Project Proposal: Women in Music

      Representation in media is a hot-button issue today, which is important as talking about the issues works to solve them. The affects propagated by the media are enormous, affecting young girls as well as people of color or those who may not identify with heterosexist culture. Without fully realized representations of authentic people, these children grow up with insecurities that can be debilitating. It is imperative that society changes its discourse on gender, race, sexual orientation, and class and represents real human beings. However, an oft-forgot piece of media stands out in my mind as being particularly powerful in spreading coded messages. Most think of the visual arts when discussing propaganda, but I believe music is able carry a message just as powerfully due to the inherent efficiency at capturing our ear.

Pop music regularly objectifies women
in music videos and lyrics

I will listen to a song 50 times before I get tired of it, each time I had the opportunity to absorb the message of the song. Sometimes the message can be one of self-empowerment. Other times music will be produced that has the potential to warp the minds of young listeners. I want to analyze both extremes and everything in between.

      The project I propose is an ongoing tumblr blog page that would post various songs throughout the day with analysis of the lyrics, content, context, and relationship to feminist thinkers. To narrow my focus, the theme I will tie all analysis back to is female representation. However, femininity does not exist in a vacuum and discussions of masculinity, race, sexuality, and class will often arise. I may also post articles that I find written by or about female musicians and offer my own summary and commentary. Finally, I will encourage anyone who stumbles upon the blog to take part in discussions with myself by reblogging my posts or dropping an ask in my inbox. Hopefully by also interacting with other music blogs and feminist thinkers on tumblr I will be able to share my thoughts with the community. As a white male, I acknowledge that I cannot fully understand the experiences of those unlike myself, so I am always welcome to hear the stories of those that these songs may affect. My goal is to make the blog a place where those stories can be shared in relation to the music we all know and love.

Meredith Graves, lead singer of the punk band Perfect Pussy
and intersectional feminist

      At the moment I have not started the blog itself, but I have been working on compiling various articles and artifacts I find while on the internet. I am also a rabid consumer of music and have a library of songs I am eager to discuss. My plan is to start the blog this weekend and beginning to post multiple times a day. I will continue this pattern, as well as interacting with other tumblr users, until the final due date. I aim to build a solid portfolio of discourse on the topic of women in music that on could scroll through for hours.