Gender difference in music

[Jac]

l was very curious about this topic today when l realized that a comment ( one word ) l made a while ago on the forum may be interpreted differently because it was made to a male from female, and so interpreted differently. l wasnt aware of that till l read their reply that l could see they read it from a male perspective.

It was one word that l realized they saw it differently and yes l found out that it means different things to a male than from female perspective.

It got me thinking, does that matter in songwriting ?

 

I'm just reading about a study that was made at Californian Uni in 2022 showing how the male influence is much higher than females  in the music industry. ( no study as yet on non binary genders)

 

As of yet the music industry is still the domain of the male.

What i'm curious about is 'how does song lyrics ( or  even the music ) reflect the different interpretation seen/heard in male and females ?

 

Would l interpret song lyrics from a female perspective only? Do you think that matters ?

 

We all know that the music industry is made up more of males than females. A study shows its only 21% of females from musicians to producers etc etc.

 

So it got me thinking about how much influence does this have on the listeners, and Is it more male or female listening ? and is that changing ?

 

One word in a lyric ( and in everyday conversation ) can mean different things to different genders.

I'm still researching  this today but was wondering if anyone else has thoughts on this.

 

 

 

[Dave Egan]

What a great question. The question of gender differences with regard to employment opportunities, social constructs, etc. is heavily discussed but lyrics… that’s something I had never thought of before! As someone who has studied psychology I think that this might be a very fertile area for a student who might choose to venture there.

 

My speculation is yes, there will be a significant and predictable difference between genders with regard to what emotions/responses are triggered by different lyrics however, I believe that a really good song probably transcends these gender differences because the music will be strong enough to connect directly with the emotional parts of the brain, bypassing all social constructs.

 

My two cents!

Edited August 21, 2023 by Dave Egan

[Jac]

11 hours ago, Dave Egan said:

What a great question. The question of gender differences with regard to employment opportunities, social constructs, etc. is heavily discussed but lyrics… that’s something I had never thought of before! As someone who has studied psychology I think that this might be a very fertile area for a student who might choose to venture there.

 

My speculation is yes, there will be a significant and predictable difference between genders with regard to what emotions/responses are triggered by different lyrics however, I believe that a really good song probably transcends these gender differences because the music will be strong enough to connect directly with the emotional parts of the brain, bypassing all social constructs.

 

My two cents!

l agree , l think it is a great topic to explore, thank you for the reply and comments.

l did start first being curious about how male and female perceive lyrics in music, did they interprete them differently ,like they do some times in spoken conversations.

But then l came across the studies about how songwriting is mostly male in the music industry.. l think its only 2% for females so reported.

Females have said they find record labels to have discrimination  across the boards in the business. From lower pay to harassment to male dominated record labels.

It got me thinking, is this something to do with how male and female interpret language.

Males are  mostly more direct, competative etc etc

females are said to be more intutive, expressive, co operative etc etc

 

so it got me thinking, if song lyrics are shown to be more along the lines of the female gender ( or percived by that to males) could that account for the unequal status in the industry. I'm sure it not that simple.

I'm just reading a thesis written in 2022 by a guy  who touches on that subject.

 

So my question is, 'why is it so unequal in the music industry for males and females, as studies show it's not getting any better'

 

[VoiceEx]

I actually have somewhat of a comical take on this topic. This is just a 'guess', but I find that sometimes history teaches us that the simplest of answers may spark interesting conclusions 😅

 

If I remember correctly, the modern music industry was founded somewhere in the 30's, at time when women were not treated as equally, as they are today. Which leads me to speculate that the fat cats which started running the show, were most likely a bunch of old school cigar chomping sexists (lol), and everything that comes with that.

 

And if that's the case, it would be logical to assume that such a manner of doing things would go on for quite some time, and that those kinds of decisions and old way of doing things may have affected us till this day.

Edited August 22, 2023 by VoiceEx

[Peggy]

 

On 8/19/2023 at 5:57 AM, Jac said:

Would l interpret song lyrics from a female perspective only? Do you think that matters ?

I don't think it matters in my lyric writing. I just write what I want to write.   Sometimes when the lyric is finished they are definitely for a male to sing and sometimes they are definitely for a female to sing and sometimes it doesn't matter.

[Jac]

17 hours ago, VoiceEx said:

I actually have somewhat of a comical take on this topic. This is just a 'guess', but I find that sometimes history teaches us that the simplest of answers may spark interesting conclusions 😅

 

If I remember correctly, the modern music industry was founded somewhere in the 30's, at time when women were not treated as equally, as they are today. Which leads me to speculate that the fat cats which started running the show, were most likely a bunch of old school cigar chomping sexists (lol), and everything that comes with that.

 

And if that's the case, it would be logical to assume that such a manner of doing things would go on for quite some time, and that those kinds of decisions and old way of doing things may have affected us till this day.

That's really interesting,

I'v been looking at the Blue Grass scene and it does appear it was males that did the music that came from the scot/irish culture that emigrated to US. 

l want to do some study on the history of songwriting, At moment it appears it was male dominated as they were the storytellers of old. 

I'm just puzzeld that it's still only 2% of females that are songwriters today.

And its still only 27% of females in the music industry