All the girls in town

Abstract

This article will use the cultural and media materials produced around the death of Chrissy Amphlett as a way of interrogating the fact that surprisingly few resources exist that document or commemorate the contribution of women to the rock music scene in Australia. As Amphlett is unusual in being a woman who has, even before her death, claimed a place in the Australian rock canon, examining materials that are designed to construct her legacy upon her passing will provide examples of how women in Australian rock are discussed. It will be demonstrated that Amphlett’s gender is central to these discussions, and that she is used to both obscure the contributions of other women performers and to deny a need for women musicians to even be an object of discussion at all. These findings will be analysed using Aleida Assmann’s concepts of functional and storage memory, and it will be argued that the lack of information that we have about past female rockers makes it harder for women in Australia to see this field as one they can participate in, and also makes the retention of memories about currently successful women musicians less likely.

Sexual harassment and violence at Australian music festivals: Reporting practices and experiences of festival attendees

“…This is apparent in several respects. Recent research by Cooper, Coles, and Hanna-Osborne (2017) demonstrates that women are systematically under-represented and have relatively less access to power and resources in the Australian industry than men (see also Music Victoria, 2015; Strong, 2011, 2014). Women are less likely to be employed in management, are paid less than male colleagues and are under-represented in radio play and music festival line-ups.…”

“…Women are less likely to be employed in management, are paid less than male colleagues and are under-represented in radio play and music festival line-ups. Women are also afforded less symbolic and cultural capital than men, a point illustrated through the systematic devaluation of women as both producers and consumers of music (Bannister, 2006; Davies, 2001; Strong, 2011, 2014). Here, women are often positioned as less ‘knowledgeable’ than male fans, less skilled as musicians, or as involved in the industry on account of their sexual desire for male musicians or sexual desirability as performers (Davies, 2001; Strong, 2014).…”

‘Put some balls on that woman’: Gendered repertoires of inequality in screen composers’ careers

“…Tackling this component of the gender inequality regime would mean directly confronting organizational and networking practices that foster what Gill, Kelan, and Scharff (2017) call the 'postfeminist sensibility' in workplaces (see also Strong, 2014). Ignorance of the politics of informal evaluations may risk marginalizing women artists, while ghettoizing successful women artists' work under the label of 'women's music' (Christopherson, 2008, pp.…”

“…The repertoire of ‘art vs. equality’ suggests that fostering a greater awareness of the value of gender equality for artistic works and culture is an important step towards more just cultural and creative industries. Tackling this component of the gender inequality regime would mean directly confronting organizational and networking practices that foster what Gill, Kelan, and Scharff (2017) call the ‘postfeminist sensibility’ in workplaces (see also Strong, 2014). Ignorance of the politics of informal evaluations may risk marginalizing women artists, while ghettoizing successful women artists’ work under the label of ‘women’s music’ (Christopherson, 2008, pp.…”

Record collections as musical archives: Gender, record collecting, and whose music is heard

“…Drawing on Bannister (2006), who critiques the shaping of canons that predominantly reflect the tastes of white, middle-class males, this article brings ethnographic insights to this dynamic. The gender asymmetry in record collecting reflects a dichotomy within the music industry that positions women as marginal to music making, mostly as fans and consumers, while men are situated as central actors and producers (Maalsen and McLean, 2015;Strong, 2014;Whiteley, 2000). Just as Cohen (1997) suggests that rock music works as a site of active production of masculinity, exclusionary practices produce music scenes more broadly as masculine-dominated spaces, from record stores to performing, to consuming and producing music, and in spaces of industry management.…”