New book explores feminism through the lens of 20 rock musicians

Suzanne Vega launched her career in the early 1980s by playing folk music venues in New York City . (Photo provided by Claire Horton PR)

More than 25 years after the debut of Lilith Fair, the touring festival that showcased female artists such as Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Fiona Apple and Lilith founder Sarah McLachlan, the topic of “women in rock” remains worthy of discussion, according to author Katherine Yeske Taylor.

Her new book, “She’s a Badass: Women in Rock Shaping Feminism,” is built upon candid conversations focused on ways female musicians are treated differently than male musicians and how women have persevered.

The book includes 20 artist profiles, including Heart vocalist Ann Wilson, Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock, X vocalist Exene Cervenka, singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega and Runaways vocalist Cherie Currie.

In the Lilith era, Tori Amos and other female artists rejected the tour’s concept as marginalizing the work of women. Equality will be achieved, they argued, when no one talks about “women in rock” as being unusual.

Some musicians express that sentiment today, Yeske Taylor said.

“Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders is very vocal about saying, ‘I don’t even want to talk about this stuff because it doesn’t even matter,’” the New York-based author said. “On one hand, I know what she’s saying. I get it. But I think the women in these chapters prove that whether you think that should be the case or not, it does still affect us to be women because there are people out there who are going to limit our opportunities just because of that.”

On Feb. 20, Yeske Taylor will participate in an author talk presented by Tomorrow Bookstore. In addition to a discussion between Yeske Taylor and Wife Patrol vocalist-bass player Nicole O’Neal, the event at IndyFringe Theatre will include songs performed by Jody Friend of Public Universal Friend.

Yeske Taylor spoke with the IBJ in advance of her visit to Indianapolis.

IBJ: The spectrum of thoughts in the book expressed toward feminism is striking. Did you have a thesis going into the project?

Taylor: I did, and it kind of got blown out of the water. When I sold this book to [publisher] Backbeat, the premise was ‘women in rock shaping feminism.’ I had the title in mind when I started this book. When you shop around a book proposal, you have to have a title. I had this in place, and everybody agreed that they liked it. So we kept it. I guess I figured that anyone who agreed to be interviewed for this book would readily identify as being a feminist. But as you saw, there’s a significant contingent who don’t want that label applied to them at all. So I had to go back to the publisher and say, ‘You know, this is going to be quite different than what I originally thought it was going to be.’ But I think it’s good because it’s showing the true breadth of opinions out there.

What influenced the structure of the book, which is made up of 20 individual stories?

I ordered them from oldest to youngest. I did that on purpose because I thought that would be the easiest way to show how things have changed, or not, across the generations. I wasn’t sure if I would notice any kind of generational differences, but I thought if I did come across that, it would be another way to highlight the differences between women in their 70s and women in their early 30s.

One thing I’ve consistently heard from female musicians during the past 25 years is the situation of sound technicians at venues treating women as if they don’t know what they’re doing. How do musicians cope with that?

When women walk into a music venue and the staff there won’t treat them with respect—acting like they don’t know how to use their own equipment—that’s entirely based on gender and something that these women can’t control. They can’t control how they’re treated. The only thing they can do, as they talk about in this book, is put on a really killer show and prove that they are in fact professionals who are experts in their field. But we have a ways to go before we convince everybody that women are equal to men in this field. Until we get to that point, we are still going to need these types of women’s movements to show what still needs to be changed.

Was there a particular artist you were especially happy to have in the book?

I really wanted Exene Cervenka. She’s so outspoken, and I knew she’d have a different perspective on things than other people. I know she’s taken some flak for expressing some controversial views, but I think it’s important to show that there is such a wide spectrum of views out there. Because the music business tends to be liberal overall, the book does skew that way. It’s not on purpose, it’s just the way it is. If you take a cross-sampling of people in an industry that tends to be liberal that’s what you’re going to get. But I wanted to make sure I tried to balance it as much as possible while at the same time not overly steering things. I didn’t want to try to influence the direction of the book too much, either. It was kind of a balancing act.

Tomorrow Talks: Katherine Yeske Taylor

• When: 7 p.m. Feb. 20.
• Where: IndyFringe Theatre, 719 E. Saint Clair St.
• Tickets: $10.
• Info: Visit eventbrite.com.