Erin Sheehy on Gender, Music, and Freedom

“For a long time the issue of ‘women in rock’ seemed trivial to me, and frankly, I didn’t think about it much. But reading Ellen Willis has given me pause. There’s a lot more at stake than whether or not a girl decides to learn guitar. Most of the women in my consciousness-raising group have said that as adolescents they felt like they didn’t relate to girls. Smart, dynamic teenage girls shouldn’t feel that their demeanor, their qualities, and their goals make them ‘one of the boys.’ And while there’s nothing so wrong with having men for heroes, it worries me that freedom—especially that anti-authoritarian, ‘fuck you,’ rock and roll freedom—is still seen as male.”