Few things are more awesome than when a woman uses a platform to point out areas in her industry that could use some work. That’s exactly what Lady Gaga did last night when she accepted the Woman of the Year award at Billboard‘s Women in Music event, fully acknowledging that there were times when she felt as though she couldn’t be taken seriously as an artist because she was a woman.
What I really want to say is that it is really hard sometimes for women in music. It’s like a fucking boys’ club that we just can’t get into. … I tried for so long, I just really wanted to be taken seriously as a musician for my intelligence more than my body ever in this business. You don’t always feel like when you’re working that people believe that you have a musical background, that you understand what you’re doing because you’re a female.
And the discrimination, sadly, doesn’t stop at just female artists. Music journalist and author Jessica Hopper reached out on Twitter a few months back asking for stories from all women working in the music industry–and journalists, musicians and fans alike responded, sadly confirming everything we already knew about how pervasive and commonplace sexism can be in the workplace.
The positive takeaway from all of this is that women are less willing to be silent about the harassment they’ve faced, but we definitely still have a ways to go.
(via Jezebel)
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Published: Dec 12, 2015 02:00 pm