Music & Gender
Rock is one of the most prominent genres in America- lots of the time Rock is considered one of the things that was the big musical movement of the 80s. When looking at the most popular artists, you'll find that most of them are men. Women bands/artists aren't as prominent within this genre- think about it: The rolling stones, The Beatles, AC/DC, Eagles, Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Def Leppard, Hendrix - all of these are men! In fact, if you were to just simply look up the most popular rock artists pretty much none of them are women (attached screenshot for your convenience) 
I'm not saying that this is a problem, simply just an observation that got me thinking: which genders listen to what? There were actually quite a few peer-reviewed journal studies and discussions were done on this- I'll save you from all the different abstracts and results, but several of them concluded that men typically gather within the genre of rock music because of its masculine qualities of loudness, aggressiveness, strength- which is just a different form of expression. Take a listen to some of Black Sabbath's work, Iron Man:
Now, this is just one example of rock- there are several subtypes: funk, dance, blues, punk, and alternative, however, this is just one of the most popularized versions- classic rock.
The studies found that a lot of women are drawn to different forms of expression with softer qualities like pop, alternative rock, indie rock, or hip/hop. There are qualities of music that are deemed more "feminine" in terms of preference and performance. In my personal opinion, I just think it should be two separate forms of expression rather than something to be divided between gender.
Disclaimer: There were some statistical differences, but that doesn't mean this is true for everyone! Some studies even found no statistical differences between music preference and gender. These studies are simply observations of a sample population and cannot indicate everyone's preferences from the actual populations. There are several limitations of each study like sample bias or not including each music genre (which is almost impossible because there are so many). So with this in mind, it's probably good to avoid assuming that all men only prefer loud and aggressive music and not all women can't get down to some punk rock.
Journals/Discussions used:
Girly Boys and Boyish Girls: Gender Roles and Rock and Roll Music by Caroline Hartman (discussion)
Dobrota, S., Reić Ercegovac, I., & Habe, K. (2019). Gender differences in musical taste: The mediating role of functions of Music. Drustvena Istrazivanja, 28(4), 567–586. https://doi.org/10.5559/di.28.4.01
Hey! For starters i absolutely love black sabbath, great choice! Also i had no idea that certain genres of rock were considered more "feminine" that definitely shouldn't be, I agree that it should be about expression rather than gender.
ReplyDeleteHey, I didn't know that almost all rock artists were male, that's a factor that surprises me. I agree with your opinion as I see it more convenient to be two separate forms of expression rather than something to be divided between genres.
ReplyDeleteHi Tessa! I like your blog, I honestly did not realize that most rock bands are male. I agree that the two should just be separated forms of expression instead of being separated by gender.
ReplyDeleteHey Tessa!! I really enjoyed reading your blog. I am not very familiar with rock and roll music, but I found it very interesting that only males are dominant in the rock and roll industry. Also, I do agree with you about how it should be two separate forms of expression and not separated by gender.
ReplyDeleteHello Tessa! I did not realize this until you brought it to my attention. Now that you’ve said it I know very few girl groups in all categories of music. Besides groups like the pussy cat dolls or destiny’s child I can not think of many!
ReplyDeleteHello Tessa , first off I will like to say that I have really enjoyed reading your blog. I love how you brought to our knowledge that most rock bands are filled with males. I also agree with the point you made about that there should be two separate forms of expression and not separated by gender.
ReplyDeleteI like your take on genders role in what types of music we enjoy. I think something to think about when talking about this topic is how social stereotypes and expectations play a role in this as well. for example- if men are told it is unmanly and undesirable to show emotions like sadness- they may be less likely to listen to songs we typically deem sad. Great discussion!
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