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Every now and then gender issues pop
up as a topic on the CEC discussion list, leading to a mix of
vehement, rude, stupid, wise, offensive, defensive, (quasi-)
indifferent, interested, ignoring and sympathetic reactions.
Especially in January 1998, the discussion was hot. It started
with a reaction to a concert announcement: "You better call
this a Concert with Electro-Acoustic Music by Male Composers".
Since this evoked many different reactions, it seems a good idea
to unravel the many opinions and positions. Feminist thought
and gender studies already have a rich history. It can be instructive
to relate the issue of "gender and ea music" to the
work that has already been done in this broader domain. In feminist
studies, often three different perspectives are distinguished.
Women's Studies and Culture by Rosemarie Buikema and Anneke Smelik
(eds.) is a good and clear survey of the development of feminist
thinking in relation to cultural issues; this book is my point
of departure here.
Although sometimes a chronological hierarchy is suggested, I
prefer the idea of perspectives instead of stages: at the same
time, different points of view can be taken. Even one person
can take a different position on different occasions, depending
on what "looks best", that is, on what seems to make
most sense in a given situation. Most of the times, a mixture
of different perspectives can be found. The three perpectives
are therefore more an analytical instrument than a descriptive
categorization. By distinguishing these three different positions,
one can get more insight into feminist and anti-feminist thought
and work.
Central to the first position is the idea that men and women
are and have to be equal. This leads to questions like: why are
there so few female composers? The ideal is to stop discrimination
and to get equal amounts of male and female composers and musicians.
Historical research is done to discover more female composers.
Also, the discriminating, limiting circumstances for women are
studied, for example, that in the past women were not allowed
to get the right education. Differentiating between men and women
is seen as the root of the subordinated position of women. Action
is directed to figthing discrimination and to the ideal of equal
opportunities. The focus is on legal and material circumstances,
laws and institutions. Most attention is paid to (female) composers,
to their lives and their professional circumstances - for example,
by writing biographies of women composers of the past and present.
This is done to correct the unequal amount of male and female
composers and to lay bare discriminating laws and practises in
the past and present.
The ideal of equality, however, leads to the question: equal
to whom? In practice, "equality" often means that women
get the same rights, opportunities and obligations as men. Implicitly,
activities and qualities that are usually done by men, like politics,
business and exposing rationality, are rated higher than "feminine"
activities like caring, nurturing and showing emotions. Under
the banner of "equality" women often have to change
their ways, not men. In practice this means for example that
women are more and more making a career, but that they combine
this with still doing lots of housekeeping and childcare, while
men in general are still making careers and didn't increase their
amount of housekeeping and childcare very much. It also means
that women often have to adapt their behaviour and way of communicating
to the male professional environment and that men don't have
to change their ways. And will the world become a better place
if we all become business people, politicians, top-managers and
rational professionals? Who would care for the children then?
Why not value feminity, instead of trying make women more masculine?
In the second position, "feminine" values like caring
and emotionality are central. Under the name of "difference",
feminists are looking for specific female-feminine traditions
and practices. The female body gets special attention. "Feminine"
nature, as opposed to "masculine" culture, is celebrated.
Some feminists even go as far as thinking that when women would
be in charge, there would be no war and no polution. Feminist
musicologists ask: is there a specific feminine musical style?
A feminine way of composing? Unlike in other domains, these kinds
of questions seem very difficult to answer with regard to music.
The danger of this second position is that it reinforces traditional
stereotypes. And how much will society change if women celebrate
their femininity in separation? However, I think its critique
on the masculine values underlying the ideal of equality is very
important. Let's question our self-evident values and look at
their implications with regard to gender.
An important critique on the second position is that in the name
of "femininity" and Woman other differences are disregarded.
Women of color and lesbians noticed that "Woman" is
in fact white, middle-class and heterosexual. The third position
focuses on plural differences between people, of which gender
is one important one. Dualisms like Man - Woman, Culture - Nature
and Mind - Body are questioned and deconstructed. Feminist studies
now relate clearly to other fields. Often, boundaries between
feminist studies and, for example, cultural studies are vague.
Feminist thoughts, theories and observations permeate other domains,
and developments in other disciplines are appropriated by feminist
studies. Self-evident cultural values are questioned. An important
step is that now masculinity is also under scrutinity and that
specific male cultures are studied. I think that we not only
have to ask why and how women (don't) make ea music, but also
why so many men are involved in ea music and how ea music relates
to masculinity. No easy questions, of course.
One of the seemingly self-evident values that has been questioned
is the value of the composer. It is a heritage of the nineteenth
century to consider the Composer, the Author, as a Creative Genius,
a Godlike Important Man. The status of the author has been questioned
by Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault, among others. Feminists
like Joke Dame followed Barthes' declaration of "The Death
of the Author" to free the female listener and reader. They
don't see the composer as the one with the most important opinion
about his work, as an authority. They focus on how music and
text are interpreted by women. Other feminists however ask: "Why
kill the author the moment that female authors arise?"
The discussion about gender and ea music on the CEC discussion
list focused for a large part on female composers. This is no
surprise, since most of the people on the list are composers.
Also, the notion of "equality" is central. So some
of the discussion was devoted to questions like: Do male and
female composers of ea music have equal opportunities? It seems
not fair that there are so many concerts with almost all works
by male composers. Is there discrimination against women? Are
vacancies advertised openly or filled via old boys networks?
However, the notion of "equality" led also to some
other reactions. If men and women are equal, why bother about
the amount of works by women played at concerts, as long as there
is no unfair discrimination? Some female composers said that
they feel themselves a composer, not a woman composer. Many female
composers are opposed to the idea of their music being played
on a women's concert, because they feel they want to be valued
because of their music and not because of their sex. For them,
music and composing have nothing to do with the sex of the composer.
Many of them don't seem to have bad experiences with harassment
and discrimination. But some other female composers told about
having these bad experiences and they are more conscious about
being a woman composer.
But if most people seem to agree that discrimination and harassment
are bad and that it is important to take measures against it,
there still remains the question: why are there so few female
composers being played at concerts and found in histories of
music? Many concert organizers and writers are not consciously,
intentionally discriminating against women, I think. Other mechanisms
are at work. To be sure, networks, whether of "old boys"
or of other people, are important ways to get jobs or get your
work played. And networks are not working according to rules
for fair, equal opportunities. The mechanisms of networks are
personal, fuzzy, not fully conscious. For sure, I think that
jobs and concert opportunities have to be advertised openly.
But I think it is unrealistic to think that society can or will
do without networks, without "knowing people". And
of course, gender is an important, and unfortunately largely
unconscious, factor when people interact with each other. The
only way for countering "old boys networks", except
by some basic openness about jobs and other opportunities, is
by making your own networks, with other women and men. It is
often been said that women are in general better in communication
and care than men. So, lets use this feminine quality in an active
way for our own and each others profit as well as to change the
world - this is indeed already been done in organised as well
as individual ways. Lets make connections and coalitions. Studio XX
But there is more at stake. I think it is important to question
the values and practices of ea music in relation to gender. Values
and judgements of music are not abstract, general, objective
and neutral, but are done by gendered people, with specific backgrounds
and attributes, embedded in a certain culture with certain values.
Why is a piece of music judged to be "good"? And how
does that relate to gender? Or, as Barry Truax wrote:
'Frankly, I don't see the music establishment being very open
at all to the alternative voices of women or gays (or other groups
for that matter) unless they conform to the dominant paradigm
(hence the observation that "you can't tell the difference").
I stress "alternative voices" to mean where the art
takes a different form and says different things and says them
differently. 50 years of electroacoustic music has made very
little dent on the classical music establishment, for instance,
and I doubt that it ever will be accepted into "the canon".
Maybe it shouldn't be, but it's just another way of marginalizing
voices by this oh-so-innocent claim that "we always choose
the best music" which ignores the way in which these folk
have been trained to recognize what's best (which usually starts
with the assumption that abstract music *is* best and we have
a pretty good idea of what has set the standards by which others
are judged).'
But how marginalized is ea music? In the past, electronic and
electroacoustic music had or seemed to have had status: there
was the idea that it was Important To The Future Of Western Music.
Especially in the '50s, with Stockhausen, Berio and Schaeffer,
this seemed to be the spirit. New Technologies, New Musical Systems,
Progression! However, more and more, new "experimental"
"serious" "academic"music came into a crisis
because of its lack of listeners. Even intellectuals who do look
at modern art and read Joyce or Beckett, often do not listen
to avant garde music, because they find it too difficult or unattractive.
As I see it now, ea music has a mixture of academic and subcultural
status and societal marginalisation. One of the worst scenarios
would be that the diminishing of status of ea music would go
hand in hand with the increase in women involved in it, or: the
more women, the less status and money. This is a pattern often
found in different occupations, for example medicine. In the
Netherlands, the society of medical specialists is even said
to keep down "too much" women in their profession,
because they are afraid that would diminish their status. And
indeed, at the same time that more women become doctors, medical
salaries drop.
How do the alternative voices sound? I don't believe that women
make different music than men because they are biologically different.
I don't even think that culturally there is one constant difference
in the socialisation of men and women which results in women
making different music than men. There are so many differences
between women and between men! And we are all hybrids: we have
all taken up many different "masculine" and "feminine"
traits. But it is undeniable that in society at large there are
different gender patterns in many fields, that are often being
felt on a very personal level. Some women and men prefer to ignore
this; others choose to do something with it. Some composers,
more women than men, relate some of their work to gender issues.
A clear example is some of the work of Wende Bartley: "Ellipsis
" and "Rising Tides of Generations
Lost". But not only composers can relate their work to gender
issues. Listeners, scholars and researchers can do it too. Whether
the composer wants it or not. They can relate a piece of music
to gender issues in many different ways [see Andra McCartney's webpage].
In my own research, I explore some.
But why relate compositions of oneself or of others to gender
issues? I would say to create a new place for women in a culture
that is dominated by men, regarding the musical, literal, etc.
canons. For a woman, to find yourself in a place like that can
be quite alienating. One option is ignoring it, if possible.
Another possibility is using this situation, and the work already
done by many others, as a source of inspiration.
Hannah Bosma
Hannah Bosma is working on a PhD. dissertation
about 'Gender Issues in Electrovocal Music' and teaching (about computers
& music, Madonna, electrovocal music, text & music) at the musicology
department (Humanities, Art & Culture) of the University of Amsterdam;
she presented some of this work in various papers, lectures and articles.
Together with Patricia Pisters, she is writing a book (in Dutch) about
Madonna that will be published by Uitgeverij Prometheus in September-October
1998. She is also involved in different kinds of textual and electro-vocal
work, like 'Stadsvogels' on the CD Soundscape Amsterdam (1995), several
texts in BEV: Blad van Eva (1988), electro-vocal background music (together
with Boris Nieuwenhuijzen) for the installation and cd-rom 'RealSpace
in Quicktimes' (XIX Triennale, Milano, 1996), and radio-vocal experiments
(one hour a week) for the alternative 'pirate' station Radio 100 in Amsterdam
(1989-1991). As a music-journalist, she published articles, interviews
and program notes (1986-1991). Some papers on gender and electronic music
can be found at http://www.hum.uva.nl/~hannah
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