harborshore: (shout out loud)
harborshore ([personal profile] harborshore) wrote2009-03-31 08:43 pm
Entry tags:

more than this

I'm trying to write down my reaction to "Pretty Good for a Girl", and I just can't. It's straight-up joy laced with so much anger, it's all the women I love in one long list inside my head and all the words I ever tried to put to music fighting to get out at once.

I've been a singer since I was two. That's something I say to people when they ask why I never tried smoking; that's something I say when someone wants to know what my hobbies or interests are, outside of academia and writing or whatever job I'm applying to at the moment. I've been singing since I was two, I've sung other people's songs on stage at graduations and larger concerts and outdoor music festivals. I'm not going to lie or pretend to be shy about it, not here, not right now: I'm good at it. I make stories real, on stage. It's similar to what makes me a good teacher—performance is about forgetting yourself and remembering that no matter what, the story is more important than you are.

Something else that people ask is why I never started a band. I usually laugh off that question, claiming my attention span was always too short to learn an instrument, and that my double-jointed fingers make it really complicated (and sometimes painful) to play piano or guitar. That's all true. But I know that's not the real reason.



As long as I don't turn my poems into songs, as long as I don't finish them, as long as I don't stand up on that stage with those words that are mine, I can keep hiding. Because here's the thing: I'm scared. I don't think I'm good enough, or pretty enough, or assertive enough. I don't think I could find a band who would want to make music for my lyrics, or even play my songs. Because I do write songs, I just pretend I don't.

I'm not writing that here because I want you to tell me that I am good enough/interesting enough/pretty enough. At this point, no one is more aware than I am that my self-image is a little out of whack. Trust me when I say I'm working on it, and anyway, that's not the point, not right now.

The point is that talented women are always scared. Talented women are always told they're not good enough or pretty enough to stand on the same stage as that man up there. We're taught to want them, not want to be them. I'm not ashamed to be a fan: I love this fandom and I'm really glad I discovered My Chemical Romance at the time that I did. I love that they exist, because they're fucking awesome and their music makes me so happy, and I'm profoundly grateful that they make it really fucking clear that they're feminists. I appreciate that in a band I love. It makes me less likely to get randomly nauseated by unexpected misogynist statements in interviews. (Ask me some other time about loving Bob Dylan's music but having tremendous issues with him as a person.)

At roughly the same time as I found Gerard Way and his merry band of darlings, I found the Dresden Dolls and Indigo Girls and Vienna Teng and Bikini Kill. I already knew about Ani DiFranco and Aretha Franklin and Beverley Knight and the Corrs and Adele and Alanis Morrisette and The Be Good Tanyas and Joan Baez and Fiona Apple and Christina Aguilera and Emmylou Harris and Eva Cassidy and Garbage and Hole and Janis Joplin and Melinda Doolittle and Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush and Lauryn Hill and Nina Simone. (Let's call these lists non-exhaustive, shall we?)

You know who else I found out about? Yeah. That bassist who plays in that crazy band and gets on stage to, as she puts it, make "being a woman in music seem a little less unusual and perhapes open the door to thinking it's something you could do too."

Lyn-Z Ballato, if I do start that band, it'll be because I heard you, more than I've heard anything anyone has said to me in the two years since I graduated college. In another interview, you said "Be the kind of woman you want to be, and be free to be that." I heard that too, and I've been walking taller since.

I lost track of my point again. What I meant to say when I started, is that women deserve a place in the scene. As fanfic writers, we are in some ways writing ourselves a less misogynist, more permissive, less homophobic space than the one that actually exists. And that's good, I love that, I love rewriting reality and I think it does create something real, but there's no reason that we can't have the rest as well.

Come to think of it, I shouldn't even have to say we deserve a place in the scene, behind the scenes, on the fucking stage if we want to be there. I don't even want to tell everyone to start a band (that's not the point either) but I do want, oh do I want, for all the talented women I keep meeting to realize that they are good enough to be up there. And let's take the metaphorical stage to mean whatever venue you want, shall we? An art gallery, a publishing company, a stage, it doesn't even matter. If you dream of creating something, then do it. Do it. I will buy it; I bet people on your flist will. There is no reason, no reason, that you can't be in fandom and create something of your own as well.

(Side note: this isn't to say that being in fandom isn't worth anything. This isn't to say you have to be an actual artist to be worth anything. This is just saying you could, you can. Verb Noire created a small press because they wanted more genre fiction by PoC and LGBT authors, and about PoC and LGBT protagonists.)



I guess what I want to say is this: let's start a revolution. It might be a quiet one, a slow one, but I want us to have the place we deserve. I want Lyn-Z and Kitty to not be so rare that (misogynist asshole) security guards refuse to let them backstage after playing because somehow the drum sticks, the bass and the stage sweat still isn't enough to convince him they're not groupies. I want to be able to not flinch when I turn on MTV and there are music videos playing. (Come to think of it, I want more videos like Ciara's Like A Boy.) I want female musicians in bands to not be A Big Deal. I want female fans and techs and managers and performers to be respected. I want this to be our scene, in every sense of the word. One place to start is to buy that zine that made me write this. *points up* Another is to write some music. Another is to support female musicians. Another is just this: walk taller. This is our scene; this is our space.


ETA: Awesome recs in comments.
ext_6545: (music is my girlfriend)

[identity profile] bunnymcfoo.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 07:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh my god, seriously, you are never allowed to leave my flist. I second and love everything you said here, right down to loving on Ciara's Like A Boy.

YES. THIS.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you, seriously. I was so nervous about posting it, but I couldn't not, you know? Writing it was easy though, easy like writing hasn't been in a long time. I'm so glad it resonated with you. ♥

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 07:40 pm (UTC)(link)
This just makes me wish I was a better musician. I can play a generous handful of instruments but I've never been especially good at any of them, and I've always had other priorities that aren't "putting in the effort to become a better musician" or "spending the money on a guitar that doesn't suck". So it's just a vicious cycle at this point (I can't justify spending money on a guitar because I'm not good/don't play much, but I'm not good/don't play much because I can't play the kind of music I want to on a cheap acoustic). And then I'm just like, "fuck this, I'm just going to go spend more time writing because at least I don't totally suck at that" and nothing ever gets better.

Nothing will ever stop me from putting novelty ukulele covers on the internet, though.

Actually, there's another problem there, where I am only comfortable with putting "novelty" art out into the public view, but that's some navel-gazing for another time.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Hey, you know, I am a terrible musician. I'm really good at singing, but I'm not kidding when I say listening to me play the piano is painful, painful, painful. The fact that you can play a generous handful of instruments is incredibly impressive to me. (And I'm not just saying that as, like, a way to tell you to feel more confident about your abilities, even if you probably should--I honestly think it's fucking awesome.) I hate that vicious cycle (mine goes: I don't write more songs because I don't make time to, but I don't make time to because I don't think they're good enough, but they won't be good enough until I make time to.)

But I also sort of think a lot of musicians in actual bands are actually pretty bad at their instruments, and I know women are held to a higher standard, but sometimes it's okay to suck. (My mantra at the moment, let me show you it.

That's fucking awesome, and you should never stop. Also, just so you know? If you lived in Stockholm, I would tell you that we should make some music.

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 20:41 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:36 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:48 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:54 (UTC) - Expand
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
And yeah--I've only ever sung other people's songs and read translations in public, at least since I was fourteen or so.
ext_30599: (Default)

[identity profile] yan-tan-tether.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
WORD.

This post has just prompted me to go and look up two of my favorite female-fronted bands, Little Fish and Sonic Boom Six

Pessimistically it even sometimes seems like we're going backwards in terms of female punk and indie, at least in the 90s we had Skunk Anansie and Elastica and Hole... but women like Amanda Palmer and Kitty and Lyn-Z give me hope.

Edited to say: I just found podcasts of a great internet radio show that only plays female-led music. It's called Suck My Left One
Edited 2009-03-31 19:57 (UTC)
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (Default)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
YES, RECS! I will ETA and tell people to go look at them when I'm not finishing my take home exam anymore. Also, that podcast! *beams* I have new things to listen to! And, in return: check out the Noisettes, if you haven't heard of them. So, so awesome.

Augh, tell me about it. Female rock singers were mainstream then, you know? I was pretty young, but it meant a lot to have all of them out there. And there are so many women making music today, I actually think what has changed the most is the coverage--we don't get to see them as much. I want, no, need that to change so badly.

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 20:35 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 20:44 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 20:54 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 20:58 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:06 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:10 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] thesamefire.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:12 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-04-01 11:46 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 20:40 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:12 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 21:41 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] nightlilac.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
One of the things I love most about Lyn-Z and Kitty is the way they'll come out after MSI shows - not just to sign stuff but to really hang out and chat with fans. It shows female fans that they're not these unattainable stars; they're women we can talk to, women like us; and there's no reason why we can't do what they're doing.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, exactly--they make it so clear, what they're trying to show us. I love that, it makes me so proud, which might not make any sense, but that's how I feel about her, like, would you look at that woman, you know?

[identity profile] bayleaf.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Awesome post! I read it while I was at work (I stealz the timez and internets from my employers, ask me how!) and didn't have a chance to comment, and now I've come back and found not just your awesome original post but also fabulous music recs in the comments.

I love how this is meta and call to action and joyful reveling in love of good music all at once. I have zero musical ability (seriously, all the natural rhythm of a drunken water buffalo and a singing voice that can only be described as 'atonal' all in one awesome package \0/) and still this had me walking taller. Anyway, just wanted to drop a comment saying, 'yes! yay! thanks!'
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
That's because people are fantastic, that's why. *beams* (I may or may not have been a little/a lot nervous about posting this, and look! *waves hands* RECS.)

That's pretty much exactly what I was trying to do, and I'm so glad it worked! And hey, you're a writer--I may have been writing about music (it's our fandom, you know), but being creative isn't restricted to that venue. Seriously, thank you so much for taking the time to let me know this hit you like that; I'm kind of grinning a lot right now. ♥

[identity profile] modillian.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh man, yes, yes yes, this. (jumping in from [livejournal.com profile] nokomis305) I got Pretty Good For A Girl a couple weeks ago but I still can't talk too coherently about it because it hit me so hard. But yes, more context for women, more women jumping in and claiming themselves and their space!
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
(Oooh, new person! *waves*) I completely understand having a hard time being coherent about it, normally I can't write about anything that hits me strongly until a month later or so. But it was the strangest thing--I got the zine today and I read it and I read it again and then I wrote this, almost without stopping to edit or rewrite at all. And then I posted. So I'm really grateful it came out coherently and that people like it (so grateful, really--part of the reason why I couldn't wait any longer to post it was that I knew I'd just get more nervous.) I'm also so glad people are amazing. (Look at the recs! *beams*)

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-03-31 22:57 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] liketheroad.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 10:54 pm (UTC)(link)
You're totally my new hero right now. Also, and I'm sure you know, but
The point is that talented women are always scared.
that's (as I'm sure you know) unfortunately true of areas a lot broader than music. But the sentiment to everything you said is still completely YES. We can fight to make these spaces our own.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-03-31 11:03 pm (UTC)(link)
♥ Thank you, sweetheart. I needed to write it and I'm so glad people are listening. And yes, that's (of course) very true--I was actually thinking of Peggy Orenstein, the journalist, when I wrote that. In the introduction to Schoolgirls, she tells the story of how she went to her thesis advisor and said she was feeling like an impostor. Her professor responded by saying: intelligent women always do.
ext_30531: (AP // Amanda & Jimmy)

[identity profile] iamsupernova.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 12:10 am (UTC)(link)
I lovelovelove this post.

security guards refuse to let them backstage after playing because somehow the drum sticks, the bass and the stage sweat still isn't enough to convince him they're not groupies
WHAT. WHAT???
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
*grins* Thankyouthankyou.

It's from the Lyn-Z interview in the zine--apparently, once when Lyn-Z and Kitty were getting off stage, a security guard tried to not let them go backstage because, you know, they're WOMEN, they must be there to fuck the lead guitarist or something. *seethes* A more female-friendly scene would be, uh, nice.

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-04-01 00:18 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] laenij.livejournal.com - 2009-04-03 00:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-04-03 03:41 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] laenij.livejournal.com - 2009-04-03 04:38 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com - 2009-04-03 08:26 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] absenteye.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
I LOVE YOU SO FUCKING MUCH. I am also going to bed, but I'll be back like Arnold Schwarzenegger only with less penis and more feminist yelling! and less muscles. and less creepy, hopefully! OKAY NOT LIKE ARNOLD AT ALL, BUT I'LL STILL BE BACK. :D?
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
*beams at you* I will wait RIGHT HERE.

[identity profile] ishyface.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
Oh my God, YES. THIS. Lyn-Z is the reason why I picked up a fucking bass. Amanda Palmer is the reason why I feel freer to write songs now than I did when I was just starting, at thirteen or fourteen. The fact that they exist, and that they KNOW what they're doing is important and that it makes a difference, makes me so fucking happy I can't even explain it.

I got here from [livejournal.com profile] iamsupernova- do you mind if I link to this post in my journal?
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
Of course you can link to it!

It's really unbelievably important to not just have someone to look up to, but someone we believe we can be, you know? They make me so, so happy too.

[identity profile] enhendi.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
This, this, fucking this. There was one interview somewhere where Lyn-Z said something about how girls are so afraid to be bad at things, because we grow up knowing we have to be better than men to be considered as good. And so girls limit themselves too much because they aren't given the freedom to make mistakes. And that's wrong, and it's bullshit. I'd never even thought about it that way before because I knew I was too afraid to take risks, but I didn't see it as anything bigger than me. That was what got me to decide after an MSI show, when I was crying on the bus back home because I never wanted to leave, that I was going to follow up on my stupid pipe dream of being a roadie, and even if I was total shit at it I was going to try because I'd rather try and fail (or even try and decide 'nope, not for me') than look back at 85 and regret it.

Also, speaking of music videos, have you seen If I Were a Boy by Beyonce?
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 09:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yes, yes, that interview--it's the same one I quote, where she said "Be the kind of woman you want to be, etc." I saw it for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and, just--everything she said made me feel better and worse, all at once. Because of course it's true, of course we're terrified, we're taught to be careful, taught that failure is the worst of all options. Which fucking hurt to hear, but it was also such a relief, because even though I knew most of us feel that way (I read Schoolgirls at 14) it was good to hear her say it. And yes, yes, god, do it. That's awesome.

I have, and I love it, too, it's fantastic and sad and feels really true--I went with Ciara's because of the dancing in it, really--it's such a literal illustration of taking back space.

[identity profile] kylieq.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
Hi. This is a drive-by comment because I am on my way to sleepytimes, but I had to stop in immediately and tell you that this reaction is everything I was hoping for when I made the zine (and more!).

I will write more tomorrow when I am fully awake and (marginally) more coherent. But basically, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. ♥___♥
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 09:03 am (UTC)(link)
Oh man, no, thank you--writing this felt like it was already there, it was so easy (posting it was scarier) but I still don't even think I came close to saying how much reading your zine meant to me. And I look forward to hearing more. ♥

[identity profile] extemporally.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 01:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Word, yes. Personally, I have no musical talent at all but as a music listener, as a fan, I think it's tremendous and important that these women exist, and that they know what they're doing is different and important and roll with it with so much style and grace. "Be the kind of woman you want to," is going to be a new mantra for me, I think.

Launching into the personal, people look at me cross-eyed when I proclaim myself to be a feminist, and some of my acquaintances have said that's the only time they've ever seen me come across as militant, which is just bullshit. How is defending a place - some breathing/creative space for women militant? Thank you for writing this, you've articulated so much of what I want to say, better than I could put it.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 02:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, exactly--I think the realization that these women are simultaneously extraordinary and ordinary is an amazing one, and their influence as role models is certainly not restricted to within the music business. God, when I was watching that interview and she said what she said, I just--I felt like I started breathing again.

Oh, I hear you. I'm the nice girl, the sweet girl, the calm one, and when I say I'm a feminist or when I talk about sexism, there are definitely people who are taken aback by the change in my demeanor. I mean, clearly we should be satisfied by now, we can even work and vote and stuff, right? I'm glad this resonated with you.

[identity profile] nokomis305.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
♥♥♥

I still haven't come up with something intelligent to say about this except, yes, this.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-01 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
*loves*

Didn't I say you could respond however you wanted? I will so take this response, for it is very happy-making. I'm really glad it resonated with you, I really am. ♥

[identity profile] justsomehippie.livejournal.com 2009-04-02 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
oh man. could i please friend you? i found this from [livejournal.com profile] ishyface's journal and this was just so inspiring and i agree with everything you've said here. this is exactly how i feel about the scene, and i would feel really honored if you'd friend me. and i promise i'm not creepy, just enthusiastic.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (Default)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-02 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, of course, feel free to friend me! I'm happy to have enthusiastic people around. *grins* And I'm glad the post resonated with you.
(deleted comment)
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (daffodils)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-03 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
I'm glad it meant something to you! And yeah, I would have liked not to have to write it, but I liked writing it, if that makes sense. Celebration and challenge is generally a good way forward. ♥

[identity profile] supersyncspaz7.livejournal.com 2009-04-03 04:15 am (UTC)(link)
This makes me wish so hard that I'd stuck with music. I used to want to be a singer, and in high school I even took a music theory class and wrote lyrics like crazy, but I always got discouraged because I couldn't play anything and I only wrote my words. I thought that was something that hindered me, and that no one would respect someone who just sang (because there's that whole dichonomy of if you don't write every bit of your music/play it all on your own, you're a poser, which is ridiculous, but anyway). The world could use more women making awesome music, though.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (daffodils)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-03 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
I think there's especially a stigma directed against female singers who write lyrics and not music, but you know what? Fuck that shit. Gerard Way can't play guitar live and sing at the same time. No one calls Mick Jagger a poser, despite him not writing all their songs by themselves. Also, you know, singers like Beverley Knight (British soul singer)--she definitely doesn't play an instrument live, but she's one of the best singers and artists I've ever heard. Thank you for commenting, honey. ♥
ext_12511: (Default)

[identity profile] rilee16.livejournal.com 2009-04-06 01:26 am (UTC)(link)
^This. Adding you.
ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (daffodils)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-04-06 11:24 am (UTC)(link)
I know, right? And welcome, I love new people!

[identity profile] strange-bt-true.livejournal.com 2009-05-25 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Um, ha, I guess 2 months late is better than never right? *g*

I am trying to find the wors to express how this made me feel; I sat up and thought yes, this and I wanted to laugh and cry and jump around. And for once I didn't feel silly about wanting to laugh and cry and jump around. Still, I'm not saying what I want to. I'm still kind of flail-y and incoherent. But thank you, thank you for this.

LET'S START A REVOLUTION. Hell yeah.

(The fact that saddens me the most is, there are people who would read this and ask God, what are they whining about? We let them vote, we let them play instruments, women go to work now, just like men. What's the problem? and wouldn't listen when you explained that none of those things are the point. And then accuse you and me and everyone else who's commented of overreacting and aking everything too seriously. It's enough to make me want to cry.)

Sadness aside, I'm taking the words I've read here, and I'm going to carry them around while I walk a little bit taller. *nods*

ext_3762: girl reading outside in sunshine (shout out loud)

[identity profile] harborshore.livejournal.com 2009-05-25 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)
It's never too late to reply to this one, I don't think.

*hugs* I'm so, so glad it struck you that way. This was, in many ways, so very easy to write and so very difficult to post. It was easy because I knew, I knew exactly what I wanted to say. It was difficult to post because I had no idea how people would react; I certainly never expected this kind of reaction.

*pulls you into the march* Hell yeah. We're here, and we're not fucking leaving.

(Yeah, I know. This is also, of course, not just a problem for female musicians. It makes me so furious to think of those who would like me to settle when it's so easy to see we're not done.)

That is really, really good to hear. And yes, yes, do that--your scene, your space. You have no reason not to, no matter what they'd like you to believe.