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marylovettpostgradblog · 3 years

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3. BOUDICCA, PATRIARCHY AND HOW SHOULD WE BE TALKING ABOUT GENDER DISPARITY?

Note: When I talk about women I am including those who identify as women and non conforming genders.

During conversations about gender disparity with my male peers, whenever I have used the word patriarchy, I am aware of visible discomfort in the facial expressions reflected back to me. It’s one of those “difficult words.” A word describing culture, structures, institutions and attitudes that surround us all. The London Feminist network define patriarchy as, “characterised by current and historic unequal power relations between women and men whereby women are systematically disadvantaged and oppressed…..” (ND) The Oxford Dictionary definition of patriarchy is- “ruled or controlled by men; giving power and importance only to men” signifying an overt intentional ruling and controlling of women. Historically this has been the case, one example being the struggle for women’s suffrage. It might be easy to frame this as historical repression and that we have come a long way since, then haven’t we? In the UK ,“Prior to 1992, forced sexual activity within a marriage wasn’t illegal, as a husband could enforce conjugal rights on his wife without committing an offence based on the belief that a wife had provided their ongoing consent through the contract of marriage.” (Titchener N 2019) It was only 28 years ago that a man could not be prosecuted for raping his wife. What’s all this got to do with the music industry? Well, everything…

Attitudes and practices inherited from the past are difficult to erase, even when they are legislated against. Women victims of sexual assault and rape are still questioned about what they were wearing, as if in some way this could have provoked the attack. High school dress codes have been informed on the same basis. Girls are told not to show too much leg, or be a distraction to the boys. 2016 Deputy Principal Cherith Telford High school in New Zealand made headlines when telling female students to wear knee length skirts. This was to “keep the girls safe, stop boys from getting ideas, and create a good work environment for male staff.” Reactions were mixed. Singer Erica Badu felt that girls had no business wearing skirts above the knee to school. Reagan Gomez (actress) argued that it wasn’t the responsibility of the girls to avoid being a temptation to men.’ (Kendall M 2016) According to Kendall, M. (2016) “If our culture insists on perpetuating the lie that clothing leads to rape, despite all evidence to the contrary, then the problem is our culture.” I would argue that the problem is a Patriarchal system that blames victims of crime perpetrated by men. Jackson Katz goes further to say in his Ted talk. He offers a paradigm shifting perspective on the issues on gender violence. He makes the argument that Violence against women is a men’s issue. “We talk about how many women were raped last year, not about how many men raped women.” (Katz J ) The language used around this issue is problematic for example the term ‘victims of domestic abuse’ leaves Men out of the sentence and out of the conversation.

So here we are in the Patriarchy, a system so established and embedded that the privileges of being male (especially while and middle-class) are invisible to those that it favours. If one is not obstructed by it, then it is much harder to see it as an obstacle for others.

It is much like the strongly held believe in meritocracy, the belief that if you work hard, you will succeed, but the playing field is not level. The game is rigged! Strong asserts that“Cultural workers often strongly buy in to the notion of the existence of a meritocracy which supposedly ensures the success of the most talented and hardworking people regardless of their identity”(Strong C & Cannizzo 2017: vi). Is this the reason for the discomfort I perceive coming from male peers when gender disparity mentioned? The idea that simply hard work and talent are the ingredients for success. An inability to see the problem because it has not been directly experienced. After all it’s difficult to see things that are invisible to you right?

I have experienced only one stand out sexist comment worth mentioning in my career so far. In 2005 when in conversation after taking part in a student recording session. I asked the studio owner if there were any openings for jobs or work experience. His response, “Yeah, well we do need a cleaner.” Just to qualify, I do not think being a cleaner is a demeaning occupation. It is however low paid, undervalued and predominantly carried out by women. I was not applying for a cleaning job. I will never know if he would have responded in the same way to a man asking the same question. I doubt it. Largely my experiences have been positive and have not felt directly excluded based on my gender. I really value collaborating with my male colleagues.

However I can not claim that it has been easy career choice. Here I am doing a Masters in Creative Music Production now that my four children have reached adulthood and live independently. Now that all my extra workload of unpaid labour in the realm of motherhood carried out simultaneously as my career has changed. I am free to REALLY focus on my art. That irony is not lost on me.

It has been difficult to find a way to effectively articulate the issue of gender disparity in the industry without counter-productive accusatory finger pointing. Alison Wenham, the Chair of The Association of Independent Music, succinctly expresses what I am attempting to express. “We remain one of the most white-male-dominated industries in the world. I do not believe the men in the industry have ever deliberately exercised prejudice, it is more a deeply ingrained set of customs and habits that has resulted in this imbalance.” AIM AGM, London, Wolfe P (2009). There it is again, the gosh darn patriarchy!

On the 15th November I attended Boudicca Music conference a live stream conference. Magdalena Jensen from Key Change hosted a “A Conversation Exploring The Disparity Of Gender Throughout The Music Industry,” with a panel of women working within the industry. From management, agencies set up to chase royalty payments to DJ’s and Producers.

The discussion was both depressing and heartening, with some interesting insights and thought provoking dialogue. Although the world of the London DJ scene has never been on my radar, it was a glimpse into a world I know nothing about. It revealed the challenges for women to break through and also the sense of community and safe spaces that club nights can offer. The music being the unifying factor. It also revealed a whole host of organisations actively working towards supporting women and redressing the imbalance. One influential organisation being Keychange funded by the PRS Foundation in the UK and has Swedish and german branches, and the movement is gaining momentum. https://www.keychange.eu/about-us

How do we frame the ongoing discourse without using the “P” word or acting in a way as to alienate potential and existing male allies? Should we temper the discourse because it makes for uncomfortable conversations? Shauni Cabellero believes that“People have to be made uncomfortable to make changes.” Cabellero S (2020)

How do individuals within the industry respond to change without feeling attacked or obliged to recruit woman because of arbitrary quotas, (which don’t actually exist in the music industry), and if they did, would it be representation or tokenism? Cabellero believes that because women are not currently represented in numbers so we have to rely on people adopting voluntary policy until we are. (Cabellero S 2020). An important point that was made is to celebrate individuals and organisations that are actively embracing the need for positive change. One of these is Crispin Hunt of PPL stepping down from the board on the Ivor Novellos, to make room for Women.(Cabellero S 2020).

One of the themes that seems to come back though my research is one that that DJ Syreeta Echo’s, that of knowing your worth. Important for everyone regardless of gender but in my observations is something that women can all too easily lack. The precise reasons why this might be the case are far to complex and nuanced to include in one blog post.

The takeaways for me from the conference were that:

Change has to be also implemented from the top down.

Investment in research, education, funding targeted programmes

More women in powerful positions

Calling out prejudice

In education, encouraging girls into music, having female role models

Having mentors

Building teams and being conscious of recruiting from diverse backgrounds.

The 50/50 pledge from Keychange Inclusivity contracts.

Being aware of the organisations campaigning for change

The need for male, and organisational allies in embracing change.

Celebrating those that actively facilitate change.

Below are Screen shots from the Key Change Website setting out the aims of the movement

Boudicca Online Conference November the 14th 2020

Magdalena Jensen (Keychange) https://www.keychange.eu/about-us

Shauni Caballero (The Go 2 Agency)https://thego2agency.com/

Syreeta (He.She.They) https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/syreeta-uk

Cori Chinnici (AWAL / The MMF)https://themmf.net/ Faux Naïf ( M II M)

https://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/fauxnaif

https://www.nme.com/news/music/nadine-shah-vows-to-run-for-ppl-chair-as-previous-steps-down-2700372

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/patriarchal

https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women?gclid=Cj0KCQiAqdP9BRDVARIsAGSZ8Al-KdHFHyiPDSuXAAbXnrEOfg3Lov3jaYhCJHz_jqat1XtwCG-ApxIaAqdvEALw_wcBhttps://(Titchener N 2020)

www.lawtonslaw.co.uk/resources/what-are-the-legal-penalties-for-marital-rape/

https://iaspmjournal.net/index.php/IASPM_Journal/article/viewFile/906/pdf_1

https://www.arpjournal.com/asarpwp/a-studio-of-one%E2%80%99s-own-music-production-technology-and-gender/

Fig 1 https://www.girlmuseum.org/alternative-girls-being-a-female-vinyl-dj/

#reflection

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namelessblacksheep · 5 years

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REASONS TO HATE THE BBC

Over the years I have grown increasingly frustrated at the nonsense spewed out by the BBC.

This an organisation that is well recognised and previously had a reputation for impartiality and standards. In the last 5-10 years, something has really shifted there.

Let’s not forget that at the height of its success this British institution housed a bunch of paedophiles and now seems to be the home of entitled neo-liberals who have some interesting tax arrangements.

The biggest issue about the BBC, unlike other outlets, is that they are paid for by an enforceable tax that people can be imprisoned for (if not paying).

I tend to think of things I dislike as being my responsibility to ignore or avoid rather than be outraged or annoyed. however, taking the point above into consideration: if you have to pay for something surely there should be some right to representation?

WHY I HATE THE BBC

They claim impartiality and trustworthiness but actually contribute to fake news.

They represent an agenda rather than actually stating the facts of an event that occurred - i.e. reporting the news.

They have a page on their website that makes claims as to why you should trust them. In the real world when someone tells you to trust them there tends to be a good reason why you should do the opposite.

They have a reality checker - the problem is they only check the facts against the views they dislike, not all the views including ones they support.

They play the game of divide and rule - pitting groups of people against each other and breeding division and online arguments to increase page views and such like.

Narratives of Brexit, Trump, LGBT matters, women’s pay, and child poverty are all played out in favour of their side and against the people who may have a different view.

The above point brings into question the whole impartiality argument as there is no balance to the views represented.

They no longer provide decent sports coverage and have instead started to ram women’s football and tabloid narratives to get football managers sacked.

The above issues are often interlinked with the agendas they love. Why aren’t women footballers paid the same as the men? They ask with implications of sexism - when the reality is that women’s football doesn’t have the same commercial coverage or following of the men’s game. It conveniently forgets that without the men’s teams and infrastructure none of these women would have any opportunity at becoming professional or anywhere to host their games. It’s a little sexist to have women-only panels for the women’s game and yet expect mixed panels for the men’s.

They seem to hate old people. There is a constant clamour to take money from the old and give it to the young. They recently got into hot water for taking away the free tv licenses for the over-75s, announcing this the day after commemoration coverage of the VE day celebrations that draw a large proportion of their viewers.

The hatred of old people seems connected to their belief that old people are the reason the country voted to leave the EU. The BBC funded a great deal of highly flawed research to show that older people were the reason that younger people were being robbed of their future. Much less coverage was given to the fact that said young people didn’t universally want to remain or that a huge number of them couldn’t even be bothered to vote. That seems newsworthy.

In their obsession with the gender pay gap, it emerged that the BBC itself was not only one of the worst offenders, but that rather than a pay gap that could be explained by different role choices, there was, in fact, a gender inequality issue in terms of pay levels and gender for the same role. The BBC makes the assumption that its flaws are universal, when in fact, it seems largely a BBC issue.

They kind of shot themselves in the foot on the above issue as public outrage was more focused on how this self-entitled bunch of cretins could get paid such exorbitant sums of money whilst being a public service and for simply reading an autocue. The BBC seems to have become so out of touch with the real world that they have been sucked up into the rectum of greed with the same bedfellows they claim are needed to be held to account: namely wealthy tax avoiders and politicians of ill repute. If only they had a mirror or moral compass.

The BBC has a habit of passing off as ‘news’ articles on tech companies that look more like a subliminal marketing campaign (see the obsession with Apple).

They regularly cherry pick the views of people on Twitter as if opinions are factual events in time we all need to be informed about - often these people are friends or staff.

The headlines they use are hyperbolic when in line their own narrative agenda and much softer when it contradicts it. For example, a 0.1% shift in an important figure would be written as ‘huge dip’ when the story shows an indicator moving downward because of Brexit, but in the adverse direction it would be written as ‘muted’ or ‘below expectations’. This does not conform with a view of impartial news reporting.

The quality of their programmes is akin to shopping at Poundland for a banquet. They rely heavily on personalities who share their world view in fronting this turgid shows completely oblivious to the fact that the majority of the world couldn’t give a fuck.

They choose their favourites and their enemies and go out of their way to create stories and press about each one respectively to build them up or knock them down. In this way, they operate like a gang of bullying school kids who believe they are part of the in-crowd, when in fact this couldn’t be further from the truth.

They condemn the hateful behaviour of the right of politics but don’t see how similar and equally vitriolic the left can be. The moral contradictions and superiority complex shows how far from neutral they have become.

The fact that they get away with the above and much more, trying to tell people what to think and lying to keep to their own groupthink narratives in play, make the BBC not only hateful but borderline fundamentalist. It could be argued that they are no better than hate preachers. they just wear tailored outfits, drink champagne and are paid well above their capability. The hypocrisy of the morally corrupt is a stench that should not be allowed to continue under the forced taxation of the public.

If the BBC continues along its current path it must be privatised (like Fox in the US) and then see how many people pay for the privilege that the bigwigs and ‘stars’ have grown so accustomed to. They are a bunch of SJWs with an entitlement complex. If people are willing to pay, then fair enough, but I imagine that they wouldn’t get many subs by choice.

#bbc #bbc news - world #politics #rant #democracy #attitude #change

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