Chaos in Tejas Tried To Kill Me

Hey, ladywriter! Yeah, let’s just keep the stereotypes about “Tee hee! It’s cute when grrls write about punk because, duh! They’re grrls! Aren’t I cute? Did I mention I’m a girl?” completely out of the picture. The piece didn’t need this stupid, juvenile observation and would have functioned fine without it.

You know what? “That shit,” as you refer to it does happen and (gasp!) I have both witnessed and participated in it first hand. I write for a lovely site called GET BENT, and wouldn’t you know it — our staff and contributors are mostly of the female persuasion. (Oh, the humanity!) Myself and these fellow lady BET BENT-ers spent most of SXSW together getting beat up in the pit at “punk shows,” covered these “punk shows,” made/maintained business connections at these “punk shows” — all while drinking every dude under the table. (Seriously, I can put back Lonestar tallboys like you wouldn’t believe.) Ladies covering (and participating) in the punk/garage/sludge scene! Who fuckin’ knew!!!?!?!?!!?

The more we remind dudes that it’s weird for women in their 20s to “cover punk,” the less they’re gonna let us do it unless we approach it from that navel gazing, naive Valley Girl mindset you’re reinforcing here.You’re a person covering a festival; your gender is completely irrelevant — unless it’s the Gathering of the Juggalos, because goddamn there might be some nice sociopolitical experiments there.