Allow me to preface this post with the assertion that I do not read Rolling Stone and am more or less of the belief that it stopped being culturally relevant before I was even born. But I do read Blood Blister Sisters, and wehavethingstolookforwardto wrote something interesting today about the above headline from this month's issue, 'The Secret Life of the Rock Star Who Became a Woman.' My general response to Laura Jane Grace's announcement was some mélange of 'good for her' and 'meh.' I've never been an Against Me! fan, so I'm not awfully familiar with their music or the people in the band. I wish her all the best, but that's pretty much as far as my thoughts on the matter go.Anyway, this headline is kind of messed up on a couple of different levels. Women can't be rock stars? She's going to stop being a rock star once she starts the transition process? As whttlft puts it, its 'internal logic assumes that “rock star” = “not a woman”. As if we can’t start off imagining a rock star who is a woman. If we did consider women in our definition of “rock star” this headline wouldn’t make any sense... I don’t mean to derail the conversation about Laura Jane Grace’s transition and the rhetoric used to talk about trans folks in the media. I definitely don’t think “rock star” should stop at “man or woman.” Instead I want to say HEY ROLLING STONE A LOT OF PEOPLE OF A LOT OF GENDERS MAKE MUSIC AND THEY ARE ROCK STARS. I know you are trying to be progressive but think a little harder, please. This stuff matters a lot. >:('
Yes! I mostly try to steer clear of getting too deep into issues of semantics because I often feel like sexism can be one of those things where the more you look for it, the more you see it, and you start to see it in places where it really isn't. Or you start seeing mountains which are actually small piles of common irrelevance. But this nonsense on Rolling Stone's cover is a good example of language betraying prejudicial thoughts. As the quote from BBS makes clear, the statement is based on the fact that "a Woman" is not a "Rock Star". If "Rock Star" wasn't a gendered term, the headline would lose its meaning. And yes, this stuff does matter. Language is a person's way of seeing the world, and when a person's way of seeing women is that they're somehow antithetic to "Rock Star" that's just fucking stupid.
