From grey Sent Mon, Oct 5th 1998, 21:12
From grey Sent Mon, Oct 5th 1998, 21:12
Ok. For once (again) I will not keep my big mouth shut... I get really sick and tired of any woman in male 'dominated' field trying to play off her girl-ness. It discredits the gender, and generally trivializes whatever they're trying to do. It's playing a card, in my eyes, and a pretty worn one at that. You have issues? Fine. You'd just better have some *worth* to go with them, and fucking *run* with it. It's not just saying somethign 'cos you've got something to say, but because you know how to *say* it. It gets really old, being a female in a technological field, and not one of the many who 'flaunt it' and try to make it as if they deserve something for having a given set of genitalia. Guess what. It's just as goddamned bad as the OTHER SIDE doing it, ok? I don't see Bjork or Mira Calyx or wheover else you guys love arguing about really playing up their female-ness - I didn't see any sticker on their records saying "IS A GIRL!". So what's the bfd? I can see where being female/male/whatever may impact the music, it's a different perspective, but what is up with making that a 'selling point?' Bleah. Off my frigging soapbox already. You really shouldn't have asked. :-) On Mon, 5 Oct 1998, Psuckpop wrote: > Following text is an information/manifesto from a new label named > *Homewrecker Records* founded by Hecate (co-owner of Zhark Records) and > another girl/woman named Siobhan... Something like a girl/woman/female > author label... what let me ask: are they any females on this 800+ > members list who produce electronic music? and if not, are they any > females on the list? if yes. what they think about that statement? or is > the idm list 100% male dominated? > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > Sex is Vinyl. > > Homewrecker Recordings exists on multiple levels (as label, > ideology, politics and practice) in a multitude of locations (North > America, Europe - the world) and amongst a multiplicity of > identities (gender, sexuality, ethnicity, class...). Born of a > want, a need and a desire to include the issue of "gender" and its > problematics into not only the lexicon of a certain mode of music, > within a certain conceptual sphere, but also into various ways of > being. Homewrecker Recordings recognizes the shifting, the unstable > and the contested pronouncement of "gender" "female" "(wo)man" or > "girl" or even the questions raised concerning the notion of > (cultural) identity. Yet, Homewrecker Recordings deliberately seeks > out this contested terrain in order to force the issue onto the > (turn)table. In a patriarchal system the politics of gender do > indeed matter. > > The abstractions approximated by music, the potential anonymity > afforded by the technology, the means of dissemination or > distribution, in some respect works to mask the function of gender > and gender issues in electronic music. White or black labels do not > speak of sex. But music is never sexless. Unbounded by historical > circumstance, the relatively new genre of electronic music is, > paradoxically, profoundly tied to patriarchal culture. The question > arises, who made this record, for whom was it made, how does it > circulate and within what context? > > The label takes up these issues through a strict set of musical and > gendered parameters within a specific context: all female producers > and all electronic/digital music/noise. We aim to sex music. We > participate in a politics of exclusion merely to dislodge, disrupt > and displace the comfy covert politics of exclusion taking place in > (some) electronic music and labels of an extreme nature. > Ironically, this politics of exclusion has also fostered the > dangerous practice of appropriating the female form and its > connotations; the same male structure in a feminine guise. Women up > front with the men in the back (and in control). The female body > and voice is presented totally without agency. Put on display. > Consumed. Passive. That game is old and boring. > > Homewrecker Recordings is provocation.... Homewrecking...Destroy > the patriarchy - Dismantle the familial structure - Demolish > traditional female roles... The labels's aim is it's own > destruction - we will work to become obsolete. We hope Homewrecker > Recordings will be but an additional level in a myriad of > political/musical/cooperative workings. An international grass > roots approach is the means by which its artists shall come into > being. Perhaps she does not yet exist, or she exists unknown in a > Tokyo highrise or in a basement in Idaho - we'll hook up > eventually. The label recognizes the various manifestations of the > female, the existence of feminisms. Being pro-female does not mean > we are anti-male. Homewrecker Recordings functions as a discursive > site. To open up debate, dialogue, and criticality around the > problematics of gender and its intersection with music. > > Female trouble. Evening the score. Hysteria. Resistance. Whatever > you want to call it - we've had enough. It all starts and stops > here. > > *for contact send mail to: xxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xxx > > *for hecate interview goto: > http://www.digitalworldnet.com/artists/hecate.html > -- xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx.xx.xx.xx http://www.extortion.com "Millions of human hands at work, billions of minds...a vast network, screaming with life: an organism. A natural organism." - Max Cohen, in the motion picture pi