The allure of punk rock women

Music has always been a man’s world. Rock music especially has been and remains a boy’s club. Prior to the 1970s, in fact, any woman who tried to enter the rock scene was easily dismissed. Women like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, and Carol King began to change the ways in which women were seen in the music industry. Punk rock and its emergence of the independent female was the genre that solidified not only women’s contribution to rock but also started an undeniable fight for gender equality in the punk scene and beyond.

Yet, somewhere in the midst of the good fight, the punk woman became somewhat of an enigma. Something fetishized and given no more of a consideration than the “crazy” (but cool) girl your brother dates in college before he settles down for someone who can be more “domestic.” She’s like the manic pixie dream girl, but one that isn’t marriage material. She’s the one every straight dude wants to experiment with, but ultimately the one no one wants to make future plans with. 

But what is it about the punk rock woman that fascinates media and creates an odd fetishized version of what society sees as punk rock? 

Blame it on the independence. It’s like every clichéd trope in which the boring white-bread of a boy has to learn from the world around him and the young energetic woman is supposed to be the one to lead him to this new found world. The punk rock woman is one that understands the world and challenges the system. She sees past the flaws and fights against them. 

This idea, although rampant throughout all genres, is especially apparent in punk rock, as punk is seen as one of the more outlandish genres, both sonically and culturally. It is a genre that not many understand, it’s the genre for misfits and those shunned by society. The fetishization of punk rock women and thus punk as a genre is another instance of taking something someone doesn’t understand and trying to capture it until it fits into a neat box or it is let go for being too “out there.” It’s the odd allure of trying to be unique and different and using a woman to create this change for you, to show you the world, and ultimately make you more interesting and understanding before you inevitably leave her. 

Some may ask what’s bad about this. Don’t we all meet people who challenge us and make us better people? Sure, but fetishizing an entire group of people continues to distract from a woman’s agency and her own power. Women are being used solely as an arm piece instead of being recognized for their influence and creativity. In this, we fail to recognize women’s contribution to punk. If it weren’t for Patti Smith, we wouldn’t have been introduced to the incredible chaos of lyrics that read like beat poetry and the equally rambunctious drive of a thrashing guitar. Had The Slits, one of the first female punk bands to emerge out of the UK, never formed we probably would have never seen acts like Nirvana or Sleater Kinney. 

The entire basis of punk is to fight for people, specifically the outcasts, the oppressed, the marginalized. Women have had a long establishment within punk and created some of the most prolific music within the genre to this day. This mistaken infatuation that is placed upon women of punk is a complete disregard of everything punk stands for and is. 

Women in punk rock have said, “Fuck you and fuck off” since their explosion into the scene. Give them the time they deserve. 

Article by Makaila Heifner