Female Music Industry Insiders Talk Gender, Race, Sexuality in Pop Music

on Nov29

by london | Stumble it | Digg it | Tweet this

For the women on the panel, gender and sexuality seemed to play a pivotal role in their daily life work.

"Unfortunately there is this battle of the sexes," said Pantle, assistant vice president of corporate and media relations at BMI. “You walk in a woman, you walk out a woman. You walk in a man, you walk out a man. It’s very hard to feel that you’re not a woman. Everyone comes in with their own impression of what you’re going to be. There is no avoiding it."

Blackman, who manages the Latin/hip-hop/rock collective Ozomatli, had to overcome being the only female in a room full of guys.

"They have an all-male crew and historically when we were traveling I was invited into these traditionally hallowed male spaces like the tour bus, recording studio and the dressing room -- and it's very apparent that I’m the only female in this space," she said. "I did in the beginning feel like I had to compensate for that by being .... really unreasonably aggressive, because I thought other women wouldn’t be taken seriously. [But] I realized there is authentic power in just being good at what I do.”

That relationship of females working in male-dominated workplaces (something that’s still a conversation in professions outside of music) easily becomes a sensitive subject as issues of sexuality, equality and money come into the conversation.

Vandenberg recalled prepping for her first touring experience with a male artist and the advice a male colleague gave her.

“I had my pen and paper and was very studious in taking notes because I wanted to do things right. But he was so awkward and he was getting at something, though I wasn’t quite sure what it was,” she said. “What he was ultimately trying to say was, ‘Don’t sleep with anyone in the band.’ I was horrified that was even something he thought he had to say."

Powers noted that because music is often fueled by sexuality, those conversations trickle down to the culture surrounding it and women are typically forced, or expected, to present themselves in a certain way by either choosing to play their sexuality up or down.

“Being one of the only girls around, a lot of times the guys are sexy and it’s tempting to get involved,” said Greco, an L.A.-based singer. “Being around them, there are people who become beautiful. It’s important to protect yourself. Males have a certain sexual behavior. It can become attractive. Sometimes you think, ‘You don’t care about anything. I want to be more like that. I want to have my pleasures and walk away.’ But for a girl it’s so different.”

Onkey didn’t work in the music business until she went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, where she works as the vice president of education and public programs.

“I came at this job with a real challenge to expertise. Artists would look to the male members on my staff and assume I work for them, which was kind of a shock,” Onkey said. “You had to try to flow past it.”

Onkey added that she realizes she has her work cut out for her.

“Before this year’s class, 605 people were inducted, groups and individuals. Nine percent of that was women,” she said. “We’ve gotta do better than that.”

Pantle said although there have been strides –- Esperanza Spalding’s surprising Grammy win recently being one of them -- women still have a very long way to go to get equal footing in this business.

“I think there’s still a glass ceiling. I think it’s getting thicker, which is sad,” she said.

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

twitter.com/GerrickKennedy

Photos: At top left, Nicki Minaj. Credit: Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times.

In the middle, Lady GaGa performs onstage during the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards held at Staples Center earlier this month. Credit: Kevin Winter / Getty Images

At right, Beyonce brought her "I Am....Sasha Fierce" tour to the Honda Center in Anaheim in 2009. Credit: Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times