[NewMusic] acoustic vs. electronic?

[Matt Davignon]

I have this general sense that things are gradually improving though -
that if you were to look at a middle school music ensemble, you'd see
the girls on a much wider array of instruments now than 20 years ago.
That's assuming that there are still middle school music ensembles.

Except I have no idea who girls have for musical role models these
days, other than pop vocalists. I always felt a little strange about
the subtly backhanded marketing used for all-girl bands in the 80's
and 90's. ("See? Girls can rock - no matter what everyone says!") Not
that they shouldn't market female musicians, but selling it on the
basis of gender gave the appearance of lowering musical standards.
OOIOO has been my favorite band for a few years now, and the reason is
not that it's all women - it's that their music is rad.

Someone pointed out to me several years ago that we have a cultural
norm to specify if a person is not a straight white male when
describing them. "A female guitarist." "A gay songwriter." "The
African American heavy metal band." I guess I always felt that this
was part of the discouragement.