What Are You Doing Here?: A Black Woman's Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal by Dawes Laina

Author:Dawes, Laina [Dawes, Laina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bazillion Points
Published: 2012-11-07T00:00:00+00:00

Not all black women take to the stage so naturally, and the challenges are many. Perceptions of women in the metal, hardcore, and punk scenes can help the ascent—or deter women from participating at all.

A few years ago, I found a discussion board thread titled “Beautiful Black Women” on a well-traveled heavy metal website. The first post contained pictures of well-known black female celebrities, like movie star-turned-metal-singer Jada Pinkett Smith from Wicked Wisdom, along with other black women, many light-skinned, with long, straightened hair.

A number of people added their comments. Some added additional pictures that they’d found on the Internet of black women they found attractive. Most were models, not musicians, and all were light-skinned. Before I had scrolled to the very bottom, I found the comment that I feared: “Black women are not beautiful.” Another comment posted after that repeated the statement and added: “Sexy, but not beautiful.” I wondered what someone who could post this mildly offensive statement on a message board for metal fans must think of black female metal musicians. Though sexual attractiveness is not a musical prerequisite, judging by pictorials in music magazines, “good looks” do still matter.

Some women metal fans will profess their lust for musicians like Joe Duplantier from Gojira or Troy Sanders from Mastodon. As far as the largely male metal fan base is concerned, however, musicians need not even bathe or wear fashionable clothing to gain respect. These guys only need to “bring it,” and be proficient enough at their instruments to gain credibility. For women, it’s a whole different beast.

As in every other music culture, whether we like it or not, imagery is important. We can’t help but react to a musical style based on the physical appearance of the performer. Because of the turbulent history regarding black women in westernized culture, “sexy, but not beautiful” is more than someone’s personal sentiment. Black women are more likely to be viewed as sexualized creatures to be used and discarded.

The damage from sexual objectification within North American history, coupled with the lack of variances in the narratives of black female life outside of racially prescribed categories and the hypersexualized images of black women in hip hop culture have created a legitimate level of hypersensitivity among many black women. Without mentioning a specific genre, I individually asked a large group of black women if music affected their self-confidence or sexuality at all. I received some eloquent responses like this one: “If you look at hip hop nowadays it is all about creating a black Barbie doll illusion in little girl’s heads. It seems the more hip hop progressed, the more black women lost themselves and the independence they fought so hard for. With metal I have had the opportunity to come across women who are comfortable in their own skin. There is no such thing as being a freak, just being an individual.”

I was surprised when the prominent metal label Century Media Records published the Girls of Century Media 2009 calendar featuring female metal musicians on the label.

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