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sexist ? disturbing ?

sexist ?


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Medusa

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The Season of My Denial and Evasion lasted nearly two decades — from the age of 18 to 36. During this season, I wore pants for premieres of my music, while performing as a pianist and teaching, for all important composerly things. I hated the “What’s it like to be a woman composer” question at pre-concert talks, on panels and in interviews. If I couldn’t evade this question, I rattled off something dismissive: How could I possibly know any different? That’s like asking me what if I had grown up in Alaska. I refused to enter any competitions exclusively for female composers or to have my music presented at women-only concerts.

Last spring, there was a flurry of activity in the online new-music community with an article on the Web forum NewMusicBox titled, “The Woman Composer Is Dead.[/SIZE]” The article’s extensive comments section has a wealth of opinions on whether or not the “woman composer” label is useful. I sent the article out to my students and colleagues, as I do with any articles I hope will foster healthy dialogue. I received an exquisite e-mail in response from William Bolcom — one of my former mentors — which beautifully outlined in depth the history and dissonance of the female composer. Bill wrote about those who would rather class themselves as “composers who happen to be women”; about our country’s current society, kicking and screaming, finally having to admit women to full citizenship; and that one’s gender or group is as relevant, or as irrelevant, as one needs to make it to write what one wants to write.


http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/taking-off-my-pants/?hp
 
please voteeeeeeeee

thxx
 
You have my dinner ready yet?
 
nobody says " the man composer died "

agree ?:mrgreen:

That's because the vast majority of well known composers are male, so if the gender isn't specified, one might assume it was a man. Being a female composer is notable, because there aren't many of them. It's not sexist, it's just a simple observation. I can see how she might get bored by being asked about it all the time, but I don't see why it would be considered offensive.
 
That's because the vast majority of well known composers are male, so if the gender isn't specified, one might assume it was a man. Being a female composer is notable, because there aren't many of them. It's not sexist, it's just a simple observation. I can see how she might get bored by being asked about it all the time, but I don't see why it would be considered offensive.


the number of women performing in creative fields is lower

and it is not sexist:lol:
 
the number of women performing in creative fields is lower

and it is not sexist:lol:

Unless they are being actively prevented from "performing in creative fields" (as you put it), then no, it isn't sexist. Are you suggesting that women should be forced into certain careers and jobs just to make sure the numbers of men and women doing those jobs are the same? Sounds like fascism to me.
 
I don't know if it's sexist in the "this person thinks less of her" kind of way, but it definitely reveals sexism in larger society in certain fields.

The poster above is correct in that composers would "expect" her to be a male if she was simply identified as "a composer." The side-show novelty people seem to experience when learning she is a composer, asking her what it's like to be a woman and a composer as though it would somehow be on a different planet from a male (as a writer, I have never understood this question to people in such solitary professions) also reveals this bias.

I also sort of get the all-female composer competition thing, outside the assumption that it's sexist. A lot of women in male-dominated fields -- especially artistic ones -- get sort of harassed at mixed gender events. Often it's the women themselves who call for it, and I can't entirely blame them. But other times, it's a cross-application of physical differences (often boiled down to "women are weak") into the realm of the intellectual. A given woman probably can't bench what a man can, so it's sort of implicitly assumed she can't compose like a man can either.

It is not ill-intended, and I certainly wouldn't call it disturbing, but it's a good barometer of how far we have to go in some fields before women feel like they can aspire to be those things.
 
Unless they are being actively prevented from "performing in creative fields" (as you put it), then no, it isn't sexist. Are you suggesting that women should be forced into certain careers and jobs just to make sure the numbers of men and women doing those jobs are the same? Sounds like fascism to me.


you like changing what l said
 
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