Leaderboard

Speaking as a female, I personally dislike most female vocals in metal, maybe because the overwhelming majority tend to front symphonic bands and that's just not my jam. But even something like Arch Enemy just doesn't sit right with me (I mean that could potentially be because I'm not much into melodeath either, but I digress). Deeper voices just sound much better to my ear in this context. I would love to see a woman kick ass behind a drum kit in a black metal band or some other extreme subgenre, though. That's what I'd like to see. To shed some light perhaps on the smaller hands argument - I tried to learn bass several years ago, but I have tiny little doll hands so switched to guitar fairly quickly and was amazed at how much easier the guitar was for me to handle because of the smaller frets and shorter, thinner neck. I don't think that's a reason most women in metal tend to be vocalists, but perhaps maybe why there aren't too many female bassists. That being said, even someone with tiny hands like myself could master the bass after building up lots of finger strength (was more of an issue than the width between my fingers but that was also a struggle if I'm being completely honest). I still don't think that's the main reason though. I'm very petite so theoretically anyone - even other women - who have bigger hands than I do (in other words, basically everyone except children younger than 12 or people with physical limitations) wouldn't be struggling as much with the bass as I was. Certainly if I can reach the frets on a guitar, just about anyone can. I think many women tend to be vocalists - or some metal bands tend to recruit them - is more to do with a specific image or sound they are trying to achieve. Hence why most of them front symphonic bands. Of course there's always the possibility (and there is no doubt in my mind) that some bands want female vocalists as a sort of marketing gimmick ("come see us, we have a hot chick in a corset for you to stare at for an hour!") But symphonic metal and similar subgenres like power metal or folk metal also tend to be more accessible to women because the subject matter itself is more accessible in general - it's not really angry or aggressive and it doesn't delve into seriously deep shit like disillusionment with the world or a sense of isolation from humanity, something that most men probably don't relate to either, but for those that do, they're probably more readily able to embrace it because they won't be immediately dismissed as "crazy" if they do. As far as women playing metal? I would say that probably comes down to social conditioning. No one is going to have an interest in metal unless they can relate to the subject matter or thematic content, and that tends to be more accessible to men. Girls are still raised to be demure and compliant and to go about our lives with a smile, to be friendly, social creatures, to never express that we're sad or pissed off about anything, to quash any feelings of aggression or rebellion, to be overly concerned with being attractive and feminine so that we can gEt MaRRieD aNd hAvE BaBiEs as the most important goal in our lives and (gasp!) what the average dude might think of us if we don't uphold the feminine ideal, and most women never really break out of that mindset. So for a woman to say "fuck this shit" and pick up a guitar or another instrument and play death metal or whatever instead of whatever their female friends listen to or what music they were taught to like requires quite a different temperament and personality from what has forever been groomed and ingrained by society since birth, as well as perhaps the rejection of any fear of alienation from other women. I can't speak for anyone else but I've always felt like I can relate to men more and I generally feel more comfortable in the company of men because pretty much all of my interests fall squarely in the realm of the traditionally "masculine", so perhaps I'm not the best person to ask about this, as I definitely don't represent the typical woman (whatever the hell that means). These are simply my observations and experiences.

My personal favorites are "you only go to concerts because you probably think XYZ is hot and you're trying to hook up with him after the show" and (less offensive but still annoying) "I bet you got into this music because your boyfriend/husband/brother/father/other male relative is a fan". For the record, any time I've played Gorgoroth whenever male relatives/acquaintances have been around they looked genuinely shocked and scared lol. I got into metal all by myself, thanks very much. And the only reason I attend shows is to act a fool in front of the stage headbanging and going ape shit, not to be some groupie (that one's just always uncalled for).

I'm still surprised that people can apparently study "metal culture" as part of their schoolwork now, and usually the questionnaires are a bit of a letdown. Can you share any of what you've got? It would be cool to read some responses from women instead of the usual "gender in metal" sausage party of men talking about what they think women think.