I was having a conversation with a friend about a week back and we were talking about how attractive women are caught in a bit of a catch 22 when it comes to being performers. If you want to be a singer, songwriter or musician and you are an attractive woman, you automatically will have advantages even men don’t have.
The music business is male dominated on every level from upper management to the musicians themselves to crew and staff. The reality is that sex sells and attractiveness gets you in a lot of doors that others can’t pry open with a crow bar.
This is, to a degree, true of men as well. Young bands with good looking male leads often have an immediate advantage. That charisma and look nets record labels more profit from teenage girls. If it is a hot girl, even better because young girls will love her and guys will fantasize about her.
But, therein lies a problem. How many stunningly beautiful women have ever become legitimate well-respected artists. Think about this for a second. No doubt you can think of some very pretty women who have had success outside of bubble gum pop, but compare that to dog ugly guys. The reality is that a butt ugly, toad-faced dude has a better chance of a CAREER in music than a woman who could easily grace the pages of Playboy even though she probably has the better chance of being noticed.
It’s kind of a sad reality. I have a good friend who is a phenomenal guitar player. She also happens to be a very attractive woman. There is NOTHING that pisses her off more than someone asking her about music by saying, “Oh, are you a singer?” Her entire life she has been dismissed by musicians, executives and anyone who doesn’t stop long enough to listen to her without looking at her.
Frankly, I don’t blame her for being pissed.
I will try to not be offended by people who are offended by people assuming someone is “only” a singer.
Singing requires hard work to be good, just like any other instrument.
Now on to your other point, I don’t think being a beautiful woman limits your ability to have a career, just being a woman does. Pretty, plain, ugly, gorgeous it doesn’t matter- music is still pretty much a boys club. The need for Lilith Fair pointed this out.
Fair point, Cid, and coming from experience no less.
Obviously, singing is an equally difficult pursuit as playing an instrument. The implication by those who ask my friend if she is a singer is that they don’t think she is capable of anything else because she is female. It’s like asking a CEO of a major corporation if she is a housewife. There is NOTHING wrong with being a housewife. It’s the insinuation that she couldn’t possibly do anything more than what genetics allows that makes it insulting.
And you are right that not having that Y chromosome makes it much harder to have success in the business. That’s for a whole separate blog entry.