From Christopher J LaRose Sent Thu, Oct 22nd 1998, 15:37
Hey, I was reading the thread on idm about boys and girls and music, and it's something I think about a lot. I think even just musical interpretation is like a symptom of some really weird gender thing. Like the fact that discussions about musical integrity and words like "sellout" are more often spearheaded by boys as some kind of big deal. I actually wrote a paper about it the other year, and Riz Maslin wrote me to talk about some of the stuff she's gone through to be able to do her thing. She went on about all the fellows in the studio who automatically give her two strikes, not even necessarily consciously. I think it's all about insecurity somehow, and the way insecurity generally manifests itself differently. For guys, they tend to pat themselves on the back for innovation with respect to the people who didn't make it as far, which could be called macho (Somehow I'm more hardcore than you, and I'd like for you to know it). I think probably many girls (and their very developed emotions) can feel music more directly, maybe without all the technical trappings that many boys would attach...and since this list seems to be more often than not about those trappings, why would girls bother, I wonder? much love, christopher