User:Niolzc/Women's music

Article Draft
Women's music

Women's music is a type of music base on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian-separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness, chiefly in Western popular music, said to promote music "by women, for women, and about women".[1]

'''Women's music initially focus on feminism questions which expose the unfair treatment on female from society and families that was ignored by men. Its lyrics focus on the power of women individually and in women solidarity. Later, it became lesbian music.'''

As an offshoot of the feminist movement, the genre emerged be referred as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement[2] as well as include the female labor, civil rights, and peace movements.[3] The movement was started by lesbian performers such as Cris Williamson, Meg Christian and Margie Adam, African-American musicians including Linda Tillery, Mary Watkins, Gwen Avery[4] and activists such as Bernice Johnson Reagon and her group Sweet Honey in the Rock, and peace activist Holly Near.[3] Women's music is not only related with female performers but also had all female workers in the industry. Studio musicians, producers, sound engineers, technicians, cover artists, distributors, promoters, and festival organizers who are also women.[1]

Root
'''At beginning of 1970s, as second-wave feminists initially starts, feminists did not contains(?) the fight for the lesbians. As Stonewall Riots in 1969 starts the Gay Liberation, political feminists feel the dangerous of their efforts in past activities may negatively labeled, so they often to hostile to lesbians women. Further fragmentation between straight women and lesbians during the era was the rejection  by National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) to lesbians, and one of N.O.W. member, Betty Friedan, alleged the lesbian as lavender menace. Therewith, a series of movements against all homosexuals community began, central role was label Gay Liberation as counterrevolutionary and bourgeois. Those extreme rejection to lesbian let many political-concerned women became lesbian-feminist collectives and sometimes led to lesbian separatist. '''

Women's music came in under these situations initially inherit feminist’s central point, in bands such as Deadly Nightshade, the Chicago, and New Haven Women's Liberation bands etc. broadcast the ideas of feminist position but uninvolved the lesbian's aspect of view.

Origin of Women's Music
In 1963, the American singer-songwriter Lesley Gore recorded and published her song "You Don't Own Me" expressing threatened emancipation, as the singer refrains to a lover that they "don't own" her, that they aren't to tell her what to do or what to say, and that they are not to put her on display. The song's lyrics became an inspiration for younger women and are sometimes cited as a factor in the second wave feminist movement.[6]

Development
In the late 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, some critics and musicians perceived that there were few "positive women's images within popular music" and a "lack of opportunities for female performers".[7] They viewed women as having a disadvantage in the field because of their difference in gender.[8] At the time, major US record labels had only signed a few women's bands, including Fanny, Birtha, The Deadly Nightshade, Goldie and the Gingerbreads and the band that they evolved into, Isis.[9] In reaction to this perceived lack of inclusion of women in the mainstream, some feminists decided it necessary for women to create a separate space for women to create music. Lesbian and feminist separatism was then used as a "tactic which focused women's energy and would give an enormous boost to the growth and development of women's music."[10]

The genre, which first came to be known as "lesbian music,"[5] has its roots in certain musical contributions of the 1960s and is defined by the artists and labels in the 1970s who built upon this foundation in order to foster a lesbian-oriented musical movement.[5]

Out of the separatist movement came the first distributed examples of music created specifically for lesbians or feminists. In 1972, Maxine Feldman, who had been an "out" (openly gay) performer since 1964, recorded the first overtly lesbian record, "Angry Atthis" (Atthis was a lover of the Ancient Greek poet Sappho). Feldman had been performing the song since 1969, and its lyrics were specific to her feelings and experiences as a lesbian. In the same year the feminist all-woman bands The Chicago Women's Liberation Rock Band and the New Haven Women's Liberation Rock Band released Mountain Moving Day. In 1973, Alix Dobkin, flautist Kay Gardner, and bassist Patches Attom created the group Lavender Jane, and recorded an album entitled Lavender Jane Loves Women, the first full-length album for and by lesbians. These early recordings relied on sales through mail order and in a few lesbian-feminist bookstores, like Lambda Rising in Washington, D.C., as well as promotion by word of mouth.[11] In May 1974, the women who would go on to form the first European women's rock band performed at a women's music festival in Berlin.[12] They formed the German women's rock band Flying Lesbians and released one self-titled album in 1975.

Social/Political Impacts to Women's Music
Goldenrod Music Distribution, founded by Terry Grant in 1975, has been credited by Lauron Kehrer as a major influence in the launch of the women's music movement.[13] Kehrer noted that although the organization was founded on the basis of helping women and lesbians, it was unable to work around the contradictions surrounding the company's ethics[specify] and place in a capitalist society.[13]

'''In the late period of the Women's Music central idea became extremely dive into lesbian separatism. Such that the most Women's Music festival use either private land or one-time event contracts to insure them can exclude men out from the space. Certain ones extremes to either exclude boys above certain age or just not even boys allowed. The most extreme and controversial shows in Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.'''

'''The extreme central idea from musician cross into the context of their music that contains racism to other groups. ?'''

Purpose and Influence of Women's Music
(某一段中间部提取）There are common European classical semiotic codes that have been used throughout centuries to express either masculinity or femininity.[14] These musical gestures changed over time as the meaning of femininity changed, but they always kept to their purpose: truthful expressionism.

Feminist musicians aimed to show a positive, proactive, and assertive image of women that not only critiqued the rifts in regards to gender, but also demonstrated the goals of the feminist movement such as social justices regarding gender as well as the right of privacy concerning abortion and birth control.[15] With the goal of breaking down the gender divide and level the gender differences, some women in this genre of music "adopt[ed] male dress codes and hair styles".[16] Women also voiced their opinions and the goals of the feminist movement through lyrical contributions. In "I Am Woman," Helen Reddy sings, "I am woman/hear me roar/And I've been down there on the floor/No one's ever gonna keep me down again."[17] Reddy creates a feeling of "girl power" that reflected the ambitions of the feminist movement.

Lesbians additionally found ways to express themselves through musical composition. There are common European classical semiotic codes that have been used throughout centuries to express either masculinity or femininity.[14] These musical gestures changed over time as the meaning of femininity changed, but they always kept to their purpose: truthful expressionism. Ethel Smyth, a composer, encoded her lesbian life experiences in her music.[14] Genders of composers, writers, artists, and more have a lot to do with how music is perceived and interpreted. Cues such as tempo, articulation, and other dynamics signify many different types of meanings – they are not standard.[14] Each musician uses these codes and cues to suit their music, and thus express themselves through song.

'''Additionally, as lesbian musicians expressed themselves through music, they also broke the isolation of lesbians in North American. They let the lesbians got a group identity and another possible coming-out process. Such that lesbians are able to hint their families and friends of their identity by send them a CD of lesbian musicians' works.'''

Lebel on Musicians
'''The Women's Music is the classify base on the identity of musicians such as women, feminist, and lesbian, etc. This label let lesbians community have the chances to break their isolation from other community that they can use Women's Music to hint or shows their identity as lesbian to others.[anyone can be lesbians] However, labeled as Women's Music musicians may limit people's imagination on their music ability. Some musicians more likely to give a more detail categories to their musics base on the type of music, thus show to a widely listening group. Some musicians did not want to show their identity to publics due to the marketing aspect.'''

Racism
The late period of Women's Music, the white women dominant extreme central ideas that led to racism to other groups, such as color people, straights women, men, transgenders, even lesbians who have children and who had relationship with men before. The extreme musicians aspect infuse into their music thus cause the audiences from those communities got mad which limit the audience groups.

Financial and Social Issues
'''Due to the speciality of purpose of Women's Music, create a women-only space, it is hard for the companies whose focus on Women's Music to gained any financial through it under a male dominant and capitalized society, such as the male dominant companies refuse to collaborate with them. Additionally, the risk in Women's Music financially that appears is clear that as Women's Music records tried to financing, rarely got anyone took the risk to invest. Thus most of Women's Music records shut down.''' （补充）

Separation between New Lesbian and Old Lesbian Separatist
'''The old lesbian separatist whose idea dominant in late Women's Music, exclude all other groups except women who is not transgender nor had any relationship with men. This limit let new generation of lesbians' identity whose are transgender or more complex intersection identities lesbian got angry, thus new generation of lesbians began to against with old lesbian separatists ideas include the Women's Music led by them. The two groups new generation of lesbians and old lesbian separatists starts actively against each other during the era, such as in 1977, the sound engineer Sandy Store, whose a transgender women, resign from Olivia Records due to a group of women threaten a boycott to the company due to Sandy Store's identity. Those led to series of movements during the era to protest for the injustice of exclude transgender women away from women-only space.'''