Are Mis-Gendered Band Names ‘Ironic’ or Sexist? • Page 2

troyplaysbass · May 23, 2016

Something I'm curious about that wasn't really covered in this article: How do bands that are named after a specific woman but have all male members (ie, Joan of Arc, Norma Jean) fit into this? I'm in a band with somewhat similar name (named after a female character in a book). We have a female member so maybe that's why it never came up, but this article got me thinking about whether I would have used that band name had all the members been male.

lolfpcmlol · May 23, 2016

AshlandATeam said:

When I was in high school, I thought it would be funny to name a four piece band 'The Cold Cut Trio.' I thought of this while working at Subway, and the joke - which probably doesn't need explaining - is that the band name is funny precisely because we would be neither sandwich meat nor a band made of three people. Dumb joke, but I stand by it.

So I get why a band would say 'lol, we're white men so let's name our band Black Woman!' and not see why it's offensive. To them, it's just saying 'this is something that we aren't,' and that's funny.

I'd guess that if sandwich meat were sentient and able to play music, they may say 'hey - why is it funny that we're a band?' Which seems like the obvious response from women artists - why is it a joke that a girl band would actually exist and be punk rock or whatever?

This may not make much sense to anyone else, so I'll just put it like this: if people could take a step back and try to exercise the most basic, small amount of empathy for other people, they'd realize why their actions are hurtful. I believe these guys who all say they don't mean anything by their names. And I believe other women who say 'meh, it's not a big deal.' But I also fully believe that if we could put ourselves in the shoes of other people that aren't us, we'd also understand why some people ARE hurt by descriptions of who they are being used as satirical jokes. In other words, if someone says 'it's just a joke,' there has to be a punchline; and it sure seems like the punchline to some of these band names is 'wouldn't it be ridiculous if women were in bands, making music?' And the tiniest bit of empathy should make it obvious why that's hurtful.

I have taken a step back and I still fail to understand how people can get upset at a meaning they themselves have applied. I don't see a single piece of evidence in this article about how these band names are limiting opportunities for women in music. It's just a long winded article about how they're 'offensive' names and they should stop being used without any evidence besides 'if you don't get it, your perspective is ruined by your privilege'.

skogsraet · May 23, 2016

I was looking around the web for an article I read about how one tweet about a product conjured up a mob of people claiming they were offended because the tweet sarcastically claimed the product was offensive, complete with humorous reasons why. The story went to mainstream news about how everyone was "freaking out" over the product and an even greater number of people were assumed to have been offended. This thread reminded me of that article, which I unfortunately can't find and now am starting to wonder if it was bogus too.

I did find this article, though. It's a very lengthy read but well worth it and touches upon how a culture of being offended affects everything from politics to mental health.

How Trigger Warnings Are Hurting Mental Health on Campus

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Are Mis-Gendered Band Names ‘Ironic’ or Sexist? • Page 2

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