Rock And Roll Stereotypes

Rock and roll music began as a means for expressing the teenage generation’s rebelliousness, aggressiveness, and lust. By the 1970s, the social order of gender was dictated by the masculinization of rock and marginalization of females in rock—this is chiefly due to the notion that men are more superior to women and rock plays a significant role in perpetuating these gender stereotypes. Previously, young women were the dominating group that rock and roll was catering to, which was evident in the performances of Elvis and the Beatles. In essence, it was empowering for women and the idea that gender norms were being broken was challenging to idea of male superiority. Rock music adopted masculinization because “rebellion” and “aggressiveness” are

Women became passive spectators and “arm candy”, while men were energized, active listeners. By this time, rock music has evolved into “cock rock,” which was male centric music for men that clearly expresses misogyny within the lyrics. An anonymous article in Rat Magazine, “Cock Rock: Men Always Seem to End Up on Top,” pseudonym Susan Hiwatt seems to “reflect the solidarity of the women’s movement” and “addresses the repulsion of rock music from a woman’s perspective” (Cateforis, 119). Without the anonymity, the author would be ridiculed just because she is a woman and this type of behavior was not uncommon where women are seen as inferior, incompetent and incapable. The sudden realization of “cock rock” is exemplied in the following quote: “It took me a whole …before it even registered that what I was seeing and hearing was not all these different groups, but all these different groups of men. And once I noticed that, it was hard not to constantly notice…they are all men” (120). At the same time, the rock industry “attempted” (rock artists perpetuating gender stereotypes) the exclusion of women from the scene. As Hiwatt recalls, once an all-girl band were “laughed