More Women in Electronic Arts: Just DO IT!!!

A How-To Guide!



photo above = new musical collaboration between gudrun gut and antye greie called 'greiegut fraktion'

ESG Rocks!

The Guerrilla Girls!

Check them out in their own words...(taken from www.GuerrillaGirls.com)

We’re feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. How do we expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture? With facts, humor and outrageous visuals. We reveal the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, the and the downright unfair. Our work has been passed around the world by our tireless supporters. In the last few years, we’ve appeared at over 90 universities and museums, as well as in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Bitch, and Artforum; on NPR, the BBC and CBC; and in many art and feminist texts. We are authors of stickers, billboards, many, many posters and other projects, and several books including The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art and Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Guide to Female Stereotypes. We’re part of Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK; we're brainstorming with Greenpeace. In the last few years, we've unveiled anti-film industry billboards in Hollywood just in time for the Oscars, and created large scale projects for the Venice Biennale, Istanbul and Mexico City. In 2007 we dissed the Museum of Modern Art at its own Feminist Futures Symposium, examined the museums of Washington DC in a full page in the Washington Post, and exhibited large-scale posters and banners in Athens, Bilbao, Rotterdam, Sarajevo And Shanghai. WHAT'S NEXT? More creative complaining! More facts, humor and fake fur! More appearances, actions and artworks. We could be anyone; we are everywhere.

You can follow the Guerrilla Girls on Facebook and Twitter and also at their website: www.guerrillagirls.com

Check 'em out!

GET IT IN WRITING!!!

I learned the hard way that if you provide some type of musical or artistic contribution to another artist's work, you must have a written agreement on the terms if it is to be marketed for release. I provided vocals a few years back on some songs for a friend, thinking he'd get back to me with the contract reiterating our verbal agreement. No such luck, and now I'm out of luck unless I want to hire an attorney and pay hundreds of dollars have him stop using my voice in his releases without written consent.
I'm still in the process of figuring this out, and what my rights are and what I can do about this situation. I just want to let whoever is reading this know, that business is business. Anyone you work with should have no problem signing an agreement with you if they have any respect for you. Correct me if I'm wrong, but money comes not so much with record sales these days but with the licensing of music, and this is where you have to have something in place so you can be counted for your contribution.
I'm learning that the music business is very competitive and can be bloodthirsty at times, and you can't be naive and think everyone is looking out for you. You have to protect yourself, with promoters, record labels, collaborators, etc. Don't feel like you can't stand up for yourself because no one else will. Times are changing now more than ever, the world needs to know that women are demanding the same treatment as men,
and respect for our roles and contribution in this business. No matter if we step on some toes or bruise some egos along the way.

Insight into conversation between promoter and female DJ

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Portrayal of gender roles in popular videogames

Here's an interesting study on the perpetuation of women being presented as caricatures
in videogames. These games are geared toward young players who may not have the experience necessary to successfully navigate these kinds of stereotypes and so unwittingly digest the characters as being accurate representations of reality and/or ideal representations to strive for.

Too Good To Be True?

THE SUN article link

These 2 girls claim to be promoting the music but all they are really selling is sex.
The provocative nature of the photographs promote the women as being more important
for their physical characteristics rather than for their intellectual and artistic capacities.
If they didn't embody the current aesthetic ideal for women in the modern age, would 'The Sun' be making such a big deal about them? I think not, for the simple fact that
women in most cultures' worth to the majority of men unfortunately seems to be closely
linked with their ability to be objectified sexually.
The nature of this type of hierarchical objectification of women only serves to worsen the status of inequality among the sexes. It reinforces negative stereotypes and distracts from the feminist movement--which is not only having the freedom to take your clothes off, but to be celebrated for it by more people than just men looking to get off.
These ladies are unjustly hijacking the spotlight from hardworking musicians and artists who are truly dedicated to their art and don't have time to bind their naked bodies up in wires to please men.
Lauren Pope and Kellie Acreman's success comes at the expense of reinforcing longstanding stereotypes to both men and women (that are unable to sift through media promotional sludge) that women can only be appreciated for their looks first and foremost, while any other contributions they might make are just surplus.

The question is: "Why are they willing to create such a disconnect between themselves and the celebration of their whole feminine selves just to obtain a bit of fleeting attention from the 'male gaze'?"

see below for an explanation of the male gaze, taken from wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaze#The_Male_Gaze_and_Feminist_theory)

In film and photography, the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may linger on the curves of a woman's body, for instance. Feminists would argue that such instances are presented in the context closest relating to that of a male, hence its referral to being the Male Gaze.

The theory suggests that male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status of objects, hence, the woman reader and the woman viewer must experience the text's narrative secondarily, by identifying with a man's perspective.

more links to this concept:

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/08/26/faq-what-is-the-%E2%80%9Cmale-gaze%E2%80%9D/

http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/pages/gaze.htm