symbols of authenticity and defilement fashion social experience in surprising ways. Exploring the many themes and ciphers that comprise this musical community, this book interprets aesthetic resonances as a way to understand contemporary identity, politics, and social relations. In the end, this book develops a unique argument: the internal composition of the community’s music and sound moulds symbols that shape, reflect, and constrain social patterns of identity, difference, and transgression. This book contributes to the sociology of sound and music, the study of religion in popular culture, and the role of aesthetics in everyday life. It will be of interest to upper level students, post-graduate students and scholars of religion, popular culture, and philosophy.

This is an unpublished review I wrote in 2007 when Kahn-Harris’ now famous book had just been released. Looking back now, I think I would be less critical and idealizing. I now recognize more value in different disciplinary orientations and priorities (re: sonic transgression). I also sympathize more with the pragmatic constraints of travel costs (re: North American scenes). Now also, I think the wealth of metal studies that explore power imbalances with respect to gender and race have made me more cognisant of the identity politics that I originally called into question at the end of the review. Reflecting ongoing cultural changes more generally in society writ large, it seems that extreme metal scenes are indeed becoming gradually more open to marginalized identities in ways that Kahn-Harris originally predicted. I leave my original criticisms in the review as something of a time capsule. I hope my reaction at the time shows how Kahn-Harris’ book challenged readers at a pivotal time, just prior to metal studies becoming an internationally recognized phenomenon.

2016

A thesis submitted to the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Folklore in the Department of American Studies.