I‘ve always wanted to write a review of a dude band in the same way that some journalists write about my band, Tacocat. Because Tacocat is a band with three girls in it, people say the stupidest shit about us—the same stupid shit they say about all female-dominated bands. My idea is pretty simple: copy any old review of Tacocat but change the band in question to a “regular band” (read: male) to see how it would turn out.

For example, I could write a review of my roommate’s oh-so-male quintessential hardcore band Tit Pig. It could start out “Tit Pig is my favorite all-male band.” I would, of course, praise them for “just getting out there, they are so cute.” I would definitely point out that “it is just so great that they are doing it.” Then I would subtly condescend to them by mentioning how long they have been playing their instruments. In the case of Tit Pig, I would definitely slip in that even though singer Sean Evoy hasn’t been at it that long, he is just out there giving it his all, trying his hardest. Obviously, I’d need to slyly find a way to slip in that “it doesn’t hurt that they are all good-looking dudes.” I’d even go into detail describing their clothes and haircuts—drummer Chris Byrne’s dreamy blue eyes, bassist Willy Nils’s edgy, trendsetting dreads.

And, since I am lazy and don’t know that much about hardcore, I would compare them to the same two bands all the other lazies compare them to—Black Flag and Minor Threat—since they are the easiest, most obvious hardcore bands I can think of. And then I would add that it would be so much better if Tit Pig held the same political convictions as Black Flag and Minor Threat.

Tacocat will always get labeled “riot-grrrl,” but the thing is, didn’t that already happen in the 1990s? And we always get compared to Bikini Kill. I’m secretly okay with being compared to Bikini Kill because I grew up listening to/loving Bikini Kill and it makes a lot of sense that I’d be influenced by them, but does it have to happen every time? Do we always have to be put in a Bikini Kill–shaped box? And does it have to come along with a complaint that Tacocat’s politics aren’t as “serious” as riot grrrl/post riot grrrl/Bikini Kill politics?

Maybe while you’re at it, you could criticize GG Allin’s “Needle up My Cock” (I know, Allin is no Tit Pig, but I’ve never been great at maintaining analogies) for not being, ummm—what’s the opposite of feminist?—masculinist enough? We get criticized for not being feminist, not being serious, because of our party subject matter. We also write songs like “UTI” or “TSS,” but, apparently, having a sense of humor about urinary tract infections and toxic shock syndrome is unacceptable to people. It’s not “political” enough. Never mind that these songs are discussing generally unspeakable issues related to the female body.

I was watching a band with my girlfriend last year, and they paused to have a quick shout-out about how important their lyrics were to them by saying (about a different girl-dominated band): “Last night we played with this band that had four females, all good at their instruments, but then all their songs were about cats… and that just made me angry. It’s like, we work really hard on our lyrics, and I don’t wanna hear some girl sing about her cat.”

My girlfriend and I were irate, since both of us were in bands that play songs about our cats, other cats, and all kinds of other apparently invalid things. I found it offensive that this political/queer/female punk band would get up onstage and trash another grrrl band for having fun subject matter. For anyone—particularly another self-described feminist—to discourage any women from making the music they want to be making is absolutely inexcusable. (Ironically, the band they were talking shit about are friends of mine from Bellingham who do indeed have a silly party band that sings about cats, but they were also part of the genius, ultrafeminist group Post-Post-Fuck-Fuck, which spawned several female bands after it dissolved.)

And this was within the confines of a queer/punk/DIY community. The straight music-journalist dudes disapprove and want us to be more political, just like the queer punks disapprove and want us to be more political. Is it your duty as a female in the punk community to have a specific political agenda when making art? I sure wish I was a dude, then—I could make party songs and not have to worry about all the people I was letting down. Meanwhile, Tit Pig get to sing about partying in the USA as much as they want and no one questions it. Must be nice. recommended

Bree McKenna is the bass player in Tacocat.

63 replies on “Sexist Queers”

  2. Baconcat <3 Tacocat, this article is +5,000 points of truth. We need a Tacocat-shaped box.

    I also love cats. Why can’t someone just fucking sing about cats? We need more songs about cats.

    (BTW, I need to see Tit Pig in person instead of recorded. I like what I see, I like what I hear, and I would probably bone down with Tit Pig. They’re like a Morbid Tales-era CF that is also boneable.)

  4. I find it surprising that an article complaining about not being taken seriously kicks off by saying “Tacocat is a band with three girls in it.”

    I don’t know your band, so perhaps you are all under the age of 18. In which case, carry on. But if you ARE over the age of 18 and you want yourselves and other women to be taken seriously, give yourself some credit and stop calling your bandmates “girls.” You’ve done your time and you—and me and all my friends, thank you very much—deserve to be called women. You don’t refer to Black Flag and Minor Threat as all-boy bands, do you?

    Women, please, stop calling yourselves and the rest of us “girls.” It’s embarrassing and sexist and contributes to the infantilization of women.

  7. #4, really, that’s the only thing you could think of to add to this discussion? There are no female equivalents of the words “dude” and “guy” that aren’t lame and full of even more grody, sexist connotations (“ladies” and “gals,” ugh). No one says “man” band, either, because that would be stupid. “Girl band” is the colloquial term used to refer to a band containing mostly girls. Even feminist music critics like Everett True use it.

    Or maybe we should call ourselves “slut bands” because feminists apparently think that’s an awesome thing to be called now. Please, other feminists, do not even try to coach me on acceptable ways of referring to ourselves this week of all weeks…

    Bree, this article was right on. I’m in an all-girl band and can assure you we’ll all be talking about this at practice and nodding our heads in agreement. Thanks for writing it. I remember Grandy’s bullshit review of Tacocat and commented on how ridiculous it was back then.

  8. This is a really great article with some valid points… But what does this have to do with sexist queers? There is nothing about that here. Given the opportunity to address gay male misogyny, I was slight disappointed to read what was pretty much an advertisement for your band.

  11. Wait, I think this is more of a thing on how MUSIC culture is sexist instead of queer culture. Did I miss it in between all the band stuff? Good article, but doesn’t quite fit the theme of the series…

  14. I dunno. I agree with your basic premise, Bree. it’s should be okay for punk girls to sing about fun things the way the boys do, not have to constantly worry about it being so fucking didactic. absolutely. but, at the same time, I’m like one of Seattle’s main players in THE WAR ON FUN, so it’s sometimes hard for me to get behind “fun” in general when it comes to the punk scene here. I not blaming anyone, but it’s just something that bums me out. I have called out Tit Pig for not being political enough before too, so take that however you want…

  15. @4: Oh, give it a rest. I’m in my 30s, and still call myself a girl. I refer to my guy friends as boys sometimes, too. I like “gals”, but it sounds too hokey to be used in most conversation. “Woman” implies a certain level of grown-up-ness that I do not yet aspire too. Please do not encourage people to start forcing that maturity on me. I prefer to remain a girl.

  16. Slightly off topic, but don’t the Presidents of the United States have possibly the most political name possible? And didn’t they have hit songs about a cat, about their favorite fruit, and about a couch-potato lump?

  18. Jane’s Addiction and Presidents of the United States of America both have songs about their cats. And both of those bands are 100% male. And those songs are also 100% cute. So play all the damn cat songs you want and tell everyone else to suck it.
    Part of feminism is having the freedom to take the political out of our personal identity–the same way men can. Let’s not try to jam politics back down our own throats; we’ll never be taken seriously if we can’t stop taking ourselves too seriously.

  20. Well said tacocat. One thing about seattle is that there are many different punk scenes and a few different hardcore scenes but what u say is exactly right, straight up truth.

  26. This is Jesse from CAT VET and we sing songs about snakes, caves, period blood, consent and of course, CATS! Three girls playing music, oh how cute!!!! Fuck that bullshit!! We are so stoked to play with you in Philly and even more so after reading this article. Our sentiments exactly!!! xoxo

  28. “I found it offensive that this political/queer/female punk band would get up onstage and trash another grrrl band for having fun subject matter.”

    That’s how it relates to Sexist Queers. Granted, the sexism in music journalism was discussed more, but writers don’t usually choose their titles, and catchiness/brevity rules above all.

  32. Some words are equivalent…

    female <-> male
    woman <-> man
    girl <-> boy
    gal <-> guy
    lady <-> gentleman (or gent, or dude?)
    chick <-> (I dunno, dog??)

    If you mix those parings up, you are gunning for trouble…

  34. @4 – Laaame. #7 was spot-on to say “Please, other feminists, do not even try to coach me on acceptable ways of referring to ourselves.”

    If YOU feel infantilized by being called a girl, then you can bust some balls over it when it happens in your own life. But don’t you dare think you speak for the rest of us. I like being called a girl and think it’s a subtle compliment saying “you look young.” Then again, I also respond in like when someone calls me a girl, and call them a girl or boy. Equivalent exchange 🙂

  35. The thing about white guilt, is, the only people who feel it are the ones who probably shouldn’t. I don’t feel it (I consider it misdirected) ergo I probably am white-guilty. But not as white-guilty as the proud racists here. And they themselves are at least drawn to the discussion, hence ironically are not as white-guilty as their ancestors who set up the institutions of racism and could have cared less!

  37. Yeah, cause if your shitty band was a shitty all dude band, the Stranger would totally be giving you press and letting your write your own column.

  40. @4 Respecting other people means letting them choose how they self-identify. Some people self-identify as girls, and they have a right to do so. You have a right to self-identify as something else and to object if someone calls you a girl. Just as I am going to object pretty much equally if you refer to me as a girl or as a woman. That is might right. (I am a person. And if for some reason it matters, I am willing to admit to being female. But that doesn’t mean I self-identify as a woman or as a girl or as a lady, and I find your attempt to shove a self-identity onto someone else objectionable.) When someone is within a group and choosing their own label, let them do so. The terms don’t even mean the same things to everyone.

  42. you start off by writing/complaining that your reviews are all trite BECAUSE you’re a female band, but then immediately go on about how your songs are all trite party lyrics? woes me…the world is so harsh.
    zzzzz

  43. Tell em Bree! Being in an all girls/womyns band I hear the same stupid shit all the time. That is probably why I beat those damn drums so hard!

  44. @6 @7 You’re right: I should have also said that this is a really good article that needed to be written, and I appreciate it. And hey, go and call yourselves whatever you want—sluts, girls, whatever. But then don’t complain when you’re not given the respect you deserve. Words have power and consequences.

  46. #31, oh yeah, I remember reading that. Her first paragraph sums up why I’ve never had a problem with the “girl band” label. I’ve been a girl pop DJ (meaning I play only girl bands) for years, and I wouldn’t know about half the bands I play if it weren’t for being able to search “girl band” to find them.

    Given the ratio of girl bands to guy bands, gender is relevant. The problem with pretending it isn’t is that editors and journalists (who are mostly male in the music industry) can then stop attempting to represent all facets of a scene, including minority groups. This happens in the arts all the time. It’s why we still have to have classes like “Women in Literature” or “The History of Black Theater” in college.

    So stating, “Hey, we all have equal opportunities to be critiqued and if you aren’t given the same respect that guys making the same type of music are it’s because you aren’t as good” doesn’t quite work when those judging you are 90% male and defining what constitutes “good” in male terms.

    I suffered through “…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead” last night and witnessed a room full of almost all guys singing along like lesbians at a Sleater-Kinney show. I can assure you, what guys relate to and enjoy does not always make any fucking sense at all to girls (and vice versa).

  47. My biggest ish as a female-musician-womanface is that men are always asking me “Is that you playing guitar on that recording?” Or “who else is in your band?” Like they are always looking for the hidden penis lurking behind me in my music – like it’s a game of Where’s Fucking Waldo.

    Sorry, there’s no dick in my music, broseph.

    It’s so amazing to me that certain people have to point out that women have talent like it’s an exceptional thing:

    “You Guys!!! They are girls AND they play INSTRUMENTS!!! AND I want to have SEX with them! Can you believe all of this????!!!”

    Thanks for writing this, Bree. I am a fan of Tacocat, you guys rule and I’m so glad people still have fun with music. I sure as hell don’t want to be political. Except on comment boards apparently…

  48. This was a really good article and judging from the comments it was obviously something that needed to be said. However I would like to point out that you will really limit the joy you receive from music making if you give a shit what critics say. I don’t care who you are or what you’re doing, there will always be some douchey critic with something completely insignificant to say. You need to give critics the middle finger and you know why? Because fuck em, that’s why.

  50. I don’t get around the music scene much and have never heard of Tacocat — but if you’re music is even half as good and fun and true as this article, you’ve got yourself another fan.

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