"Either we were lesbians or we were up for whatever was going": Exploring the Sexual Politics of Playing Music in an All Girl Band.

Popular all girl bands in Western music culture have historically been sexualized and considered deviant in one form or another, with reviews and advertisements dismissing women as novelty acts and routinely failing to prioritize players’ musicianship. Female popular musicians, such as the women in Britain’s longest running all girl band run by Ivy Benson, were frequently cast as either lesbians or sexually promiscuous with both categorizations intended to have negative implications.

Using material from over sixty oral history interviews with women from the Ivy Benson Band who performed across Europe and North Africa between 1940 and 1980, this paper explores the sexual politics of working in an all girl band, looking specifically at how societal perceptions about music, performance, gender and sexuality impacted the musicians’ working lives.  By addressing these issues through the narratives of Ivy Benson musicians, this paper builds upon the work of musicologist Lucy Green, who states that the musical world often replicates “central themes of oppression” that are experienced in wider society.[1]  Ultimately, this paper highlights the broader implications of how repeated efforts to sexualize and dismiss musicians in all girl bands has served not only to deny the important work of female musicians but also to negate many forward steps that women have taken in the field of music - the effects of which can be witnessed in the popular music industry today. 

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[1] Green, Lucy. "Music and Gender: Can Music Raise Our Awareness?" Women: A Cultural Review 5, no. 1 (1994): 65-72, p. 66.

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