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Female bassists and your thoughts...

#201
IF they are hot. I can show you pics of plenty of uggs and/or fat cows playing bass whose presence merely because they are female is helping the band in any way. If they are good players, of course that helps any band.

Is having a female bassist unusual? It really is. And a hot woman that plays an instrument is always an advantage, bass or not; but merely BEING a woman in a band isn't.

so here's a quiz. which bassists in thumbnails below, in general, would help a band's look and which would not?

The uggs get you nothing. The hot ones draw the attention of men in the audience.

but to the larger point - can bands decide who they want in their band based on look? of course. they do it all the time. bands make choices on personal attractiveness, style, weight, gender, AGE. Stand presence. you bet they do. is it right or wrong? no one answer to that. It might feel unfair at times, but it's just part of the business. The look of a band can matter and bands definitely have certain requirements when it comes to members and some simply may not want a female, no matter how good she is.

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#202
I don't see where sexual objectification makes a difference.

If you have a smoking hot female bass player in your band but your music doesn't appeal to me then I could care less who is in your band and I'm certainly not coming just because of the "hot" female.

I was at a recital the other day where there was a female on stand-up bass. And.....she was damn good. I really enjoyed listening to their combo immensely. She was good looking but not "hot".

Back in the summer I went to a "concert in the park" where there was an all female country band. None of them were all that good looking...but even if they were it wouldn't have made any difference to me because their music and vocals were..well...awful.
 
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#203
I'm pushing 60. How you play and the patterns you choose and whether you'll hang around a few minutes to show me that cool lick you pulled off three songs ago are what matter to me.

(Note: I've been married twice -- it was me, not them -- and have a dog that provides drama free companionship. I just want to talk bass, joke and listen to gig stories. Sit down here and grab a beer.)
 
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#204
QORC said:
IF they are hot. I can show you pics of plenty of uggs and/or fat cows playing bass whose presence merely because they are female is helping the band in any way. If they are good players, of course that helps any band.

Is having a female bassist unusual? It really is. And a hot woman that plays an instrument is always an advantage, bass or not; but merely BEING a woman in a band isn't.

so here's a quiz. which bassists in thumbnails below, in general, would help a band's look and which would not?

The uggs get you nothing. The hot ones draw the attention of men in the audience.

but to the larger point - can bands decide who they want in their band based on look? of course. they do it all the time. bands make choices on personal attractiveness, style, weight, gender, AGE. Stand presence. you bet they do. is it right or wrong? no one answer to that. It might feel unfair at times, but it's just part of the business. The look of a band can matter and bands definitely have certain requirements when it comes to members and some simply may not want a female, no matter how good she is.

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Aah, but of course these guys will get the chicks all hot and bothered, right?
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#205
I will add this. Only once have a been in a band with a female who wasn't anything short of a total diva and made things more difficult. most of them are singers, but not all. I just go out of a band where the singer was a female and complete PIA
Michedelic said:
Aah, but of course these guys will get the chicks all hot and bothered, right?
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I totally agree with you. but having a chick with LOOKS seems to have currency in band situations. My only point, if you read my whole post, was this - there's nothing magical about being in a band and a female - but there is something to be said for a woman who isn't a singer, and who is hot and in the band.

but yeah lot of ugly dudes out there too. but guy bass players are everywhere. female ones are not.

Duh.
 
#206
ZenG said:
I don't see where sexual objectification makes a difference.

If you have a smoking hot female bass player in your band but your music doesn't appeal to me then I could care less who is in your band and I'm certainly not coming just because of the "hot" female.

I was at a recital the other day where there was a female on stand-up bass. And.....she was damn good. I really enjoyed listening to their combo immensely. She was good looking but not "hot".

Back in the summer I went to a "concert in the park" where there was an all female country band. None of them were all that good looking...but even if they were it wouldn't have made any difference to me because their music and vocals were..well...awful.
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you might not care. but it seems to me that a lot of men in audiences DO care.
 
#207
It isn't perfect, but in the classical music world, there is very good representation of women (in orchestral circles they effected this by the union demanding blind auditions so you couldn't see the gender of auditionees). In opera and concert work, obviously women make up many parts and characters. So, I'm used to working with women, and know a GREAT many female artists who are world-class musicians.

SO tired of hearing dudes diss or objectify women players. Musicians are musicians.

If I thought it would carry any weight at all, I'd request that the "I back up a hot singerbabe" thread would be closed. It's kind of ridiculous that in this day and age we can't give women the respect they deserve.
 
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#208
Joe Nerve said:
I'll add that just like there are all guy bands, there are all girl bands. It's not the fault of men that there aren't as many all girl bands. And I get why people want to keep things like that. Guys act differently when you throw a woman in the mix. Same way girls act differently when you throw a guy in the mix. Touring becomes a little more complicated too. If more girls were picking up guitars and drumsticks, the playing field would be a bit more balanced - I don't think this is something that should be getting blamed on "the guys."
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That used to be the conventional wisdom in all employment settings. Then people got mad and started making life hell for everybody, for several decades, and things have gradually improved, but are still not perfect, as recent news headlines would attest. Most people figured out how to act differently, and those who didn't are proving themselves to be a liability to their employers in rather spectacular fashion.

Edit: Just noticed the post above mine.

Professional orchestras used to be virtually all-male. Then they started having blind auditions, and suddenly, there were a lot more women in orchestras. It's still not fifty-fifty, but certainly a lot better than the past. Of course this only applies to professional orchestras, but I think it's had a more widespread effect on what I would call violin-oriented music such as folk and fiddling. At least from my observation of those genres, they seem to have more of a culture of accepting women as musicians and colleagues. And in turn, more women are interested in those genres.

Girls could pick up guitars and drumsticks, but interest in those instruments is fading. Why bother saving them?
 
#209
At a high level, the entertainment business demands a lot from women. Most will be asked to diet and will submit to cosmetic surgery in order to remain unnaturally "attractive" by standards that are defined for men, by the industry. You have your occasional exceptions - people like Adele who are talented enough that the world forgives a little extra weight - but those exceptions are few and far between.

Is it fair? No. But it's what the industry pushes into popular culture, so we measure ourselves by these standards, and men too weak to think for themselves measure us the same way.

At the lower levels where most of us live, it's far less important. The stereotypes will always be there, but being able to play well generally wins over looking like a supermodel. Run, don't walk, to your nearest exit if you perceive yourself being treated as less-than because of gender.
 
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#213
I may look at things differently because my oldest daughter was an excellent violist and youngest was a kickazz classical saxophone player on alto, tenor and soprano who also studied cello and violin. She now teaches music in public schools.

My mother was a classical pianist and mezzo soprano choral/opera trained singer and she got me into music. I wish there were more woman bassists so we could insult guitar players together.
 
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#216
Old Blastard said:
Et tu, Brute? People are people, regardless of gender. We've been doing to each other for thousands of years. We are good at it!
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Nope, you misunderstand. People are all capable of stupidity, but in my experience the stereotype of women as drama-makers simply doesn't hold up. In my experience, men are capable of starting drama, up to and including things that involve lawyers and such. That's the point.
 
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#217
LBS-bass said:
Nope, you misunderstand. People are all capable of stupidity, but in my experience the stereotype of women as drama-makers simply doesn't hold up. In my experience, men are capable of starting drama. That's the point.
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My bad. I was agreeing with you. Brutus and Caesar had a little drama going. My girlfriend is an equestrian and talks about barn drama and we compare it to band drama.
 
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