There are only 15 lesbian bars left in the USA……..
Those familiar with the culture have many theories on the decrease — including less need due to the assimilation of LGBTQ culture into the mainstream, the financial inequality of women (now made worse by the pandemic), a shift to online dating culture, the tendency for older lesbians to settle down and stay home and a fundamental change in how young women personally identify, such as queer, non-binary or trans, which can make the idea of a lesbian bar feel unwelcoming or even irrelevant.
Males, these males, those males, and those other males are being raped by other males in the Syrian conflict……….
While women and girls are disproportionately targeted by conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), men and boys are also impacted. However, existing services within gender-based violence (GBV) and child protection are focused almost exclusively on responding to the needs of women and girls and very little attention is paid to the needs of men and boys.
……..the article also states that this mysterious sexual violence that has no specific perpetrator will also target the female relatives for raping, as an act of violence against males. (Also, did you know that sexual violence dehumanizes and humiliates males? This article is full of how males are uniquely traumatized when they rape each other. Apparently, males don’t exist to be used as a fucktoilet by other males, so it’s a special trauma for them.)
Let’s all praise Mr. Feminist McLadySaver who is wearing tight skirts and heels every day in solidarity with women because he is our new hero or something, males are so fucking stupid……….
“I prefer a ‘masculine’ look above the waist and a non-gendered look below the waist. It’s all about clothes having no gender.”
……….who plainly says that there’s “masculine” and “non gender”, in keeping with the male myth that there are “males” and “others”.
What a total fucktard.
Moving on. If we can.
If you haven’t seen this, this is the iconic Gogo’s, performing “we got the beat”, each are performing in their individual homes. They are still AWESOME.
Have a great weekend, to my sisters all over the globe.
Jayne (I got the beat, I got the beat, I got THE BEAT. Yeah. I got it. Since 1972)😋
RadFemSpiraling 
Hell, I forgot the Au Pairs.
Punk, 2 women, 2 blokes. Always better live than they were on record but I can highly recommend my absolute, absolute fave – You.
One of those songs that makes me think I’ve died and gone to heaven. It doesn’t even matter if no-one else likes it. I love it enough for the whole world.
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I came across another live performance from cyndi Lauper, search YouTube for 1985 when you were mine (live at American music award).
FIRE. She is actually singing and wearing a LOT of clothes.
Ok, I am working my way through your recs.
My impression of the Au Pairs, You.
I really like it, and I have never heard it, before, thanks for introducing me to something new!
I LOVE the 80s.
Also, I totally relate to being a social mishap. 😀
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OK, this is going to be a bit longer.
1 – Hagar the Womb – punk, ramshackle but brilliant, mostly female, Ruth on lead vocals
Dressed to Kill – 1982
“Saturday night’s coming and I’ve just got to prepare
Have a bath and spend 2 hours washing my hair
Cos you know I’ve got to have my face just right
So all the boys will only fancy me tonight”
It would be easy to misinterpret those lyrics. Don’t be fooled. They were sticking up 2 fingers just as much as Poly Styrene.
2 – Beef – punk, female led, the wonderful Jane
My top 2 picks:
Head Explodes – 1982
Lazen Hags – 1990
This one comes with a lovely little video which gives you a really good idea of what Jane was like onstage. She was epic.
3 – Delta 5 – punk, great basslines, 2 women plus various blokes
Mind Your Own Business – 1979
“Can I have a taste of your ice cream?
Can I lick the crumbs from your table?
Can I interfere in your crisis?”
Anticipation – 1980
video clip from TOTP (I think) so you can see the band
4 – Daisy Chainsaw – punk, blokes, KatieJane on lead vocals
I Feel Insane
“I’m getting fucking older but still I’m hanging on
The world gets weirder or maybe I’m insane”
Love Your Money
you could watch the promo video OR if you Google the song title plus ‘Word’ you’ll get a nice clip of the band on a tv show. Gives you a good idea of what they were like onstage.
The Future Free
Propeller Punch
So those are some of my suggestions. All really old cos I don’t really keep up with new music. You might well already know all or some of these but I thought I’d mention them anyway.
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I have listened, so far, to the first 2.
Hagar the womb is OK.
I really like beef, and I really like Jane, too. On the lazen hags video you recommended, the comments are pretty good, and there’s a woman who is posting under the name, Jane Goff, who appears to be THE Jane from the band.
Before I listen to the rest, I have some suggestions for you, although mine are not going to be nearly as subversive as yours enjoyably are.
The first is “thorn in my side” by Eurythmics.
The second is “sonny came home” by shawn Colvin. Great song, but the comments are hysterical, lol.
Patty Smith, “drive”. You will probably recognize her.
Off to listen to the rest of your recs….
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Hm, subversive? Really? They seem pretty straightforward to me, LOL. Maybe it’s my punk mindset.
OK, you’ve thrown a red- haired female singer at me so I’m gonna throw one right back at you in a mo.
I did realise after I blasted off these posts that I could have picked a bit more carefully. I mean, not to try to match your musical taste but maybe to not be so wide of the mark. Go-Go’s, Guns n’ Roses, Natalie Merchant (none of whom I like, soz). I just went a bit mad.
One thing this thread has done is it’s got me thinking about some of my fave female singers and bands. I’m doing a list. It’s not a massive list. If I did the blokes it would be to the moon and back. But, anyway, am having the best time listing all these amazing women. Fanny? OMG!!!!!!!! Nothing but love.
Jane Goff? That rings a vague bell. Don’t usually bother with YT comments but I’ll go back and check these.
Patti Smith? I only like ‘Because the Night’. Never heard of this one but I will give it a whirl.
Shawn Colvin? No idea, will give it a go.
Annie Lennox? Not my cup of tea at all. Although I do like ‘Sweet Dreams’. Synth pop not my fave thing.
Way too plinky plonky. And she’s quite well behaved. It’s all a bit too tidy. Also, her voice doesn’t do it for me. I get the whole ‘strong woman in pop’ thing but it’s all about the voice. That said, don’t think I know this song (I only know the singles) so will have a listen.
OK, so MY red-haired punk / pop singer is Toyah. If you know her from her pop star years I say, ignore that. Boring crap. Check out the earlier stuff. Don’t panic, I’m not sending you back into Hagar territory. Toyah had a proper big record label deal. And she was never really punk. In her attitude, yes, which is the only bit that really counts. But her music was … I dunno. Rock? Pop rock? Really dunno. I suggest listening to ‘Ieya’. There is a skanky shorter version on YT. Don’t bother. Commit to the proper version which is 8m 30s. Google – Toyah Ieya 12″ – and it’ll bring up the proper version. If nothing else, you might enjoy the drumming. This song is epic. But it is very long so you can nominate another song for me to listen to along with this Annie Lennox thing. Doesn’t have to be AL, could be anyone. Although would prefer no Go-Go’s, really don’t like them. I would even rather listen to G n’ R.
There’s a really nice YT clip of Toyah on a Norwegian pop show. I’ll post the details. So if you want to see what she was like you can. It’s a pop show so she’s miming, obvs, and not even bothering to do it properly. That’s not the point. It’s her performance. Most bands, on tv, just do the basics. Not Toyah. She goes all out like it’s a gig. This clip, if you watch it, will give you a good idea of what she was like onstage. Her band is all blokes but it’s all about her.
Actually, I’m off to listen to Ieya myself. I have it on heavy rotation at the mo. You don’t even need to listen to it if you don’t want to. I can do it for the whole world.
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Oh, that was nice. Just did a nice Toyah sesh.
OK, the Norwegian thing. Can’t do links, you’ll have to Google if you want to check it out.
Toyah Neon Womb Rockpop
That should do it. Her vocals were always a little bit pretentious – she’s middle class, she’s an actress – but I loved her to bits anyway. Until she started doing terrible pop songs. But Neon Womb is one of the earlier ones. I think it’s fab.
Off to find out who this Shawn Colvin is.
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Oh, not Patti Smith. Patty Smyth? Is that right? I think I’ve found the right thing.
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OK, last post.
Annie Lennox – yeah, I know that one. Don’t like it.
Patty Smyth – OK. Kinda depressing.
Shawn Colvin – that one was good. Fucking depressing song so won’t be listening again. But it is good. Liked her guitar work so might check out something else. She does come across as someone with something to say.
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Ok, so let me try, again.
I will be surprised if you don’t know this one……
“Israel” by Siouxsie and the banshees
I also like “kiss them for me”, “cities in dust” and a bunch of others, but every siouxsie song takes a back seat to Israel. It’s my all time favorite of theirs.
“Rebel Girl” by bikini kill
“How much Love” by Vixen (ALL THINGS VIXEN ROCK, YES, THEY DO)
“Bad Seed Rising” by bad seed Rising (they are from my hometown, Frederick, Maryland)
I hope that I hit the mark a little closer, this time.
Off to finish listening to your recs.
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Oh, one more.
“Goodbye earl” by the Dixie chicks, official video
It’s hilarious.
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Bad Seed Rising.
god, I hate it when bands split up.
Really fucking hate it.
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Bad Seed Rising.
We. Are. Not. Worthy.
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X Ray Spex.
Obviously, I have to include Poly Styrene. I am nothing if not predictable.
Oh Bondage Up Yours! – written by Poly Styrene
“Some people think that little girls should be seen and not heard
But I think
Oh bondage up yours
1 2 3 4 … ”
Artificial – written by Poly Styrene
” I know I’m artificial but don’t put the blame on me
I was reared with appliances in a consumer society
When I put on my make-up, the pretty little mask not me
That’s the way a girl should be in a consumer society”
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OK, this is going to be a long post. Or I might split it. Listing some female / female led bands I used to love, back in my gig-going days.
RadFem, to celebrate your German heritage I’m starting off with these 2 …
1 – Xmal Deutschland – synth / goth
German, sang in German. Always 2 or 3 women in the band, sometimes 4. Here are my top 3 picks:
Schwarze Welt – 1981
Polarlicht – 1987
Incubus Succubus – 1982
2 – Kleenex – punk
Swiss, all-female, sang in German
If you Google Kleenex Beri Beri Nice you’ll get a nice little video clip of them performing in a tv studio. 2 songs but it only lasts 4m 34s
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Ooh, RadFem, thank you so much for the Cyndi Lauper reminder. I haven’t watched that live version of Money Changes Everything for at least ten years. Probably longer. Oh god, it was brilliant to watch. I did like her back in the day. She wasn’t my fave. Hard rock is my one true love and most of the bands / musicians I like are male. Most of the singers I love are male. What can I say? It’s true. But Cyndi was great.
What I love most about this performance is how punk the whole thing is. She’s the only big star I can think of who had a real punk attitude, look, energy. I saw her in 1987 and that was much pretty much gone. At least with her image. She was far more ‘polished’ by then. Still amazing and still crazy and wild but somewhat toned down. But that usually happens to all stars as they head on up the ladder. The edges always get smoothed out a little.
But this really made my day. In fact, I need to go and watch it again.
Before I go – just so envious of your bass guitar / drums playing ability. I don’t play any instruments. But, oh, the rhythm section. Just wow! I always say bass guitar is my fave instrument but I know it isn’t, really. It’s the drums. But since they go together I can just swoon over the rhythm section. I don’t have to give up anything. And I agree, drummers are a special breed. You know that thing, where the rest of the band takes the piss out of the drummer? It’s obviously cos they are jealous. Who wouldn’t be? Drummers are just epic. Lead singers and lead guitarists could only hope to be that cool.
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I hear you about loving male singers, I get it. Especially having a background in mostly hair/glam metal, as well as being heterosexual, lol. I mean, Sebastián Bach of Skid Row, Joe Elliott of Def Lepard, 2 of my favorites, Sebastián could scream on key and make it sexy, lol.
But after almost 5 years writing, and centering women, and celebrating their musical abilities, talents, accomplishments, I honestly can’t remember the last time that I listened to a male singer, band leader or musician, not unless he was playing with women.
If you like percussion, let me suggest the channel “Rocker Girl”, if you aren’t familiar with her. She is young, she plays drums, and she is kind of a bad ass, lol.
I have a lot of posts about women in music, I had to abandon those for a while because YouTube was being an asshole when trying to post on WordPress but I have figured that out, so I will be adding more songs, soon.
But cyndi Lauper is always going to be perfect. And that live version will forever be one of my favorites because DAMN SISTER DO BRING IT😁
I am happy you are here, zuli. Thanks for commenting 🙂
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Huge Cyndi fan. Yes, I know ‘When you were mine’ and I totally agree that she is better than Prince. I am a Prince fan, although he is a d-bag – unlike men, I can separate the person from the talent – and he does some good stuff, including some good covers of other excellent musicians. But Cyndi is effing awesome and she is still active, which I absolutely love.
Yeah, I like non-traditional vocal ranges. And I love listening to the changes in women’s voices as they age. If you listen to any Joni Mitchell, her older voice is fantastic. She had a very high and beautiful voice as a younger woman – she said she started smoking at 9 years of age, and it added something interesting and deeper/huskier to her voice. You can hear the difference in Both Sides Now (older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP8M0jhsM74) (younger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbn6a0AFfnM) is absolutely fabulous. There is also very special video out there of a couple of songs she did on her 70th birthday (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdpTGFZSgfA) which brought tears to my eyes. It’s so important to retain older women in music.
I’m in the middle of a writing a post on music and the influence on my feminism and musical taste development. I think you and I both grew up in a fantastic age for music. My repertoire development was a little odd (or maybe it wasn’t for a female without older siblings), but I still listen heavily to stuff from the 80’s, one of the best out-there decades, with lots of oldies influence from my grandparents and random stuff from other people’s older brothers and sisters as I didn’t have elders sibs of my own.
All I can say is music is so important to me in so many ways. If I look at my massive e-collection, I can recall when I got into a group (especially if I have an album as opposed to a song I picked up somewhere), and what fucked up period of my life it got me through 😉 I’m a crappy, but enthusiastic dancer, and I got the beat, I got the beat, I got the beat! I got the beat.
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Thanks for the recommendations, I am enjoying them.
I don’t talk about it too much, but I was a musician and I played in a lot of bands in the 90s. My mother liked muzak, she had that playing on the radio non stop until she died when I was 13, my father loved old school country. My memories of him revolve around music, things like Eddie rabbit’s “I love a rainy night” and “driving my life away”, anything by dolly parton, the oak ridge boys, and the like.
I avoided my brother, although I know he listened to various types of rock. I have 2 older sisters that were moving out of the house when I was born so I hardly know them at all, but when I was really little, I have vague memories of the music that they listened to, which was a lot of folk type music, like gordon lightfoot and John denver.
I was all in, new wave, as a kid in the 80s. I agree with you that the 80s was a unique time for music. You and I were separated at birth! I don’t know anyone that loves music as much as I do, it’s so good to talk about it with someone else that loves it just as much!
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What instruments do you play?
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My main instrument was drums. I learned piano first, and I can play a bass guitar as well as any first grader.
I am a rythym/percussion musician, first and foremost. Drummers tend to be a slightly different breed from other musicians, it’s just a completely different skill set and attitude.
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Cool I always thought it would be fun to learn the drums. I learned some guitar and some keyboard when I was little but the only kind of music I ever continued is singing. I’m bored with western music now and I really want to learn the sitar but who knows when and if I’ll eventually be able to do that.
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I have an ok voice, but I couldn’t carry any kind of professional singing as a lead. I can stay on note and key enough for backup, that’s about it. I sing like I dance, it’s fun for me but I don’t need to punish anyone else by making them witness it.
I would really like to learn the ukulele. Maybe eventually, I will.
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I’ve never done any music professionally. Just was in chorus all throughout school and I took lessons for guitar as a kid. Ukelele is my second choice after sitar of favorite instrument to learn.
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I’ve been listening to some feminist content today, and in between listens, flagging spirit at the candid description of reality and what men do to women all over the globe (and how no one really cares), and sometimes cry-sessions at what sisters suffer daily without being believed or supported, I come back to this video and play it through to feel better. So thank you for that. Seriously.
One thing that has occurred to me is that these women are able to sing this song and just exude joy. Female joy. Without men and without putting their tits out (I’m going to overlook the make-up on some of them, as it isn’t the point here) or selling themselves to men as is almost always the intended audience regardless of whether the singer is male or female. There is no feeling that they want to be fucked. It is completely unlike watching a video by men, or by the pornified young women of today. It’s just fun and joy and rocking it. These are my peeps.
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I am so glad that you like it, and that it gives you some joy.
There’s another one the Gogo’s did, and the video style is very much like this, but it’s not on their channel. If you search youtube for “Gogo’s club zero the 19th”, you will see it. It was a live performance for a virtual conference, it’s also very good. The official video for club zero is on their channel, but the live performance is on a channel called the 19th.
You described the feeling of this video perfectly! One of my very favorite videos is from Natalie merchant, called Wonder. I am sure that you have seen it or heard of it, it was from the very narrow window of time in the 90s, where it seemed like we were in the very beginning of escaping the sexualized, objectification box. We didn’t get very far, but there were quite a few women that could, like, wear a bunch of clothes and move/dance for just the joy of it. My favorite representation of that is Wonder.
I feel your pain. I spend a lot of time looking around for subjects that I think will be of interest to women, mostly looking for things that are somewhat hard to find or not easily seen, and mostly ending up writing about things that anger me in the most heartbreaking way. I want to acknowledge the stories of women that are horrible, because those women deserve to be remembered, sympathized with, seen and heard. They are very important to me.
But it’s equally important to have a laugh and some joy. Which is why I post music and funny tumblr type stuff. Thanks for letting me know that you are enjoying it.😉
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Awesome. Also a great video! Love Natalie Merchant.
Not sure if you’re into Blondie (Debbie Harry). I love how her voice has developed into older age (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abw49k3rIN0 – Maria is a good example). Unfortunately, she was highly sexualized. I watched a documentary on Blondie, and I think was treated extremly poorly in the club scene being blonde, white and beautiful. Not taken seriously at all. It pisses me off how much harder talented women have to work just to get an audience that takes them seriously.
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I LOVE BLONDIE! Personally, I really love the alto voice range in female singers, and everyone’s range lowers as they age.
And she absolutely was treated like shit. Women are dragged for being conventionally attractive. And we are dragged for being unattractive. We can’t win.
Another one of my favorites is Cyndi lauper, and among her videos, if you have never seen money changes everything, go watch it, it’s on her channel. The vocal is live, and I mean, storyendingnever, she brings it. She was somewhat sexualized, not nearly to the extent that some had to bare, but that particular video is just so good.
She also covered one of prince’s songs called When you were Mine. You may know it, but if you don’t, listen to prince’s original, and then listen to hers and it is one of those somewhat rare instances of the cover way outdoing the original. Also, it is a story from the view of a male that is talking to a woman that cheated on him, and she left the lyrics alone, which was kind of unusual, at that time. There’s no official video, it was never released as a single, but it is sooooooooo good.
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I love the Gogos. That pretty much says it all 🙂 And dammit if I ‘ve got shiny eyes for watching older women perform. How often do you see that?
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That performance is the coolest thing that I have seen in a very long time.
I love listening to Jane Weidlin talk, lol. Her manner is so unassumingly cool, and she is unflinchingly honest about the history of the band.
Older women are the most interesting people. I thought that when I was younger, and I still think it, as I have aged into that demographic.
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I wish that I would have had the chance to encounter more cool older women. It sounds so awesome to have elders to give advice and be supportive. Most in my life and that I’ve come across have been horrible and cruel. Like people get so broken from so much abuse by the time they get to their 60s or so that it seems like the average person that age, of both sexes, is awful. The difference between interacting with 40 somethings and sometimes 50 somethings and younger compared to 60s and older is pretty drastic from my experience. It seems like the 50s is a transitional period where a large amount of people become very hateful and cruel by the time they reach 60s. I keep seeing all this stuff about “children of narcissistic parents” where people say their boomer aged parents have narcissistic personality disorder and people tell me the stuff my mom does sounds like that too. I keep wondering if there are things about when the generation grew up that made them so especially awful to younger people or if the same high percentage of people will be like that when my generation is that age too. It makes me glad whenever I see someone who makes it to an advanced age who is still kind and caring and still sees good in life.
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