Gender, electro-music, & diversification of the movement

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

The issue of gender and electronic music has bothered me for some time, and we have discussed it in varying degrees from time to time. I think that it would be a valuable effort to be more proactive about remedying this issue. I would say that it is hard to deny that this is a male-dominated field, and I would also say that one cannot do much to explain why this should be, in an acceptable manner.

Would we all agree that there is a male exclusivism to this field in general that may, in effect, marginalize female participants, and thus prevent the diversification that many of us desire? I think I am going to make an effort to promote this diversification, and perhaps help in establishing a more realistic representation of those involved in our movement.

There is a writer who's work I have run across named Hannah Bosma. She has written a number of articles/papers on this subject, and I am going to invite her to participate in our community. Since we have been milling over this issue here, I think that those who are interested in this issue might be interested in reading some of her work. Below are some links to her writings.

http://www.comatonse.com/listening/bosma2.html
http://cec.concordia.ca/econtact/Voice/Bosma.html
http://cf.hum.uva.nl/%7Ehannah/genderissuesinelectrovocalmusicindex.html

Cyx

mosc · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2003 5:09 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the links; Interesting reading. There is a lot there I've never thought about, especially the discussion of the role of gender in singers. She divides this topic into may sub-topics. I know many excellent women composers. The area I'm most concerned about is audience. Laughing

I would hope she would want to contribute to our discussions.

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

I sent her an email inviting her to look around, and hopefully participate. Every little bit helps.

With respect to audience constituency, I think there tends to be a "By males for males" attitude across the board in this field. Not that the music or performances are directed at males specificly or exclusively, per se, just that it comes across as being a "boys only" club, for no other reason than "well, uhh, hmm... well, it just is!" Nonsense, of course, but it amazes me how tennacious these attitudes tend to be, in whatever field.

Cyx

elektro80 · Posted: Mon Dec 01, 2003 12:53 am Post subject:

Still reading. Interesting. An interesting angle using Roland Barthes... this looks cool.

Hannah · Joined: Dec 16, 2003 Posts: 1 Location: Amsterdam

Hello,

Thanks a lot for reading my articles and for your nice reactions!

You might be interested to know that a special issue on gender and electroacoustic music of Organised Sound: A Journal on Music and Technology, has just been appeared (volume 8/1, published by Cambridge University Press). I was the guest editor of this issue, and I am very happy that we could include so many articles in this issue. You can find information on Organised Sound at
http://titles.cambridge.org/journals/journal_catalogue.asp?historylinks=ALPHA&mnemonic=OSO
Please find the table of contents below.

All the best,

Hannah

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Table of contents of Organised Sound 8/1 (Cambridge University Press):

Editorial

Bodies of evidence, singing cyborgs and other gender issues in electrovocal music (by Hannah Bosma)

On gender in new music interface technology (by Georg Essl)

Women and music technology: pioneers, precedents and issues in the United States (by Elizabeth Hinkle-Turner)

Daphne Oram: innovator, writer and composer (by Jo Hutton)

Project Lovelace: unprecedented opportunities for music education (by Mary Simoni)

Electroacoustic voices in vocal performance art - a gender issue? (by Theda Weber-Lucks)

Desire and distance in Kaija Saariaho's Lohn (by Anne Sivuoja-Gunaratnam)

Wounds like flowers opening: a discussion of Hysteria for trombone and four-channel tape (by Cindy Cox)

In and out of the sound studio (by Andra McCartney)

GLOBULE of NON-STANDARD: an attempted clarification of globular identity politics in Japanese electronic 'sightseeing music' (by Terre Thaemlitz)

Shaken or stirred - virtual reverberation spaces and transformative gender identities in Kaija Saariaho's NoaNoa (1992) for flute and electronics (by Taina Riikonen)

Homoeroticism and electroacoustic music: absence and personal voice (by Barry Truax)

mosc · Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2003 9:04 pm Post subject:

Welcome, Hannah, and thanks for posting. That is a facinating issue. I went to the site and downloaded a few PDFs. It'll take some time to read all that.

beat amateur

Cyxeris · Joined: Oct 30, 2003 Posts: 1125 Location: Louisville, KY

I dont know what all can be done, but the role of a sense of inclusionism is undebatable. I think alot of people are missing out on alot of great art for reasons as irrelevant as gender. I just try to change things from within as best I can without getting ahead of myself.

Cyx