Throughout the annals of music, sexism has pawed its way through rock's history. Women were either marketed as childish nymphets or the sultry accessories to the male rock show. These women focussed their careers around these categories, and, with rare exception (including Patti Smith), those who did not usually fell into obscurity.

Possibly the most graphic example of sexism and its impact on women in rock was Janis Joplin. Her independence as a performer could not be maintained off-stage--if on stage her strengths emerged, off-stage her fears raged. Joplin remained painfully aware that she was not "pretty enough" for the rock world until her death. She acted on this insecurity with bouts of drug and alcohol abuse, and her life ended tragically in a heroin overdose.

The rock industry's powerful grip on women musicians and their self-image has dictated how women's musical contributions register in the mainstream. Joplin may have been a powerhouse performer, but in rock's collective memory, she is a tragic heroine. Only now in the 1990s, with women-identified rock scenes like "Riot Grrrl," has the perception of female rockers started to change. Still, within the more conventional boundaries of mainstream radio and advertising, the industry has problems publicizing women if they are not attractive and seductive.

Deborah Harry of Blondie was a performer who both profited and lost from the industry's sexism. Blondie, the band which Harry fronted, was one of the late 1970s most consistent hit machines. By the release of their second album, Plastic Letters, the band had achieved only moderate success. But with 1978s Parallel Lines, Blondie became one of the most eclectic and successful pop bands on the charts....

Source: 'We Created It: Let's Take It Over!’ web site, 1999
 

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