Ethan Fixell of MTV’s Guy-Code won himself a little flack last Wednesday when he published an article decrying the typical lack of hot chicks at metal concerts. The piece, somewhat obtusely titled “Why Are There So Many Cute Girls at Metal & Hardcore Concerts Now?” challenges its readers with funny, true remarks like “Death metal events are known to be…how do I put this…’vaginally challenged.’” …yup.
But Mr. Fixell is also pretty good at science, and psychology. Take this bit of logical reasoning:
“The internet has helped demystify extreme music, making it more accessible and less intimidating. A girl can watch clips from a Napalm Death concert and see that it’s not so scary after all, which makes her much more likely to attend. And plenty of studies have shown that women are more apt to share photos or videos online than men are, thus creating a quicker spread of the news amongst themselves.”
While we concede that yes, the internet is great for sharing videos and sure, death metal and hardcore are historically male-dominated fields, we’d like to applaud the response to this article issued by Saint Vitus – a metal bar in Greenpoint that Mr. Fixell endorses in his piece as a kind of hunting ground for metalheads in search of kindred metal(…I guess)…vaginas. The bar posted this snappy report to the article on their Facebook page today, calling out some of that MTV hooey:
“Of course* there are women at hardcore and metal shows. There always have been. And, it may surprise MTV to know, a lot of these women even play in hardcore and metal bands.”
(PREACH.)
“…this article is a stark reminder of how pervasive sexism still is in the media, and how people exploit women’s sexuality in the name of getting clicks and generating page views.”
So, kudos to Saint Vitus. You can read the remainder of Mr. Fixell’s article and form your own opinion about his message here, but do pay close attention to his helpful tips re: how to snag a metallic mate. At least he offers the concessional-to-our-intelligence, sing-songy suggestion, “Don’t assume that [any girl] is there because a guy dragged her by her hair.” You know, ladies – in this small way, perhaps all our bitching has made a dent.
You can read the rest of Saint Vitus’ response on their Facebook, here. And here’s a compendium site of female metal bands, just for your files. And here’s a picture of Pussy Riot, because the implication that women are somehow new to/can’t quite appreciate/tend-to-find-unusual anything HARDCORE is just total friggin bunk:
Image courtesy of Notevenpast.org
Image above (of Lzzy Hale from Halestorm being simultaneously metal, a woman, hardcore, and hot; GADZOOKS) courtesy of Loudwire.com
*My italics.
