The titillating part is probably more where I get hung up, as I don’t see Metallica singing a song about women and Rihanna dancing around wearing next to nothing onstage as the same thing. It has to do with who’s got the power, and who’s an object. Still, perhaps, with the quote you reference, I’ve confused the issue a bit. This is not about being anti-male; male artists have inspired me as much or more than female artists at different times. I just think the IDEA of Lilith, at least to me, is that of empowered females expressing themselves for expression’s sake – and empowered to me reads: active, in control, not necessarily a sexual object.

The fact that you mention Angela Gossow is telling. She is totally amazing, but she’s in the minority, and that’s part of why she stands out. Many would argue – and I’d agree with them – that women like her should be a part of Lilith, because she’s truly breaking down gender barriers and as such is a really positive example to other women getting into music. Even the fact that you’re noticing that half the bands at PaganFest are made up of women – would you have noticed that there were NOT women there? You may totally have, but I often feel that women’s presence at festivals is more remarkable than their absence. (I do not know the Pagan scene at all, admittedly). And the fact that this is still the case – that women are not all that prevalent in the metal, rock, and hip hop scenes in particular – means that we still need something like Lilith, I think, to make up for that.

And to answer one of your points – I disagree that our culture no longer cares about a person’s gender, race, creed, or orientation. If people didn’t care, more women would be CEOs and earning the same as their male counterparts, we wouldn’t have bitter division across religious lines, and gays would be allowed to marry, not to mention serve in our military unquestionably, just to name a few things still affected by our culture’s issues. If you think gender no longer really matters (and you wouldn’t be alone) you may believe there’s no need for something like Lilith – and again, you’re not alone in that, either. Many women agree, and that issue is precisely why I’m blogging and putting these issues out there. I’m explaining my leanings on these questions, but I certainly don’t have a definitive answer. I’m glad you disagree! :) Keeps things much more interesting! Thank you for reading, and for commenting!

I get confused though when you say “they’re mostly still singing about men, singing to men, or titillating men.”

Try reversing it- the vast majority of Male songwriters are singing songs to women. There’s obvious exceptions- I know an LA based songwriter who primarily sings about death, Ragnarok, and pork products- but even he has the occasional song about a chick. Bands like Guns N Roses have always written about women. Even Metallica has songs about women (Nothing else Matters being the most famous). All the big Man Bands have songs about women, singing to women, and titillating women. (Probably at least, cause I’m not sure how you define titillating in this context.)

How do you justify subject matter of songs as being relevant to a culture that, for a large part, no longer cares about a persons gender, race, creed, or orientation?

Personally, I listen to Taylor Swift because I love her songwriting. Same for Josh Ritter. Same for your music (although I do love your voice a lot more than Taylors.) Same for Evanescense, Arch Enemy, Lacuna Coil, or any other female fronted band- I listen to them for the music, not because their singer is a woman. Heck, check out Angela Gossows voice (front woman for Arch Enemy). She’s screaming death metal with the best of them.

I just don’t get it. Or maybe I just want people to make music and not worry about the image, the marketing, the trappings of false media imagery. When I buy tickets to a tour, it’s because I want to see the bands on the tour, not because of anyones gender.

The last tour/Fest I went to was PaganFest USA- 5 bands from Europe. When I got to the show, that’s when I found out that half the musicians were women. (Okay, maybe less than half, but I was quite impressed with the chick playing Hurdy Gurdy through a wah pedal…)

It definitely doesn’t matter in the Metal world. Maybe I’m just missing something because I don’t consider myself part of mainstream culture?

If it helps, Karl Rove predicted a landslide today. Let’s hope – I don’t believe, so I’m off to volunteer.