Being a Woman, Being a Woman: Gendered Criticism

of Joanna Newsom

MA Dissertation (Popular Music Research)

Word count: 14,888

 Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................................................................1

I: Gender and Feminism in Joanna Newsoms Lyrics...........................................................................5

II: Enchantment, Deification, and Benevolent Sexism in Criticism of Joanna Newsom.....................13

III: The Gendered History and Criticism of Joanna Newsoms Harp..................................................21

IV: The Gendered Criticism of Joanna Newsoms Voice....................................................................27

V: Towards a Feminist Criticism of Joanna Newsom..........................................................................33

Conclusion............................................................................................................................................39

Works Cited..........................................................................................................................................43
 Introduction

As a woman who writes about rock and pop music, states communications theorist Holly Kruse, I
have been struck by the degree to which...control over the discourses and institutions of popular
music is still exercised almost exclusively by men.1 The masculine nature of the music industry as a
whole has been cited by numerous theorists including authors Sue Steward and Sheryl Garratt,
sociomusicologists Simon Frith and Angela McRobbie, and sociologist Sam Cameron; it is perhaps
unsurprising, therefore, that the music press is similarly male-dominated.2 3 4 Sociomusicologist
Marion Leonard suggests that there are few female journalists in key positions within the music
press, while music ethnographer Helen Davies cites the example of Melody Maker magazine, at
which male journalists outnumber female by more than two to one.5 6 As such, music criticism tends
to be written from what Kruse identifies as a masculine subject position by default, leading to a
fundamentally patriarchal critical industry under which female rock and pop musicians often become
the targets of sexism.7 Davies states that the music press frequently sexualises its female subjects,
critiquing their desirability (often in an openly hostile manner) far more than is true for their male
counterparts, and claims that female musicians are more likely to be attacked outright for lacking
credibility and authenticity than are male musicians.8 The industrys masculine culture is sufficiently
pervasive that Davies suggests the gender of individual critics becomes immaterial; women who
enter the journalistic Boys Club must subscribe to the same sexist discourses as male critics,
identifying with their male peers rather than with the women on whom they comment.9

Daviess study focuses predominantly on criticism of mainstream music, but suggests that it
is even more challenging for a female musician to achieve subcultural credibility; to be regarded as
credible within a subculture, she claims that a female musician must adopt masculine traits such as
rebellion and anger. However, women performing these traits are frequently critically pathologised
and attacked by critics: critics Simon Reynolds and Joy Press suggest that a rebellious female
musician is viewed with a morbid mixture of voyeurism, pity, and sadistic delight at the possibility
that she might fall.10 The alternative route to subcultural credibility is perceived intellectualism;
Davies suggests that PJ Harvey, for instance, is critically regarded as credible and authentic for this
reason.11 Leonard disagrees that subcultures are less friendly towards femininity than the
mainstream; she proposes that, although indie music retains a masculine bias (which was most often
reported in her study by those active in Riot Grrrl bands, perhaps because their performance of

1
Kruse (2002): 134
2
Steward and Garratt (1985): 54
3
Frith and McRobbie (1978): 373
4
Cameron (2003): 905-917
5
Leonard (2007): 6
6
Davies (2001): 301
7
Kruse (2002): 134
8
Davies (2001): 301
9
Ibid: 316-17
10
Reynolds and Press (1995): 269
11
Davies (2001): 308

1
rebellion and anger led to their critical pathologisation),12 it is somewhat inclusive of female
musicians, offering a cultural space in which they are more likely to achieve success and prestige.13
If women are more likely to be attacked for lacking credibility, but are also pathologised for
masculine rebellion, might indie music offer a middle ground in which it is possible to be both
feminine and authentic, and thus escape gender discrimination in the press? I suggest that the reality
is more complex, and that forms of sexism are rife in all corners of the music press which are not
necessarily accounted for by the studies discussed above. This essay represents an exploration of
gendered criticism through a close case-study of Joanna Newsom, an artist who I believe, despite her
critical acclaim and perceived intellectualism, has nonetheless become a target for more subtle (and
thus arguably even more dangerous and insidious) forms of gender discrimination in the music press
than those Davies and Leonard explore.

Newsom is an American singer-songwriter, harpist and keyboard player active within the
American freak-folk movement (a circle of indie musicians whose writing is both technically
challenging and informed by traditional folk music).14 Over the course of the last decade, she has
released three EPs: Walnut Whales (2002) Yarn and Glue (2003) and Joanna Newsom and the Ys
Street Band (2007), and three albums: The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004), Ys (2006), featuring
arrangements by Van Dyke Parks, known for his work with the Beach Boys, and Have One On Me
(2010), a triple CD totalling three hours in duration.15 16 She is classically-trained in her instruments
and has studied composition at a university level;17 her harp-playing is virtuosic, and she tends to
write extended-form, tonally unstable songs eschewing typical verse-chorus structures. In this
respect she exemplifies the kind of intellectual woman Davies suggests is likely to be considered
highly credible and authentic. Newsom is not openly aggressive or rebellious, and appears to enjoy
visually performing normative femininity in her live shows (I love polka dots, peplums...high heels,
wide belts, she states regarding her onstage dress sense in an interview with BOMB Magazine
journalist Roy Harper).18 As such, criticism of her tends not to resemble the open hostility outlined
by Davies and Leonard, and indeed her music is widely lauded and seemingly well-respected by the
music press, which Davies implies is unusual.19 This might suggest, then, that she has transgressed
many of the boundaries operating against women in the industry. However, I argue that both
Newsoms femininity and her technical skill paradoxically work against her in gendered terms even
as they rescue her from hostile misogyny, simultaneously highlighting alternative forms of sexism in
music criticism which may be harder to identify and, perhaps, suggesting that there is no position a
female artist can occupy which will not leave her open to gender-based discrimination.

12
Leonard (2007): 63
13
Ibid: 44
14
See Remmert (2011)
15
See Newsom (2002); (2004); (2006); (2007); (2010)
16
Drag City (2012)
17
Howe (2006)
18
Harper (2011): 14
19
Davies (2001): 309

2
 Davies suggests that few musicians openly admit to feminist beliefs, even if their music is
feminist in nature, since identifying as such invites critical abuse which can be harmful to a female
performers career.20 Newsom, accordingly, has not labelled herself a feminist, but I suggest
nonetheless that her work explores gendered and feminist themes.21 Prior to examining Newsoms
critical reception, my first chapter will analyse instances of gendered themes in her songs, proposing
that Newsom may be considered a feminist musician. My second chapter will examine perhaps the
most pervasive tendency in criticism of Newsom, namely her construction as an enchanted figure
and positioning as a goddess, or deification. Despite complimentary appearances, I argue these
tropes represent a benevolently sexist form of discrimination as dangerous as it is subtle, which
possesses implications for other highly-skilled, feminine women in the music industry.22 My third
chapter considers critiques of Newsoms harp-playing in the context of the instruments gendered
musical history, which is also fraught with benevolent sexism. I contend that Newsoms use of the
harp represents a feminist resignification of the instruments perceived femininity which is often
disregarded by critics. My fourth chapter examines Newsoms voice, which is highly unusual and
subject to harsh criticism more closely resembling the hostility outlined by Davies and Leonard; that
this hostility often emerges amid positive reviews suggests that critical tendencies to ignore
Newsoms subversion and resignification of femininity emerge not from ignorance of her feminist
agenda, but from fear of the threat she poses to the male-dominated music industry. My final chapter
considers alternative critical resources, facilitated by the Internet, which offer a feminist perspective
on Newsoms work, proposing that they may represent a route out of the music industrys default
masculine subject position.

Through a detailed case-study of a single artist, then, this essay explores broad issues of
critical sexism, particularly in forms which may be harder to identify, and thus to uproot, than those
Davies and Leonard describe. My study will address both print and electronic media produced by
both professional and amateur journalists, since the sexist critical tendencies I located were engaged
in by critics writing in various contexts, with the clear exception of the feminist critics discussed in
my fifth chapter. Ultimately, I suggest that a woman in the music industry must inevitably fight
harder than her male counterparts for fair criticism, but that the seeds have been sown for a new
order of explicitly feminist critics and musicians who might aim to redress the balance; in doing so, a
more inclusive cultural space might be opened up for women in the music industry, which in turn has
the potential to influence gender equality in wider society.

20
Ibid: 310
21
Marturano (2011)
22
See Glick and Fiske (1996): 491

3
4
 I: Gender and Feminism in Joanna Newsoms Lyrics

Many of Newsoms songs address specifically gendered issues in their lyrics, which I suggest should
be examined prior to considering critical responses to her work. This chapter will analyse instances
of recurring gendered themes in Newsoms corpus, and will ultimately position her as a feminist
musician, despite the fact that she has not openly identified as such in interviews. Since Newsoms
corpus is substantial, and this essays goal is not primarily analytical in nature, my explorations will
be necessarily brief; it is also worth noting that the abstract and poetic nature of many of Newsoms
lyrics render any study of meaning in her work highly subjective. I nonetheless believe, however,
that her work strongly expresses a complex and nuanced relationship with female power and
oppression which is fundamentally feminist in nature; the following represents an exploration of a
subject which I believe is a crucial thematic feature of Newsoms work.

Control and Power

The gendered power dynamic (particularly as it relates to women) may be considered a primary
feminist concern, and emerges as a theme several times throughout Newsoms corpus. Perhaps the
most obvious example of Newsoms consideration of female power is The Book of Right-On: its
narrator is an alpha-female whose fighting fame is fabled.23 She claims to dominate over the men in
her pack, and even when, as in sexual congress, she might be expected to be tender, she takes the
opportunity to assert control (even when you touch my face/you know your place).24 The song may
be read from a feminist perspective as a utopian denial of patriarchy, in which the usual gendered
social order is inverted, deconstructing ideals of feminine passivity. Most of Newsoms songs adopt
a less extreme perspective, but nonetheless explore gendered power dynamics: Have One On Mes
Go Long, which explores the power differential of a heterosexual relationship, is an intriguing
example. The songs narrator is sexually and aesthetically objectified by her lover, passively
brought in on a palanquin, and repeatedly makes reference to mighty men, underscoring her own
female powerlessness25. However, she also expresses frustration at her lovers autonomy (who will
take care of you when youre old and dying?), and positions her gender as instrumental in dissolving
the emotional divide between them (what a woman does is open doors).26 Although Newsoms
narrator is at her lovers mercy, then, she also possesses control over his own position within their
relationship, and it is she who possesses the power to break down boundaries between them. The
song is structured around an ornate duet between Newsoms harp and a West African kora, which
seemingly duel with one another; initially the kora appears to dominate, but by the songs close the
two have begun to meld and are occasionally indiscernible. My third chapter will propose that
Newsoms harp is constructed as symbolic of her femininity; if this is so, this duet may be read as a
musical allegory for a gendered power struggle.

23
Newsom (2004): The Book of Right-On
24
Ibid
25
Newsom (2010): Go Long
26
Ibid

5
 As a songwriter, much of Newsoms own ability to exert control over her listeners is through
language; her song Colleen directly addresses the connections between language and power.
Colleen relates the tale of a being (presumably non-human) from the sea, who is taken in by a
community of land-dwellers after awaking amnesic on a beach. The name she is given, Colleen,
comes from the Gaelic Cailin, and means simply woman;27 her entire identity is thus reduced to her
gender by the language imposed upon her, since she knows nothing about herself. Colleen is
expected to partake in nurturing the land, but overwaters everything, and possesses desires for the
ocean which she cannot articulate verbally due to her memory loss.28 In a dream, she encounters a
whale, but is unable to name or recognise it, her perception of the world and inability to influence her
own fate hinging on her lack of language. When she asks the whales name, it responds with He-
Who-Can-Easily-Curve-Himself-Against-The-Sky; this names descriptiveness (starkly contrasting
Colleens own given name) affords a sudden change in her, restoring her memory of the sea and
leading her to reject the identity imposed upon her. I dont know any goddamned Colleen, she
asserts, refusing to define herself by her womanhood alone, and follows the whale back to the sea,
where she ultimately finds peace.29 In reacquiring and using her old language, Colleen also regains
her power and freedom beyond the identity forced on her by the land-dwellers. Throughout this essay
I will note critics keenness to construct Newsom as passively feminine. By repeatedly addressing
issues of female empowerment and oppression in her lyrics, Newsom rejects her imposed passivity
just as Colleen does; in this way, she actively destabilises the male-dominated, patriarchal nature of
the music industry, and may thus be considered a feminist musician.

Fertility and Motherhood

Although Newsom is childless, several of her songs address motherhood and fertility. Most
explicitly, Baby Birch apparently concerns the loss of a child, and opens with a passage in which
the narrator describes a baby she will never know in amorphous terms, suggesting the childs
ephemerality: your eyes are green, your hair is gold/your hair is black, your eyes are blue.30 The
songs final section sees the narrator catching a rabbit, which she holds kicking and mewling,
upended, unspooling, unsung and blue;31 kicking and mewling both evoke an infant, while
upended recalls the practice of holding a newborn upside-down after birth to induce crying.32
Unspooling, unsung and blue, however, all possess darker connotations, and might, as some critics
have averred, regard a stillbirth or abortion.33 Feminism has historically defined abortion rights as
integral to gender equality, and given my positioning of Newsom as a feminist musician, the songs

27
Hutson (1947): 18
28
Newsom (2007): Colleen
29
Ibid
30
Newsom (2010): Baby Birch
31
Ibid
32
Atlee (1954): 227
33
See Alexander (2011); Weiner (2010)

6
sorrowful tone may be surprising;34 certainly, the repeated line I hated to close the door on you
suggests regret at the childs loss.35 Despite her sadness, however, the line I dont want your dregs/a
little baby fussing all over my legs implies that the narrator may have made a conscious decision not
to give birth. The song closes with the line be at peace, baby, and be gone, suggesting that the
narrator has come to terms with her decision, despite her sorrow at the loss of her potential child.36 I
propose, then, that Baby Birch is ultimately pro-choice, but also that it seems to depict a conflict
between the pull of motherhood and the desire for autonomy.

This ambivalence towards birth re-emerges throughout Newsoms corpus: the narrator of
Emily searches for a midwife/who can help me/help me find my way back in, positioning herself
as a symbolic infant wishing to return to the pre-birth state.37 The conflict between the desire to birth
(or to be birthed) and not to birth is echoed transparently in the chorus of The Milk-Eyed Menders
Sprout and the Bean, asking repeatedly should we go outside?38 Sprout and the Bean is replete
with imagery recalling gestation and birth (indeed, its very title might recall the process of gestation
and growth): water running clear beneath a white throat may refer to birthing fluid; the white coat
drawing near the narrator might be construed as a medic or midwife; and the hollow tapping of...the
tadpoles may evoke the moment of fertilisation.39 Newsoms fascination with childbirth is clear
here, but the ambivalence of should we go outside? epitomises her unstable attitude towards
motherhood. A potentially enlightening alternative reading of Sprout and the Bean is also possible
in light of the lines the difference between/the sprout and the bean/is a golden ring/it is a twisted
string and should we break some bread?/Are yinterested?, which I propose might refer to
marriage:40 the golden ring could clearly represent the wedding band, while the knotting of a scarf
by newlyweds is a Mexican custom, and breaking bread forms a central ritual of Greek Orthodox
weddings.41 42 As such, the development of the sprout into the bean may represent both the birth
of an infant, and the birth of the narrator into adulthood through marriage. In this respect, the
uncertain attitude to childbirth which many of Newsoms lyrics express may also represent
ambivalence towards adult womanhood.

Femininity

Newsoms own gender presentation adopts several characteristics identified by gender theorists as
stereotypically feminine: she is long-haired, usually fully-made-up, and often wears high-fashion

34
See LeGates (2001): 363-364
35
Newsom (2010): Baby Birch
36
Ibid
37
Newsom (2006): Emily
38
Newsom (2004): Sprout and the Bean
39
Ibid
40
Ibid
41
Gutirrez y Muhs (2001): 136
42
Bramen (2010):

7
clothing, usually skirts and dresses.43 44 Her chosen accompanimental instrument, the harp, also
connotes femininity, and will be explored in this respect in this essays third chapter.45 Feminist
theorist Judith Butler suggests that gender norms are culturally-imposed rather than essential, and
that femininity and masculinity are actively performed by a subject:46 conforming to expected
norms renders a subject socially intelligible, so that a woman performing femininity reinforces
perceptions of women as innately feminine, further perpetuating gender norms.47 Butler considers
reifying gender in this way to be contrary to feminist aims, and as such Newsoms performance of
femininity might be read to be at odds with my positioning of her as a feminist.48 I propose, however,
that Newsoms lyrics negotiate both the complex privileges and pitfalls of femininity, outlining its
potential for coexistence with feminist empowerment.

Certainly, some of Newsoms lyrics appear to address the oppressive potential of femininity
under patriarchy, for instance Monkey and Bear, which tackles repressive feminine performativity
through a complex metaphor. Ursala, the titular bear, wears fancy clothes which are described in
detail, suggesting an interest in fashion which is coded by gender theorists Caroline Evans and
Minna Thornton as typically feminine;49 50 media professor Myra Macdonald proposes that adorning
the body as Ursala does is intrinsically linked to feminine performativity, shaping and moulding
what it means to be feminine;51 as such, I suggest that Ursalas clothes may represent feminine
performativity in the context of Newsoms song. Ursala performs, too, in a literal sense, to a crowd
for an organ-grinder; yet the fact that she must be coaxed by her companion the monkey to dance,
darling implies that her performance of femininity is not wholly consensual or freely chosen.52
Ursala ultimately escapes from captivity; as she does so, she literally steps clear of her own skin
which becomes blurred with her clothing (her fur is described as a gown), suggesting her liberation
also includes shedding the trappings of feminine performance. The shed parts of her anatomy are
themselves described in gendered terms: her belly is compared to an apron, a garment associated
with the traditionally female activity of housework; her shoulders are lowered in a genteel curtsy, a
gesture traditionally representing a female alternative to the male bow;53 and her legs are like
knobby garters, garments best-known for their use in bridal wear.54 55 The fact that Ursalas body is

43
For further exploration of the physical norms of femininity, see Rose Weitz (2001): 667-686; Lichtenstein 1987: 77-87
44
in an interview with Lula magazine, Newsom states that she almost always wears dresses on stage rather than jeans or
pants, actively favouring feminine iconography over the masculine or neutral. Sanders (2010): n.p.
45
See Gross (1992): 30-43; (1993): 28-46
46
Butler (1990): 172-177
47
Ibid: 23-24
48
Ibid: 5
49
Newsom (2006): Monkey and Bear
50
Evans and Thornton (1991): 48
51
Macdonald (1995): 193-4
52
Newsom (2006): Monkey and Bear
53
Armstrong and Wagner (2003): 7
54
Gillis (1985): 34
55
Newsom (2006): Monkey and Bear

8
blurred with her clothing may indicate, as gender theorist Hillevi Gannetz suggests, that gender
norms are a sufficiently culturally-embedded social process that they are impossible to get on or off
at will;56 Ursala may feel trapped by femininity, but also thoroughly embodies it. At the close of the
song, she continues to dance, and retains her threadbare coat, suggesting that she has not fully
escaped feminine performance. Yet she remains hopeful, convincing herself that sooner or later
youll bear your teeth just as Butler argues that, despite the cultural pervasiveness of notions of
essential gender identity, deconstructing them may ultimately allow for the increased mobility of
gender roles.57

Crucially, Newsom does not invariably depict femininity as a trap. Have One On Mes final
track, Does Not Suffice, sees the narrator collect up items of feminine clothing described in detail
in a manner akin to the description of Ursalas clothes: pretty dresses, high-heeled shoes and
sparkling rings.58 These items may be construed to be signifiers of oppression: sparkling rings
might recall marriage, an institution deemed oppressive by many feminists, while high-heeled shoes
have been critiqued both, as feminist authors Bell et al describe, for restricting womens movement,
and for physically damaging their feet and spines.59 60 Newsoms narrator, however, lovingly
protects the items in question, wrap(ping) it all up in reams of tissue, suggesting a fondness for
femininity which is not present in Monkey and Bear. As Does Not Suffice unfolds, we learn the
narrators relationship has dissolved; viewing her possessions as symbols of how easy I was not,
the process of repossessing them from her partner may represent a reappropriation of her own
subjectivity; despite their coded femininity, Newsoms narrator views them as symbols of her own
complex humanity. This nuanced attitude to femininity is, I suggest, crucial to an understanding of
Newsoms work as a feminist text. Theorist Stephanie Genz proposes the existence of a postmodern
female archetype which she labels the postfeminist woman, who blurs the binary distinctions
between feminism and femininity, ultimately becoming both feminine and feminist at the same
time;61 this may be a useful lens through which to view Newsoms work. The coexistence of female
power with femininity is present throughout Newsoms corpus, although Monkey and Bear shows
that it does not go unproblematised; Genz suggests that balancing feminism and femininity with may
prove challenging to the postfeminist woman, and certainly Monkey and Bear illustrates the self-
doubt and despair which Genz proposes may emerge from such a position.62 Nonetheless, I contend
that Newsoms songs successfully balance a fundamentally feminist conviction in female power with
a fondness for feminine performance despite acknowledging the frustrations entailed therein,
positioning her as a musician who addresses feminist topics from a specifically postfeminist
perspective.

56
Ganetz (2011): 415
57
Butler (1990): 148
58
Newsom (2010): Does Not Suffice
59
Awofeso (2002): 257-270
60
Bell et al (1994): 11
61
Genz (2010): 106
62
Ibid: 99

9
Female Sexuality

Only Skin, from Ys, possesses perhaps the most frank approach to sexuality of any of Newsoms
songs, describing an encounter between the narrator and her lover in which she expresses surprise at
his awfully real gun, and urges him to see what you anointed in pointing your gun there;63
psychologist Calvin Hall suggests that firearms are a conventionalised phallic symbol within
psychoanalytic literature, representing explosive male sexuality, rendering this passages meaning
clear.64 However, Only Skin also acknowledges the social dangers of participating in sexual
congress as a woman. The songs middle section sees the narrator travelling to her lover, candy
weighing both of my pockets down, and describing herself as the happiest woman among all
women; however, she finds that the common-folk condemn/what it is I do, to you, to keep you
warm/being a woman, being a woman. Just as the candy she carries is sweet, yet burdens her
pockets, so the joy the narrator finds in sexual congress (for which keeping [her lover] warm is
presumably a euphemism) becomes a burden when those around her condemn it. Penelope Eckert
proposes a gendered asymmetry in the judgement of sexual behaviour: sexually active women, she
claims, are judged negatively as sluts, while their male counterparts are upheld as studs;65
Newsoms narrator appears to consider being a woman to be part and parcel of her condemnation,
suggesting an awareness of this gendered imbalance. However, I also suggest that the wording of the
line positions her sexuality as a natural aspect of womanhood, so that being a woman is, in itself,
what permits the narrator to keep (her lover) warm. Only Skin both positions female sexuality as
natural, and acknowledges the negative judgement it often receives.

The burden of feminine sexuality is also present in Have One On Mes title track, which tells
the story of Lola Montez, a nineteenth-century courtesan and dancer famed for her affair with King
Ludwig I of Bavaria.66 Lola, like the narrator of Only Skin, is criticised for her sexual behaviour by
lines of whispering Jesuits;67 Newsom has openly stated in interviews that she identifies with
Montezs resistance against these gendered judgements, stating that she finds parallels between
what I do as a profession and what it meant to be a female artist at that time...I was noting the
intersections between being a courtesan or a whore, and these professions that were socially looked
down upon...(but) were basically creative.68 Newsoms identification of her own career with
Montezs, and her implication that female creativity is judged in similarly harsh gendered terms to
female sexuality, suggests that she is fully aware of her own hard-to-negotiate position as a woman
in the music industry, which I will explore throughout the rest of this essay. Despite her often poetic
turns of phrase, several of Newsoms lyrics resemble no less than an outpouring of passion, with
lines such as I only want for you to pull over and hold me til I cant remember my own name from
Good Intentions Paving Company reminding the listener of womans potential for powerful sexual

63
Newsom (2006): Only Skin
64
Hall (1953): 171
65
Eckert (2003): 386
66
Empire (2010)
67
Newsom (2010): Have One On Me
68
Rogers (2010)

10
impulses.69 As Newsoms work examines the implications and pressures of female sexuality in a
patriarchal society, it also considers and explores its potential for joy and power.

Ultimately, I propose that Newsoms engagement with issues of femininity, womanhood and female
empowerment clearly suggest her to be a fundamentally feminist musician, though she has never
explicitly labelled herself as such, presumably due to the risks of critical scorn which Davies
suggests feminist identification often provokes.70 I believe that Newsoms work argues in favour of
the postfeminist coexistence of femininity and female empowerment, eschewing absolutism and
essentialism and instead acknowledging both the power and oppressions entailed by womanhood.
Throughout the rest of this essay, I will consider how Newsoms gender, performed femininity, and
engagement with feminist topics in her work lead to her criticism in specifically gendered and
frequently outright sexist terms, as well as how this criticism reflects or conflicts with the issues
raised by her own music.

69
Newsom (2010): Good Intentions Paving Company
70
Davies (2001): 310

11
12
13
 II: Enchantment, Deification, and Benevolent Sexism in Criticism of Joanna Newsom

I have, I hope, established my belief that feminist themes are identifiable in Newsoms musical
output, despite the fact that she has never personally identified as a feminist in an interview. By
positioning herself as a postfeminist woman, Newsom can express feminist beliefs in her lyrics even
as she performs femininity onstage, allowing her to avoid the pathologisation Reynolds and Press
suggest more masculine, aggressive female performers are often targeted by.71 Simultaneously,
however, her literary lyrics, instrumental skill and profoundly complex song structures all aid in
constructing her as intellectual, crucial to her perceived credibility according to Davies: she is
frequently described as eloquent,72 73 virtuosic74 and impressive,75 suggesting that she is
regarded as credible and authentic despite her femininity. This, according to Davies, is a significant
feat; yet has Newsom truly escaped the sexist denigration which she claims pervades the music
press?

Certainly, Newsom is largely critically lauded; my research located very few unambiguously
negative reviews of her work. However, I suggest that certain sexist tendencies recur in critical
responses to Newsoms work which are more subtle than those explored by Davies and Leonard.
This chapter will examine the cultural origins of one particular critical trope, consisting of two parts,
which pervades throughout reviews of Newsoms work. My research repeatedly found Newsom
referred to as non-human, a supernatural being: Alexis Swerdloff of Papermag describes her as a
wood nymph clad in Sonia Rykiel;76 Jude Rogers as otherworldly...a fairy, a pixie;77 blogger Julia
Baldini as a forest fairy;78 Jean Khut of Girly Bubble as a wood nymph;79 Seattle Weeklys Erin
Thompson as a fabulous harp fairy;80 music blogger Cole Nielsen as a crazy woodland sprite.81
Simultaneously, Newsom is considered in touch with nature: I included two instances of the wood
nymph moniker above because it was by far the most common supernatural descriptor of her,
positioning her both as a fairytale nymph and referencing the natural habitat from which she is seen
to originate (Nielsens woodland sprite label operates similarly). Flavorwires Judy Berman states
that Newsom [gave me] the idea that she woke up every morning in...a forest clearing, nuzzling a
deer and singing to the swallows;82 otherworldly she may be, but Newsom is perceived as
profoundly connected with nature and the earth. As such, Newsom is constructed as supernatural and

71
Reynolds and Press (1995): 269
72
Paul (2008)
73
Howe (2006)
74
Tedder (2010)
75
Lacey (2011)
76
Swerdloff (2008)
77
Rogers (2010)
78
Baldini (2010)
79
Khut (2010)
80
Thompson (2010)
81
Nielsen (2010)
82
Berman (2010)

14
therefore unnatural, but also as more in touch with the natural world than any human. I will
henceforth refer to this dual critical tendency, of naturalness and supernaturalness, as the
enchantment discourse.83

What might be the origins of this trope? Except for Colleen, in which the narrator is an
aquatic being forced into human society, and Monkey and Bear, in which the protagonists are
animals, all of Newsoms characters appear to be human; certainly no wood nymphs or fairies are
present. The enchantment discourses nature component is perhaps easier to find a lyrical
provocation for than its supernatural component, since several of Newsoms songs are rooted in
nature: Yss Emily invokes the meadowlark...the chim-choo-ree and the sparrow;84 Only Skin
describes a twisting and braiding river;85 81 details the creation of a garden of Eden in which
the narrator lies naked as a trout, communing with the earth in a manner recalling Bermans forest
clearing image.86 However, Newsoms lyrics tackle the urban world as frequently as the natural one:
in the second line of Only Skin, the image of black airplanes...over the sea is invoked,
juxtaposing the natural world with the man-made;87 the cryptic Kingfisher describes the process
and aftermath of an atomic bombing, while Good Intentions Paving Company sees the narrator on a
car journey with her lover.88 Seemingly, critics tend to amplify the natural over the urban references
in Newsoms work.

Certainly, non-gendered origins for this tendency exist. One possible explanation is
Newsoms positioning within the folk-influenced freak-folk movement; as folklorist Philip
Bohlman points out, folk musics have historically been perceived by theorists as connected with
nature.89 However, when I began exploring criticism of male freak-folk artists such as Devendra
Banhart and Sufjan Stevens, the enchantment discourse seemed markedly absent. A single review
labelled Banhart a wood nymph with ear hair, a description whose bathos arguably undoes the
romanticism of the wood nymph moniker.90 Conversely, Kevin Friedmans Oregon Live review of
avant-rock artist Shara Wordens project My Brightest Diamond labels Worden, Kate Bush, Bjork
and Newsom as forest nymphs who conjure worlds of sound that wouldnt...sound out of place in
a Tolkein realm.91 These artists arguably share fewer stylistic similarities with Newsom than does
Banhart, with whom Newsom has toured and collaborated;92 all, however, are marked by their

83
The term enchantment is borrowed from Paytress (2010): 46-49, in which Newsom herself briefly queries the
gendered origins of the word when asked if she struggles to reconcile the enchanted realm of creativity with everyday
life: she describes it as very coded...very female-specific that I dont necessarily love.
84
Newsom (2006): Emily
85
Ibid: Only Skin
86
Ibid (2010): 81
87
Ibid (2006): Only Skin
88
See Ibid (2010): Kingfisher; Good Intentions Paving Company
89
Bohlman (1988): 7
90
Purdum (2009)
91
Friedman (2011)
92
Breihan (2009)

15
positions as gendered minorities, as female artists creating music challenging enough to render them
credible.

How, then, might gender contribute to the enchantment discourse? Psychoanalyst Ruth
Moulton suggests that the archetype of the Earth mother, a source of life, is invariably positioned
as feminine, perhaps accounting for critics tendency to amplify the natural imagery in Newsoms
work.93 Sociologist Melissa Leach suggests the Earth mothers construction as feminine may result
from the belief that women are essentially more in touch with nature, possibly due to pre-feminist
social expectations that the female partner will provide childcare.94 English Literature professor
Nicola Bown offers a possible gendered source for the enchantment discourses supernatural
component in Victorian fairytales: fairies, she claims, are usually female, representing the perfect
epithet for Victorian femininity: they are diminutive in relation to men, magical in their
unavailability, of delicate constitution, playful rather than earnest.95 She notes that, while male
Victorian authors seemed preoccupied with fairies, they are near-absent from womens writing,
representing a metaphor for everything feminism was struggling to rescue women from.96 Although
Victorian fairies were desirable and delicate, they were also shallow and powerless compared to
humans (and thus men). As such, although comparing female musicians with fairies appears
flattering, it may also operate as a method of symbolically disempowering them.

Such a reading potentially problematises the enchantment discourse. However, this seems a
far cry from the vitriol and overt sexualisation Davies describes, and indeed Newsoms
construction as enchanted frequently occurs within positive, even passionate responses to her work.97
Artist Jessie Bowies engagement with Newsom takes the form of watercolour portraits of the
musician, depicting her face atop the bodies of various animals.98 The resultant chimeras epitomise
the enchantment paradigm: as an animal, Newsom is depicted as literally one with nature, yet also
otherworldly, even disturbing. Bowies paintings are not tongue-in-cheek caricatures; their realistic
detail must represent many hours of effort, and they number in double figures, suggesting a near-
obsessive component to Bowies work. It is not uncommon for Newsoms fans to idolise her for her
constructed enchantedness: an extreme version of this obsessive form of the enchantment discourse
represents Newsom as goddess-like, a trope I will henceforth refer to as deification. Newsom is
frequently outright labelled a goddess by her fans, suggesting she is not only outside of humanity,
but transcends it, in contrast to the ridiculing Davies suggests is common for female musicians. The
Chicago Tribunes M. David Nichols dubs Newsom a harp goddess, while Fader Magazines
Matthew Schnipper records an instance in one of her live performances of an audience member
shouting out whats it like being a goddess?99 100 Blogger John Cruzs review of Baby Birch

93
Moulton (1972): 188
94
Leach (2007): 67
95
Bown (2001): 14
96
Ibid
97
Davies (2001): 310
98
Bowie (2012)
99
Nichols (2008)

16
opens with the sentence Lets get straight to the point because there really is no denying it: Joanna
Newsom is a damn goddess, treating her deification as axiomatic.101 This tendency is so pervasive
that it has sparked a parody website, Joanna Newsom Is Perfect, aiming to make jokes about how
amazing (Newsom) is and how seriously some people take her.102 The blog posts images of
Newsom featuring deliberately overblown captions such as Joanna Newsom is the creator of all
rainbows, and (captioning a concert photo) That isnt a spotlight...Joanna Newsom just naturally
radiates light.103 104 It therefore taps into, and duly exaggerates, the tendency to simultaneously
represent Newsom as a supernatural being (who radiates light) and as an Earth mother archetype
(labelling her the creator of all rainbows).

Given the positive nature of this tendency, need it necessarily be construed as sexist, as I have
implied? One potentially empowering origin for the enchantment discourses nature component is
the worship of mother-goddess figures. According to anthropologist Andrew Fleming, this tradition
dates back to the megalithic period, positioning women as the mothers of all creation, and
connecting women as creators of children to goddesses as creators of mankind.105 A corresponding
supernatural reading is indicated by eighteenth-century historian Thomas Keightleys theory that
fairy belief originates in heathen religion, with fairies as the vestiges of ancient deities who once
animated the world.106 The deification narratives connection to the enchantment discourse also
complicates it; constructing Newsom as a goddess does not disempower her as Bown considers
fairies to disempower women, positioning her instead as a powerful creator. This appears quite at
odds with the sexism that Davies claims to be rife within music criticism. Indeed, sociomusicologist
Linda Lister suggests that the deification of female musicians is a common tendency bearing roots in
ancient goddess-worship, which may even be interpreted as a feminist act. Lister claims that
postmodern culture is pervaded by a cult of celebrity, which is largely enacted by women seeking
role-models both to deify and emulate.107 This process, Lister argues, is a form of goddess-
worship, of women celebrating the parts of themselves they can see in their female idols, operating
as a mode of empowerment which enables both the worshipped and worshipper.108 Certainly, many
of Newsoms fans engaging in deification, particularly in the context of social networks rather than
professional media outlets, appear to be young and female.109 According to Frith and McRobbie,

100
Schnipper (2010): Newsom reportedly deflected the question, saying if we all write to Dolly Parton, maybe well find
out.
101
Cruz (2010)
102
Joanna Newsom Is Perfect (2011)
103
Ibid: Why are there so many songs about rainbows?
104
Ibid: That isnt a spotlight
105
Fleming (1969): 247
106
Keightley (1850) 2-3
107
Lister (2001): 8
108
Ibid
109
The highly active and dynamically-updating Joanna Newsom tag page on the social networking site Tumblr appears
to be primarily populated with younger women, many of whom engage in discourses of deification. See Tumblr Tagged:
Joanna Newsom (2012)

17
most pop music aimed at female fans aims to repress (their) sexuality;110 in this respect Newsoms
deification may be considered a response to her lyrical explorations of female sexuality and power,
and, potentially, as an act of self-empowerment amongst her fans by positioning her as a role model.

In reality, I propose that the enchantment discourse is intrinsically polysemic in nature, and
bears overtones of sexism alongside its potential for empowerment. Since most professional critics
deifying and labelling Newsom as enchanted are male, self-empowerment is presumably not the sole
origin of this tendency, although it may be a contributing factor amongst younger female critics.
Writer Tim Kahls essay, Your Feyness, in the book Visions of Joanna Newsom, represents an
extreme example of problematic deification:111 calling Newsom your feyness throughout, Kahl
documents his emotional responses to her work, querying her supernatural powers, and suggesting
her voice (which I will discuss in a later chapter) may be visited upon [her]...from some kind of
gently castrated wizard.112 Notably, Kahl uses Newsoms construction as supernatural to objectify
her, stating:

There is a strange, murky moon essence about you. You look equally at ease in both fur and
floral prints, but there is a part of me (not completely impure) that would like to see you in
more headbands or in other exotic head coverings...I discover that large portions of my
Tuesday are given over to thinking about what you would look like in a toque, fez, or
bonnet.113

Kahls analysis is frequently overtly sexual, claiming Newsoms songs lead him to
conceptualise...that I am up to the task of interfaith and interspecies breeding, and comparing his
perception of her to a middle-aged Japanese man who visits vending machines to...fetishize soiled
schoolgirls panties.114 In Kahls hands, Newsom becomes a passive subject of the controlling male
gaze, and deification and enchantment become tools for objectification and sexualisation, in keeping
with the sexualised representation of women that Davies identifies within the music press in relation
to mainstream musicians.115

Certainly, the enchantment discourse may possess roots in objectification. Media practitioner
Jordan Dalton traces the archetype of the otherworldly female (the enchantment discourses

110
Frith and McRobbie (1978): 380
111
Visions of Joanna Newsom is, in itself, a fine example of Newsoms passionate fanbase: published by a small,
independent company, it essentially amounts to a series of tributes to Newsom created by fans (only some of whom are
professional authors), forming a kind of collectively-made biography without contribution from the artist herself.
Considering Newsoms relatively short career, spanning less than a decade, and her continued signing to an independent
rather than a major label, I suggest that the books existence is testimony to the extent to which Newsom tends to be
deified by a comparatively small fanbase.
112
Kahl (2010): 476
113
Ibid: 478
114
Ibid
115
See Mulvey (1992): 839 for more information on the controlling nature of the male gaze.

18
supernatural component) to ancient Greek sirens, dangerous yet sexually enticing femmes fatales.116
The siren represents the polar opposite of the responsible and loving Earth mother; while the Earth
mother is a source of life, the siren brings death enacted through sexuality. I propose that this reading
of the enchantment discourses binary division may represent a re-casting of psychoanalyst Sigmund
Freuds Madonna-whore complex, under which men are capable of viewing women either as
saintly Madonnas (here, the life-giving, non-sexual Earth mother) or debased prostitutes (the
supernatural femme fatale).117 Psychologists Florence Denmark and Michele Paludi suggest this
complex is inherently misogynistic, as it offers two mutually exclusive ways to construct an
identity;118 under this reading, the enchantment discourse appears similarly problematic, providing
little scope for human subjectivity.

This reading of the enchantment discourse is remarkable for how it entirely disregards
Newsoms own explorations of motherhood and sexuality, as discussed in my previous chapter.
Newsoms ambivalence towards her own capacity for creating life, as well as her sexuality and
femininity, suggest full recognition of the complexity of womanhood, powerful and wonderful but
intensely dangerous and burdensome. The Madonna-whore dichotomy erases this, depriving
Newsom of her subjectivity and apparently ignoring her musics feminist content. Certainly,
Newsom herself has stated that she does not condone her construction as enchanted, complaining
that if people ask a question...(assuming) I am a pixie, and then I have to respond...it validates the
assumption, suggesting she feels powerless to negate her own construction as enchanted by
interviewers.119 This, perhaps, is the darker side of deification; despite elevating its subject, theorists
John Hassard and Denis Pym suggest deifications ultimate outcome is to exempt (the subject) from
basic human mortality.120 The same is presumably true for the enchantment discourse: wood
nymphs and mother-goddesses, after all, are not human. In this respect, enchantment and deification
may be read as a form of outright misogyny; feminist author Catharine McKinnons book Are
Women Human? charts a history of gender-based denial of human rights, ultimately implying that
patriarchy considers women subhuman.121 To dehumanise a woman by objectifying her on the basis
of gender, then, may represent a re-enaction of a historical narrative which has denied women of
their freedom for generations.

It appears, then, that criticism of Newsoms work often ignores its feminist content and is not,
after all, free from sexism. However, the positive tone of all the reviews discussed in this chapter
contrasts with Davies assertions of outright abuse and ridicule of women in the music press.122 I
suggest that much of the gendered criticism levelled against Newsom may be categorised as what
psychologists Peter Glick and Susan Fiske label benevolent sexism.123 Sexism is defined by

116
Dalton (2010): 1
117
Hartmann (2009): 2332-2339
118
Denmark and Paludi (2993): 493-4
119
Rogers (2010)
120
Hassard and Pym (1990): 135
121
McKinnon (2006): 142
122
Davies (2001): 310
123
Glick and Fiske (1996): 491

19
psychologist Gordon Allport as prejudice based on gender, manifest as hostility of the kind Davies
discusses;124 Glick and Fiske label this tendency hostile sexism specifically. Benevolent sexism is
defined as viewing women stereotypically and in restricted roles but (in a manner)...subjectively
positive in feeling.125 Glick and Fiske suggest that, despite the positive feelings benevolent sexism is
often perceived to indicate, it is rooted in misogyny, and that its consequences are often
damaging.126 The purpose of benevolent sexism, Glick and Fiske claim, is to pacify womens
resistance to societal gender inequality, which may account for tendencies to ignore the feminist
content of Newsoms work.127 They also suggest that benevolent sexism possesses greater social
acceptability than its hostile counterpart, permitting its insidiousness;128 it may be this that causes
Davies to focus largely upon hostile sexism in their work, missing the more subtle effects of
benevolent sexism on female performers.

The enchantment discourse, then, is as problematic as it is pervasive. It offers a means for

Newsoms fanbase to connect with her, allowing her to better serve as a role-model to young women
by acting as a subject of idol-worship. However, it may also be considered a manifestation of
benevolent sexism, objectifying and dehumanising her as well as erasing the complex subjectivity
represented in her songs; that she clearly does not condone it also raises issues of consent. It is worth
noting that whether the enchantment discourse is empowering or sexist at the point of reception
cannot be neatly concluded upon, since criticism which constructs Newsom according to the
enchantment discourse or which deifies her will ultimately be consumed by audience members from
various demographics who may use it as a tool for objectification or self-empowerment; it is thus
intrinsically polysemic and multifaceted. Newsoms position as a gendered minority within the
music industry leaves her susceptible both to othering and objectification, and to being upheld as a
role-model; that the enchantment discourse is also applied to other skilled female musicians by
critics such as Friedman regardless of musical genre or lyrical subject matter indicates benevolent
sexisms pervasiveness within the music industry, and, perhaps, wider society.

124
Allport (1954): 9
125
Glick and Fiske (1996): 491
126
Ibid: 492
127
Ibid (2001): 111
128
Ibid

20
21
 III: The Gendered History and Criticism of Joanna Newsoms Harp

One possible origin for the benevolent sexism levelled against Newsom is the instrument used most
frequently to accompany her songs, namely the harp. Although she is also a keyboard-player,
Newsom is best-known as a harpist, with virtually every review of her work mentioning the
instrument as central to her performances. The Guardians Vanessa Thorpe dubs her a harpist...who
also sings, transparently consigning her vocals to a secondary position.129 I suggest that Newsoms
harp is particularly pertinent in the context of its historical role as a gendered signifier, which may
shed light upon Newsoms simultaneous critical acclaim and frequent construction through
benevolent sexism in popular media. I propose that the harp possesses an extensive history of use as
a tool and signifier of benevolent sexism, and is consequently used to construct Newsom in terms of
passivity and submissiveness. I also argue, however, that she has reappropriated and resignified the
instrument in a postfeminist manner, as a feminine vehicle for feminist music, but that this is
frequently ignored by critics.

Musicologists Jacqueline Letzler and Robert Adelson suggest that for feminine decency, no
instrument could compete with the harp.130 This stereotype persists to the present day; psychologist
Kenneth Cramers research into gender stereotyping of musicians found the harp to be strongly
associated with femininity, while music education researchers Judith Delzell and David Leppla
found that, of nineteen commonly-played instruments, the harp was considered the most feminine.131
132
The harp appears, then, to be a powerful feminine signifier, which may explain child psychologist
Susan Hallams findings that ninety percent of school-aged harpists are female.133 The origins of the
harps perceived femininity are examined in performer Olga Grosss article Gender and the Harp,
which traces the instruments gendered history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.134 Sexual
stereotyping of instruments, according to musicologist Carol Neuls-Bates, began in the Renaissance,
when Gross suggests the harp was one of only a few instruments desirable for women to play; it was
feared that most instruments physical requirements might spoil their proper demeanor.135 Gross
quotes sixteenth-century author Baldesar Castiglioni, who remarks upon the ungainly sight... (of) a
woman playing drums, fifes, trumpets...their stridency buries...the sweet gentleness which
embellishes everything a woman does.136 Indeed, in contrast to the critical discourses surrounding
her voice (which will be discussed in my next chapter), critics often focus upon the beauty and
gentleness of Newsoms harp-playing. Eric Martz of Minneapolis Fucking Rocks claims that her
gentle harp recalls medieval music;137 Tiny Mix Tapess Justin Spicer describes her harp as a

129
Thorpe (2010)
130
Letzler and Adelson (2001): 49
131
Cramer et al (2002): 161-74
132
Delzell and Leppla (1992): 93-103
133
Hallam (2008): 7-19
134
Gross (1992):30-33; Ibid (1993): 28-35
135
Neuls-Bates (1982): 223
136
Cited in ibid: 39
137
Martz (2010)

22
pretty damsel;138 independent reviewer Guy Peters claims that her fingers...flutter over the strings
with a butterflys light touch...the way she plucks those strings...is sheer bliss (also a clear example
of the enchantment discourse).139 Recalling Castiglionis praising of sweet gentleness, these
descriptions suggest the perceived femininity of Newsoms playing contributes to her critical
approval; that is, her demeanour is proper. Just as Newsoms comparison to a fairy taps into
misogynistic narratives of feminine passivity, so her harp-playing is praised for its conformance to
patriarchal ideals of submissiveness.

Davies suggests that musicians who are normatively feminine are often attacked for lacking
credibility, a narrative I have proposed is not generally used against Newsom due to her perceived
intellectualism.140 Indeed, critics frequently dwell upon Newsoms technical prowess in the harp,
which I argue may stem from the instruments gendered history. In the nineteenth century, Gross
explains, proficiency in the harp was considered a feminine accomplishment, replacing academic
education to render a woman marriageable.141 Accomplishment indicated status, provided ones
accomplishments were appropriately feminine; skill at the harp indicated culture, but was viewed as
innocent and harmless. Sociologist Mavis Bayton suggests that competent female guitarists skills
are often belittled in media, since, by inhabiting a traditionally male role, they threaten gender
boundaries.142 Conversely, Newsoms classical training is often mentioned, alongside a frequently-
retold story from her music camps harp teacher, Diana Stork. Stork claims that, aged twelve,
Newsom resolved to master the two-handed polymetric patterns which are now central to her playing
style, and spent hours alone with her harp in the woods, practicing to perfection.143 This anecdotes
critical appeal may bear roots in the enchantment discourses Earth mother component, but I posit
that it is also linked to the gendered nature of Newsoms instrument. The harps history is
sufficiently feminine that although her skill renders her credible, it can be critically constructed as
womens work, posing no challenge to male musicians. As such, Newsoms instrument helps her
escape hostile criticism, but renders her a target for benevolently sexist construction as gentle and
powerless.

Sociologist Erving Goffmann suggests that womens presentation within visual media reflects
and influences their perception in society, and that they are frequently physically positioned to code
submissiveness. This process, in which the body becomes a text carrying socioculturally coded
meanings, is referred to as embodiment.144 Men, Goffman suggests, are usually depicted grasping
objects with their hands; women use only their fingers, touching objects delicately.145 The harps
present-day feminine associations may, I contend, directly relate to its mechanics: supported by the
body, the hands need not grasp it but are used to pluck the strings finger by finger, signifying

138
Spicer (2006)
139
Peters (2004)
140
Davies (2001): 301
141
Gross (1993): 28
142
Bayton (1997): 38
143
See Rosen (2010)
144
Goffman (1979): 252-3
145
Ibid: viii

23
gentleness. Goffman also suggests that women are often depicted recumbent or in acquiescent poses;
it is impractical, even impossible, to play the harp in a standing position. Gross states that the harp
restricts motion of the torso and head, leaving only the limbs free to pluck the strings and press the
pedals and physically and symbolically binding the harpist.146 This might account for critical
tendencies to label Newsom a harpist first and foremost, prioritising the instrument at the expense
of her voice and songwriting, and dehumanising her by conflation with an inanimate object.

Gross claims that the harps physical boundaries were not always only bodily. By the
nineteenth century, the ideal female role was as the guardian angel of a household, creating a home
which was a nook of heaven in an unheavenly world; the world of work beyond the home was
exclusively male territory.147 In Western art, the harp is frequently depicted being played by angels,
and is described in D.F. Schubarts 1839 Asthetik der Tonkunst as spiritually elevated;148 for this
reason, Gross suggests, the harp signified heavenly domesticity. These connotations also served to
keep women confined to the home, since playing professionally was viewed as a result of failure to
marry.149 Womens construction as angelic, then, served as the same kind of benevolent sexism as
the discourses of deification and enchantment discussed in the second chapter of this essay, and it is
perhaps unsurprising that several reviewers have described Newsoms playing as angelic.150 In
each case, the female subject is idealised while simultaneously being limited and controlled; the
difference is that Newsoms labelling as enchanted or angelic limits her symbolically, rather than
physically confining her.

The harps gendered history, then, is problematic, and its legacy remains visible today in its
use as a tool of benevolent sexism in the critical stereotyping of female harpists like Newsom. I
established my belief in this essays first chapter that Newsoms songs are fundamentally feminist in
nature, and positioned her as a feminist musician. Yet according to Goffman and Gross, her choice of
instrument codes passivity, is positioned as womens work in a male-dominated music industry,
and restrains her physically and symbolically. Can the presentation of femininity as problematic and
restrictive in Monkey and Bear, or the declarations of female power represented by The Book of
Right-On, be reconciled with the submissive femininity apparently coded by Newsoms instrument?
I propose that Newsom actively subverts the harps gendered connotations in her work,
reappropriating the instrument as a feminine vehicle for the feminist views represented in her lyrics,
and resisting against critics who stereotype her as passive. Sociology professor Marie Buscatto notes
that the emergence of professional female musicians is a recent phenomenon, dating from the
twentieth century. Women, she suggests, still constitute a relative minority in vernacular music, and
proposes that performing professionally remains, as such, inherently transgressive.151 From this
perspective, Newsoms very existence as a female musician is radical; she has removed the harp
from its domestic origins, recasting it in a context allowing her to broadcast not only her songs, but

146
Gross (1992): 30
147
Ibid (1993): 28
148
Schubart (1839): 60
149
Gross (1993): 29
150
See Peters (2004); Saunders (2010); McLean (2010)
151
Buscatto (2010)

24
the feminist themes therein, to the public. This is arguably true of any professional female musician,
but I argue its transgressive resonance is greater in light of the harps domestic and feminine
associations. The harps rarity in vernacular music renders its onstage presence even more striking; it
is a symbol of femininity, brought into a world which, according to Buscatto, remains dominated by
masculinity.

Newsoms technical accomplishment as a harpist is also, I suggest, utilised in a manner which

is at odds with the instruments reputation as sweet and gentle, to quote Castiglioni. While most
critics miss, or perhaps ignore this (a distinction addressed by my next chapter), journalist Rob
Harvillas live review of Newsom in The Village Voice (which opens by remarking wryly upon
Newsoms objectification by male audience members) compares her playing to the shredding style
of guitar-playing, comprising rapid arpeggiations, runs and off-beat, syncopated rhythms.152 153
Shredding is usually associated with genres such as heavy metal, a style which cultural theorist Andy
Brown suggests centralises masculinity; its connections with guitar culture link Newsoms playing
style to an instrument which, according to author Steve Waksman, is commonly read as an
ultramasculine phallic symbol.154 155 Newsom also appears capable of exacting significant physical
force on her instrument; one member of fan message board Milky Moon notes that in a live
performance, her attack...was so strong, she had the harp going from side to side.156 By playing
forcefully, Newsom subverts the sweet and gentle stereotype of the harp, utilising her technical
accomplishment not merely to appear displayable or desirable, but to adopt a range of styles and
techniques, including those typically coded as masculine or aggressive. In this respect, she is actively
competing with her male contemporaries who play more masculine-coded instruments; doubly so
given her songs feminist content.

I have, then, explored Newsoms use of the harp to transgress gendered performance
boundaries, and to subvert the instruments feminine stereotyping. Grosss consideration of the
harps bodily restraints seems more difficult to overcome, since the immobilisation of the harpist is
apparently a basic tenet of the instruments mechanical function. Videos of Newsoms live
performances, however, suggests that this is not necessarily so. Unlike most classical harpists,
Newsom appears to rest the instrument far forward on her shoulder closer to her collarbone, leaving
her torso relatively free; she visibly rocks while singing, even as she supports the instrument.157 Far
from being immobilised, Newsom also moves her head in fluid circular motions, presumably for
expressive purposes; psychologists Dahl and Friberg suggest that pianists head movements play a
vital role in their communication of expressive content, and it seems likely that Newsoms head
motions fulfil a similar role.158 Newsom appears, then, to have adopted methods of playing which

152
Harvilla (2010)
153
Roth and Yancik (2001)
154
Andy Brown (2003): 222
155
Waksman (2001): 313
156
Wanbli (2012)
157
A particularly clear video of Newsoms playing posture is available at Video: Cosmia (2010)
158
Dahl and Friberg (2007): 433-454.

25
even minimise the harps physical constraints, allowing her to literally transgress several of the
boundaries Gross describes.

Just as Newsoms protagonist in Does Not Suffice collects up the trappings of femininity
from her lovers room, and therefore exerts power over him by regaining her subjectivity, I contend
that Newsoms use of the harp rescues it from its historical position as a tool to oppress women
through benevolent sexism, resisting against critics who construct her in terms of passive femininity
just as her songs narrator resignifies her potentially oppressive high-heeled shoes as reminders of
how easy I was not. Newsoms harp playing thus exemplifies her position under Genzs archetype
of the postfeminist woman, as discussed in this essays first chapter: it is feminine and feminist at
the same time, a feminine instrument for feminist music.159 While a few critics like Harvilla (and
others who will be discussed in this essays fifth chapter) have noted these reappropriative
tendencies, more often they are erased in favour of casting Newsoms skills as quaintly feminine and
gentle, a narrative recalling the enchantment discourse, which similarly disregards Newsoms
subjectivity and her musics feminist content. Given Davies assertion that the admission of feminist
beliefs may prove harmful to a performer, it is perhaps surprising that Newsom has not attracted
more hostile criticism;160 critics appear to misread her, latching on to the feminine aspects of her
work while ignoring her postfeminist resignification of that femininity and levelling benevolent
sexism against her. The next chapter of this essay will examine the only aspect of Newsoms
performances which is regularly met with hostility, namely her singing voice. I propose that
examining critical responses to Newsoms voice may aid in unlocking the origins of the benevolent
sexism which appears in response to much of her work, and will argue that the feminist content of
her songs is, ultimately, not simply missed, but wilfully ignored by many critics.

159
Genz (2010): 106
160
Davies (2001): 310

26
27
 IV: The Gendered Criticism of Joanna Newsoms Voice

This essays two previous chapters have primarily considered criticism of Newsoms work which is
benevolently sexist in nature. I suggest that such criticism emerges from a misreading of Newsoms
postfeminist resignification of femininity, leading to her objectification and construction as passive
even as her work is critically acclaimed. One exception to this trend is Newsoms singing voice,
which is by far the most harshly-critiqued aspect of her work, perhaps because, rather than
resignifying feminine ideals, it entirely rejects them. Newsoms singing voice operates as a powerful
tool for the open subversion of her femininity which I argue in turn illuminates the feminist potential
of her work more broadly, and is far less subtle than her reappropriation of the harp. Consequently,
critics frequently respond to it with hostility, even within otherwise benevolent reviews. I propose
this discrepancy indicates awareness and fear of the subversiveness of Newsoms performance of
femininity, and suggest that the critical misreadings represented by the enchantment discourse and
benevolently sexist treatment of her harp-playing emerge not from ignorance, but from a desire to
contain the feminist threat Newsom poses to the male-dominated music industry.

Newsoms vocal production is highly unusual: it relies heavily upon speech-like chest
resonance, pushed as high as E6 in Peach, Plum, Pear which gives the impression of a pitched
shout.161 162 Newsom sings with a high larynx, strong nasal resonance, and a tone characterised by
cracks and squeaks (the onset of the first note of Only Skin is a prime example);163 she also tends to
widen her vowels, imparting a rustic accent to her singing which is absent from her speech.164 165
Newsom seems fully aware of her voices unusualness, describing it as

basically out of my control...I've been unable to groom or refine it much beyond its own naked
and untrained color...there's not much room in my mind for technicalitiesthe voice does sort
of just come straight from my gut, my muscles, blood and bones.166

Newsoms approach to singing was evidently uninformed by vocal pedagogy, which may contribute
to her vocal idiosyncrasies. Critics responses to her voice are mixed; one common tendency I noted
was to praise her harp technique and ambitious songwriting (both contributing to her perception as
intellectual and thus credible) but to respond with confusion or even hostility to her singing. Bill
Bradley of Vanity Fair describes her voice as possessing a Monty Python quality, while Scott Reid

161
Newsom (2004): Peach, Plum, Pear
162
In Have One On Me, Newsom utilises somewhat more head resonance in her upper register, reducing the pitched-
shout effect I have described here, but the rest of her vocal quirks remain intact.
163
Newsom (2006): Only Skin
164
Carriage (2011): 3 offers a clear and detailed description of Newsoms vocal quirks, aimed at vocal pedagogues.
165
I would strongly recommend taking time to listen to Newsoms recordings in order to gain a sense of her signature
vocals; although I have endeavoured to describe her technique here in relatively neutral, non-gendered terms, an accurate
picture of her voice can only really be gained by listening to her performing.
166
Bohm and Potts (2006)

28
of Stylus Magazine labels it downright grating.167 168 Michael Jordan of Sputnik Music labels
Newsom vocally...a demented she-gnome or the half-idiot sister of a Laura Ingalls frontier family,
and claims that the refrain of Peach, Plum, Pear would cause a listener to claw out his eyes.169
Dave Eggers, meanwhile, describes Newsoms voice in his piece for SPIN Magazine as crazy: Is
she nuts? I wondered, because the voice sounded nuts. It was upsetting, wobbly and wavering.170
In all these pieces, the most aggressive criticism is of Newsoms voice: Reid praises her
arrangements and flashes of brilliance as a songwriter;171 Bradley considers her skilled and Very
Good (sic) at the harp;172 Eggers discusses his fascination with her music, describing her song
Sadie as his 92-plays-a-day habit. Only Jordans review is broadly negative, rating The Milk-Eyed
Mender at 1.5 stars and dubbing it a failure.173 However, the most hostile aspects of his review by
far refer to Newsoms voice; he concedes that her lyrics are pseudo-clever and that her
accompaniments exploit the harps dreamy quality. Seemingly, Newsoms voice offends him
sufficiently to negatively colour his impression of the album as a whole. In all these reviews,
Newsoms voice garners the harshest criticisms, contrasting the idealisation I have hitherto identified
throughout reviews of her work, and which still remains prominent in Eggers article.

One might argue that these hostile responses stem from the sheer unfamiliarity of Newsoms
vocal timbre, since even within the independent rock scene her voice is highly unusual. Nonetheless,
I suggest that the terms in which Newsoms voice is critiqued are as profoundly gendered as the
enchantment discourse, and that negative critical reactions to it may be deeply rooted in a broader
cultural misogyny, manifest, for once, as hostile rather than benevolent sexism. It is worth
considering Newsoms critical treatment relative to a male contemporary: John Darnielle, lead singer
of Californian band the Mountain Goats, represents a useful vocal counterpart to Newsom, since he
is active in similar musical circles and tends to be generically pigeonholed, like Newsom, as indie-
folk or folk-rock. Darnielles vocal production is also highly unconventional: like Newsom, his
singing adopts significant nasal resonance and a high larynx, and he uses cracks for dramatic effect
(the song Psalms 40:2 from the Mountain Goats album The Life of the World to Come is a good
example).174 His lyrics and music, like Newsoms, are well-regarded, but his voice divides critics. I
located several reviews of Darnielle describing his voice as grating, a descriptor used in Jordans
review of Newsom, and articles in which both singers were labelled bleating, reedy, or simply
annoying.175 176 However, while nearly every derogatory adjective applied to Darnielles voice was

167
Wagner and Bradley (2010)
168
Reid (2004)
169
Jordan (2010)
170
Eggers (2004): 61
171
Reid (2004)
172
Wagner and Bradley (2010)
173
Jordan (2010)
174
Darnielle (2009)
175
Smith (2011); Zonenashvili (2012)
176
See Baron (2012); Barker (2010); Robbins (2011); Williams (2010); Chorpenning (2011); Kepplinger (2010)

29
also applied to Newsoms, the reverse was not the case; some insults were levelled against Newsom
alone.

Most notably, Newsom is often described as shrill and shrieking, words which seemed not
to be used in any reviews of Darnielles work.177 Feminist author Kathleen Rowe considers shrill a
highly gendered insult, often levelled against outspoken women, and suggests that voices that are
not meant to be heard are perceived as loud...regardless of their actual decibel level.178 Shrill and
shrieking also connote hysteria, a diagnosis which Nicola Wright and Sarah Owen state many
strong-willed women were labelled with in the Victorian era as a silencing tactic. I suggest, then, that
the strong reactions present in many negative reviews of Newsoms voice are prompted not only by
its unconventional nature, but by the intersection of that nature with her gender. Feminist author
Deborah Tannen claims that society considers masculinity unmarked that is, accepted as default
while femininity is marked or added on, and is thus more visible and open to criticism. Gendered
insults, therefore, are usually levelled only against women, since only their gender is marked; this
might explain why words associated with hysteria are used against Newsom but not Darnielle. I also
located more negative responses overall to Newsoms voice than to Darnielles, despite the fact that
Darnielle has released more albums and has thus garnered more reviews in total. This may stem from
a lower relative cultural tolerance to female voices: a study by speech therapist D.W. Addington
suggested that men with harsh voices (harsh defined as an irregular glottal wave-form and a high
degree of spectral noise, both common amongst untrained singers) were attributed more positive
personality traits than women with harsh voices.179 Another speech study by Boves et al suggested
the ideal male voice was significantly harsher than the ideal female voice;180 seemingly, although
being an unusually-voiced artist courts controversy in itself, audiences possess lower tolerance for
unusual female voices. Speech therapist Monique Biemans also suggests that nasality, prominent in
both Newsom and Darnielles sounds, is judged negatively in both genders but is considered typical
of masculine voices;181 I have several times mentioned Davies claim that female artists adopting
masculine traits are often attacked and pathologised, which might account for the extra pejorative
terms levelled against Newsom, as well as suggesting that her shrillness might indicate hysteria.

It is perhaps the fact that Newsoms voice actively transgresses expected gendered boundaries
that leads to its criticism through hostile, rather than benevolent sexism. I have already discussed the
ways in which Newsoms performance of femininity, as a vehicle for a musical corpus featuring
feminist messages, leads to those messages being ignored by her critics, and her construction as
gentle and passive. I propose that Newsoms voice may act as the missing piece of this puzzle
precisely because it is not normatively feminine. By juxtaposing a physical appearance and
instrumental accompaniment drawing upon feminine ideals with a voice that openly thwarts the
expectations afforded by those ideals, Newsom subverts her own performed femininity, illuminating

177
See Hodkinson (2010); Mulvey (2010); Pearson (2010)
178
Rowe (1995): 63
179
Addington (1968): Men with harsh voices in the study were judged as mature, well adjusted, realistic, and artistic,
while women with harsh voices were seen as stupid, lazy, boorish, ugly, sickly, careless, and inartistic.
180
Boves et al (1982), cited in Brouwer (1989): 11
181
Biemans (2000): 54

30
the artifice of gender performance. As a child, Newsom claims to have been self-conscious about her
voice, believing herself to be unable to sing; it was not until she entered university and heard the
similarly unusual voice of folk singer Texas Gladden that she felt encouraged to consider my own
strange, unruly voice to be an instrument at my disposal.182 Newsoms conscious decision to sing
despite her inability to conform to feminine vocal ideals, therefore, may represent a calculated
resistance against those who would restrict her based on her gender, exposing to the world a voice
which is, in Rowes words, not meant to be heard. Newsoms singing technique also subverts the
perception of her physical appearance as feminine: she distorts her face when vocalising, thrusting
her jaw forward, exposing her teeth and pulling back her lips; when vocalising an oo vowel, she
pulls her mouth off-centre, interfering with her facial symmetry, a well-established cue for physical
attractiveness.183 English professor and sociologist Gayle Wald suggests that a female...musicians
pretty face is the ultimate source of her...cultural authority;184 Newsoms singing not only aurally
subverts the femininity attributed to her music, but visually alters her own pretty face, contesting
her objectified construction as the beautiful wood nymph clad in Sonia Rykiel (to quote Swerdloff)
and sexualisation by critics like Kahl.

Rather than resignifying aspects of femininity, then, Newsoms singing openly flouts gendered
expectations. I suggest the fact that Newsoms voice, specifically, fulfils this purpose is significant.
In this essays first chapter, I discussed Colleen, which examines language and verbalisation as an
exertion of power; when Colleen is voiceless, she is at the mercy of the community into which she
has been indoctrinated, her identity amounting simply to her gender, as her name meaning
woman suggests. Like Newsom under the enchantment discourse, her subjectivity is erased. It is
not until she once again finds her voice and language that she is able to throw off the shackles of the
femininity imposed upon her, regaining her subjectivity. Classicist Anne Carson suggests that, in
ancient Greek literature, womens speech and language is said to lack the masculine qualities of
sophrosyne, or self-control; their voices are associated with the expression of unrational sounds,
and they are, as such, encouraged to remain silent; it is perhaps unsurprising, then, that Newsoms
uncontrolled voice led her, as a child, to refrain from singing.185 Anthropologist Susan Gal suggests
that womens voices are still systemically silenced; for Gal, speech is inextricably linked in power,
and silencing is a patriarchal act of oppression.186 I have already established that the majority of
gendered critiques of Newsoms work may be categorised as benevolent rather than hostile sexism,
entirely ignoring her musics feminist themes and her postfeminist resignifications of femininity, and
instead pigeonholing her as passively and desirably feminine; I now propose that this is no accidental
misreading of Newsoms work, but a calculated act of silencing.

182
Bohm and Potts (2006)
183
All of these features of Newsoms performances can be viewed in virtually any of the videos available of her
performances online. An excellent example is available at Video: Peach, Plum, Pear (2010) (see bibliography), a
recording of a live performance filmed in extreme close-up.
184
Wald (1998): 589
185
Carson (1995): 127
186
Gal (1991): 415

31
 While the resignifying aspects of Newsoms performances could conceivably be misread as
conforming to femininity, leading to their critique using benevolent sexism, the hostility levelled
against her voice implies an awareness of the threat she poses to the music industrys gender
boundaries; read in this light, ignoring the postfeminist aspects of Newsoms performances, and the
feminist content of her work, seems more like an act of calculated suppression. Intriguingly, media
professor Mary Celeste Kearney suggests that such silencing of feminist musicians is common,
claiming that even the overtly feminist Riot Grrrl movement was initially treated in the press as just
another anarchic pose of youth, posing its greatest threat when publicly refuting this framing of
itself.187 Newsoms decision to embrace her untrained voice may be read as a similar refutation of
her construction as passively feminine, rather than subversively postfeminist, repositioning her as an
invader in a mens world of serious music. The hostility levelled at her voice may express panic at
Newsoms rejection of her benevolently sexist construction; just as her narrator in Only Skin resists
condemnation for her feminine sexuality, so Newsom vocally resists her construction through
benevolent sexism. I therefore suggest that Newsom is recognised as a threat to the music industrys
prevailing masculinity, and that gendered criticism levelled against her (whether benevolent or
hostile) represents an attempt to preserve that order. I submit, therefore, that the forms of gendered
criticism used to contain threatening women musicians may be further-reaching and more nuanced
than Davies suggests, and that critical sexism is near-inescapable regardless of perceived credibility
or acclaim. This essays final chapter will explore alternative approaches to criticism of Newsom
which aim to destabilise this tendency, and will consider the possibility of a feminist music criticism
on a broader scale.

187
Kearney (1997): 224

32
33
34
 V: Towards a Feminist Criticism of Joanna Newsom

Much of the gendered criticism so far discussed in this essay has been highlighted as problematic.
Misogyny appears to be rife throughout the music press, and despite Newsoms critcal acclaim she is
frequently critiqued in sexist terms, usually benevolently but occasionally, in the case of her voice,
with hostility. As an artist both appropriating and subverting feminine ideals as a vehicle for a
feminist musical corpus, Newsom represents a substantial threat to the male-dominated indie-rock
scene; it is perhaps unsurprising, then, that even in the context of positive reviews, critics often go to
some length to suppress and silence the transgressive elements of her work in ways not necessarily
accounted for by Davies exploration of hostile critical sexism. I propose that a truly feminist
criticism of Newsoms work would acknowledge the gendered aspects of her corpus without
resorting to either hostile or benevolent sexism; though I was unable to find a mainstream media
outlet accomplishing such critique, I was surprised to find several amateur online sources whose self-
appointed purpose was to consider gendered issues in Newsoms and other artists music from a
feminist perspective. I suggest that these sources may signpost a way out of the perpetuation of
masculine culture within the music industry described by Davies and Leonard, ultimately pointing
the way towards a feminist pop criticism.

By far the most noteworthy resource for feminist critique of Newsoms work specifically is
Blessing All the Birds, a collaborative weblog based on the social networking platform Tumblr.
Describing itself as a feminist fan project which sees Newsoms work as...literature deserving
serious critical analysis, the site is run by Rachel Parent and Melissa Marturano, two American
graduate students who are passionate about Newsoms work.188 Marturano in particular has written
extensive analyses of several of Newsoms songs, often numbering several thousand words in length.
She treats each lyric as literature, frequently drawing fruitful comparisons between Newsoms songs
and numerous other texts: her contributions include an analysis of the cryptic No Provenance from
Have One On Me, which she reads as a parable about the dangers of chivalry and its connections
with female passivity (a cultural trope which I have established is present in many critics
construction of Newsom) and compares Newsoms description of her narrator as a little black mare
and the Hellenistic love poet Theocrituss representation of aloof women as horses.189 She has also
written a multi-part series comparing Go Long to various versions of Charles Perraults Bluebeard
myth, including Angela Carters The Bloody Chamber, and at the time of writing had commenced
a series exploring Yss death drive and pleasure instinct from a Freudian perspective.190 191

Blessing All the Birds willingness to take Newsoms music seriously and consider it in terms
of, and in comparison to, high art, may itself indicate a feminist agenda. Musicologist Elizabeth
Kydd suggests that, within and outwith the academy, music created at high levels is still considered a
masculine activity; she points out the gendering inherent in such terms as the music of man or even

188
Parent and Marturano (2011)
189
Marturano (February 2011)
190
Marturano (April 2012)
191
Marturano (May 2012)

35
masterpiece as an example of how naturalised taking only mens music seriously has become.192
Blessing All the Birds approach observes the complexity of Newsoms music without pigeonholing
it as superficial, and also acknowledges the ambivalence contained within many of Newsoms songs
(as discussed in this essays first chapter), which few other critics do. Marturano considers Baby
Birch in terms of post-abortion syndrome, an unofficially-recognised disorder which is much-touted
by anti-abortion campaigners, and in turn denied by pro-choice organisations. Marturanos approach
is fiercely pro-choice, but strongly advocates avoiding absolutes, pointing out that Newsoms
narrator can simultaneously grieve over her abortion...and stand by her initial decision. She can
somehow want a child and then not want one. She can be pro-choice and still feel sorrow over her
own abortion. Somehow this is a tricky situation in our society.193 In this way, Marturano offers a
personal and openly feminist analysis of the song which respects Newsoms subjectivity and does
not aim to disempower her.

Blessing All the Birds primary concern is the treatment of Newsoms works as literature; as
such their aims differ somewhat from mine. They have, however, engaged to some extent with
criticism of Newsoms music, and occasionally call out sexism in articles in which it is clearly
evident. In March 2011, Parent wrote a series of intriguing posts regarding the gender-binary of
influence in music journalism, noting reviewers tendency to compare Newsom only to other female
performers.194 I have not touched upon this topic in this essay, partially due to limitations of space,
but also because Blessing All the Birds have covered it quite comprehensively. Parent notes repeated
instances of critical comparison between Newsom and several other musicians, particularly Joni
Mitchell, but also Kate Bush, Tori Amos and Bjork, artists with fairly divergent styles who, Parent
suggests, are implied to be similar due to their gender.195 In the second chapter of this essay, I quoted
Friedmans application of the enchantment discourse to several stylistically diverse female artists and
suggested this to be gendered in origin; Parents findings suggest this to be a recurrent trope. Parent
states that:

music critics are...perpetuating a system which defines female musicians as essentially

different from male musicians, while also strongly implying that women are the underclass in
this gendered hierarchy. Joanna Newsom and Kate Bush are unfairly lumped together
because there are so few women writing demanding music, that music critics do not have
many women from whom to choose for their comparisons.196

I suggest that this may be at the heart of much of the criticism of Newsoms work already discussed
in this essay. I have said little here about the differences in style between female and male critics,
since even female critics (a distinct minority in my research) seemed to engage in the enchantment
discourse, to idealise Newsom as an angelic figure based on her harp-playing, or to write off her
voice as ugly. The music industry remains, as Parent puts it, dominated by men on both the creative

192
Kydd (1992): 122-23
193
Marturano (July 2011)
194
Parent (2011)
195
Ibid
196
Ibid

36
and critical sides of the equation, particularly in the circle of independent musicians writing the kind
of challenging music Newsom herself creates.197 Davies suggests that for women to succeed in music
journalism, they must become one of the boys...identifying with their male peers rather than the
women on whom they comment;198 as such, narratives such as those identified by Parent are
perpetuated by both genders, artificially sustaining the music industrys masculine subject position.

Blessing All the Birds is run by amateur writers rather than professional journalists, who are
less entrenched in the male-dominated industry Parent describes. Although it is the most significant
source for feminist criticism of Newsoms work, several other critics (also web-based and not
professional journalists) have contributed considerably. Blogger Leigh Alexanders self-described
overly intense track-by-track analysis of Have One On Me reads the album as the story of a
codependent or even abusive relationship; again, it eschews absolutism and considers both the love
between the storys protagonists, and the potentially oppressive and misogynistic nature of that love
towards Newsoms narrator. Alexanders tone is informal and she predominantly describes a
personal response to the album, but nonetheless avoids constructing Newsoms femininity as passive
or enchanted, and does not resort to gendered attacks on her voice, even as she considers the gender
dynamic within the album itself.199 Technicalities, the pseudonymous author of philosophy and
literary criticism weblog There Could Be Snakes In Here, offers a more analytical approach,
discussing motifs within each track of the album, including femininity and nature, as well as
allegories such as drunkenness (which, it is convincingly argued, represents love).200 Mapping these
themes between songs and providing brief analyses of musical structure, Technicalities article often
resembles a stream of consciousness, but is nonetheless extremely comprehensive, taking into
account both gendered and non-gendered themes without resorting to essentialism or sexism.

All of the sources I have so far discussed eschew negative criticism. One might argue that
constructing a feminist critique of an artist is significantly easier when a critics impression of that
artist is positive; certainly, while negative reviews of Newsom are rare, those which exist (such as
Jordans Sputnik Music review, discussed in this essays fourth chapter) do engage in hostile sexism.
This is unsurprising; a study by psycholinguist Kathleen Preston suggested that, at least amongst
college-aged students, almost all colloquial insults were assigned to one gender or the other
(Tannens theory of feminine markedness, outlined in this essays previous chapter, makes it all the
more likely that a female artist will be attacked in gendered terms).201 Although Prestons study
refers to informal use, it nonetheless indicates that gender may be an important factor in negative
perception of individuals and their actions, and may contribute to the difficulty of constructing a
feminist pop criticism which is not, paradoxically, entirely uncritical of its subjects. I did, however,
locate one reviewer who is critical of Newsom without resorting to gendered attacks: Alyx Vesey, of
website Feminist Music Geek. Vesey admits to initial indifference to Newsom; she claims to have
warmed up to Have One On Me due to its relative directness, but nonetheless critiques the albums

197
Ibid
198
Davies (2001): 304
199
Alexander (2011)
200
Technicalities (2010)
201
Preston (1987): 209-219

37
pretension and Newsoms tendency to stretch odes...well past the three-minute mark.202 However,
she also considers the significance of male versus female pretension, questioning whether the latter
may be earned and therefore more justified by historical oppression; although this may not affect
her own emotional response, I suggest that the fact she accounts for it is significant, representing a
step towards a feminist music criticism.203

Veseys blog is a resource for feminist critique of numerous musicians of all genders and
genres. She admits disdain for certain artists, such as Alicia Keys, but considers the social narratives
behind that disdain, suggesting that Keys projects a studied black authenticity but admitting that
her own whiteness renders her unable to wholly comprehend a mixed-race artists negotiation of
representation.204 Veseys separation of personal taste from identity politics, considering the latters
effect on the former without negating eithers validity, is absent from much mainstream criticism,
and may contributed to the gendered discourses circulating between reviewers and perpetuating the
acceptability of sexist criticism. By presenting her negative responses to artists without resorting to
unstudied attacks on their identities, instead considering the impact those identities might have on
her own viewpoint, Vesey explores a form of criticism which is less oppressive to minority artists
and may have the potential to deconstruct kyriarchal norms.

All of these sources adopt an approach which seemingly draws more from critical
musicology than from conventional pop criticism: Vesey, Parent and Marturano are academics
whose articles directly engage with advanced gender theory, and the article at There Could Be
Snakes In Here draws on literary criticism and musicology. Veseys separation of personal taste from
theoretical narratives recalls Lawrence Kramers framing of critical musicology; what is responsible
for our response to music, and to what is our response responsible?205 It is this consideration of
broader cultural meaning, including feminist theory, which I suggest is absent from most pop
criticism, and which offers the possibility of questioning and ultimately destabilising the industrys
norms. Why do these resources differ so much from mainstream media outlets? I suggest that a
crucial factor is the influence of capitalism; if, as Davies suggests, sexism is the default status for
pop writing, music publications must participate in it to survive within a capitalist infrastructure.206
This renders the industrys masculine subject position self-sustaining, since questioning it poses a
risk to critics and publications. Social scientist Richard Barbrook suggests that the Internet offers the
possibility of escape from patterns of capitalist exchange; amateur critics operating in a non-profit
context (all the authors discussed here, crucially, use free web-hosts to publish content) are not in
direct competition with their non-feminist counterparts to survive.207 They are thus freer to explore

202
Vesey (2010)
203
Ibid
204
Ibid (2011)
205
Kramer (2006): 1
206
Davies (2001): 310
207
Barbrook (1998)

38
the music they listen to from a perspective incorporating their own academic study and egalitarian
politics.208

While the authors discussed here therefore offer an approach to music criticism which
escapes structural misogyny, the question remains as to whether their methods can permeate the
industry at large. Although these amateur critics readerships are necessarily smaller than a major
publication, I suggest that their influence is nevertheless non-trivial; Feminist Music Geek currently
possess almost a thousand fans on Facebook, presumably a fraction of her total readership.209 Faith
Wilding proposes the Internet as a new forum for disseminating feminist information, representing
an entry point into...feminist activism for many readers;210 as such, I suggest that the more
widespread feminist discourses become amongst amateur critics, the more pressure will be placed
upon larger outlets by their readers to adopt a more egalitarian approach. This may also apply to
budding writers; exposure to feminist pop criticism before entering the masculine music industry
might, in the long term, lead to a sea-change in the default subject position of music journalism. As
such, while the writers discussed here are by no means an end-goal for feminist pop criticism, I
propose that they may, perhaps, be paving the way for the future of the music industry.

208
The fact that numerous amateur critics nonetheless engage in the same sexist discourses as their professional
counterparts, of course, indicates that amateur status alone is no guarantee of a more egalitarian outlook; any consumer of
existing mainstream critical discourses is liable to be affected by and to imitate them, but the choice to resist is
nonetheless, I propose, more feasible for an amateur critic than for one operating professionally in the mainstream media.
209
See Feminist Music Geek: Facebook (2012) (see bibliography)
210
Wilding (1998): 10

39
40
 Conclusion

Although this essay is a case study of a relatively niche musician operating predominantly
within the American independent music scene, it highlights issues which I firmly believe pervade
throughout the music industry, and which are particularly dangerous for their insidiousness. The
majority of sexism identified in the music industry by critics such as Davies and Leonard is, as I
have said, hostile in nature; my examination of Newsom seems to disclose an almost untouched
strand of benevolently sexist criticism which is an arguably equally oppressive counterpart to the
more typically aggressive misogyny used to critique Newsoms voice. I propose that the oppressive
and silencing nature of this benevolently sexist criticism is no accident; it is merely another means of
sustaining the existing patriarchal order of the industry which can be applied in different
circumstances from hostile sexism. In my second chapter, I quoted Friedmans review of My
Brightest Diamond which indiscriminately applied the benevolently sexist enchantment discourse to
several female musicians despite their distinct writing styles;211 Newsom is clearly far from the only
target of this tendency, and I suggest that exploration of benevolent sexism across the entire music
industry may represent a worthwhile avenue for further study.

It is important to note that just because Davies and Leonards studies do not dwell upon
forms of benevolent sexism does not mean it is irrelevant to the artists discussed in their research.
Indeed, benevolent sexisms most dangerous quality may be its subtlety; Benoit Dardenne indicates
that hostile sexism is usually identified by its targets as sexism, while benevolent sexism is not; as
such, a woman targeted by benevolent sexism is less likely to resist against it.212 Unlike calling a
woman a sexist slur or sexualising her outright, constructing her as a pixie or describing her playing
in flattering terms which nonetheless play into patriarchal narratives is less obvious, and is less likely
to be highlighted as misogyny and resisted against. The fact that benevolent sexism can exist quite
well within a positive review, since by nature it is superficially complimentary, also makes it harder
to spot; it is not obvious why, if a review seems to consider an artists work credible and worthy of
respect, misogyny would be a factor at all. The reality is that sexism need not always represent the
calculated abuse of an artist; it may simply be a habitual symptom of (in Davies words) the only
appropriate discourse for pop writing.213 This is how a critical response such as Kahls Your
Feyness can position Newsom as a goddess-figure and simultaneously objectify her, erasing her
subjectivity and ignoring her works feminist potential. It is, therefore, entirely possible that the
sources discussed in Davies and Leonards work are replete with benevolent sexism alongside the
hostility they explore; they may simply have failed to identify them, suggesting their insidious
potential. The existence of such comparatively nuanced gendered discourses in the music press, and
the difficulty entailed in identifying them, may directly contribute to the masculine subject
positions Kruse identifies in the music industry at large.214

As Davies suggests, sexism in music criticism is less a product of individual misogynistic

critics as it is a self-sustaining tradition. Uprooting such a tradition to create a more egalitarian

211
Friedman (2011)
212
Dardenne (2007): 764
213
Davies (2001): 304
214
Kruse (2002): 134

41
critical space for female musicians and writers is more challenging when the narratives upholding its
oppressive tendencies are often left unidentified. If these deeply-rooted forms of sexism remain
unnoticed in the music industry, little is likely to change in terms of its gender equality. The impact
of hostile sexism, however, should not be ignored; as my study of Newsoms voice indicates, even a
woman perceived as highly credible and well-respected within her field may become the target of
hostile sexism. Beverley Gross, for example, claims that the gendered slur bitch is levelled
predominantly against assertive, powerful women perceived as a threat, and even suggests that its
male equivalent is boss.215 Newsom is the subject of sexism because she is seen as a threat, all the
more so given her songs engagement with feminist topics. All forms of sexism, hostile or
benevolent, serve to disempower women, containing the threat they pose to the music industrys
existing structural order; I suggest that Newsoms resignification of feminine tropes as a vehicle for
her feminist lyrics, and her decision to sing those lyrics in the knowledge that her voice does not
conform to feminine ideals, represent a form of resistance against a society in which her power is
still limited by her gender. Consciously or subconsciously, Newsom seems aware that she is
perceived as threatening, and refuses to acquiesce to attempts to contain her. This is an issue of self-
representation which is likely to be an issue for other performers who tackle feminist issues in their
work; their public perception is filtered through criticism of their work, and if, as feminists, they
pose a threat to the patriarchal order, attempts will be made to suppress the feminist content of their
work. Fiona Apple and Tori Amos are both artists who have dealt openly with rape, eating disorders
and female oppression in their work, at times with brutal clarity; both have also been described in
criticism as wood-nymphs, limiting their feminist power through benevolent sexism, and both have
had their voices compared to wailing banshees, implying that they should not be heard.216 Gerda
Lerner suggests that women's lack of knowledge of our own history of struggle and achievement has
been one of the major means of keeping us subordinate;217 by writing artists off as enchanted or
insulting their voices for not conforming to gendered ideals, criticism which refuses to engage with
artists feminist intentions silences them, and in turn disempowers their wider fanbase.

With this said, Newsom has clearly made an impact on the feminist critics discussed in my
fifth chapter, who recognise her empowering potential. Evidently, a feminist approach to music
criticism is not unachievable in practical terms, and feminist music critics have already begun to be
facilitated by the Internet. While Blessing All the Birds is notable for its depth rather than its breadth,
it nonetheless offers numerous different approaches to constructing a feminist criticism of a single
artists work, proving that a criticism which strives to destabilise patriarchy need not be narrow in
scope. Feminist Music Geek applies such criticism to a broader range of artists, signposting a route
out of the mainstream music presss prevailing masculinity, and taking the cultural impact of gender
into account without resorting to misogyny. I propose that listeners and fans can aid the progress
towards a more egalitarian critical approach by reading widely, and refusing to take for granted the
things they read in the music press whose critics must adopt the patriarchal viewpoint to survive in
the industry. By exposing themselves to forms of media which are less susceptible to capitalist
narratives, listeners may, perhaps, develop a more egalitarian understanding of female artists, and a

215
Gross (1994): 146
216
Hampson (2005): 3; Williott (2012); Soeder (2012); Daniels (2012)
217
Lerner (1986): 226

42
better knowledge of the gendered aspects of their work which may be suppressed by the mainstream
press.218 This, in turn, could create a greater mainstream demand for a feminist approach to criticism,
and in time, it seems possible that such exposure, particularly by budding critics who have not yet
entered the industry professionally, might see more egalitarian ideals filtering into the industry of
music journalism.

Women make up roughly half of the worlds population, and yet are not only outnumbered as
critics and artists within the music industry, but are actively othered, objectified, sexualised, insulted
and silenced when they attempt to redress the balance. The music industry, it is worth noting, does
not exist within a cultural vacuum; it is an aspect of wider society, which not only permits these
inequalities but arguably produces and perpetuates them through its own values. When Deborah
Tannen claims that male is the unmarked default and female is a marked other, she is not referring
specifically to the masculine subject position of music criticism, but to society at large. By
endeavouring to correct inequalities within the music industry, whose influence extends to millions
of listeners across the world, it seems possible that perceptions of women in wider society might, in
time, become more egalitarian. Feminism, according to third-wave feminist authors Leslie Heywood
and Jennifer Drake, may be summed up as the radical notion that women are people;219 phrased as
such, there seems to be no reason why a feminist music industry (indeed, a feminist society) should
not simply be the default. It is for this reason, I suggest, that further exploration and encouragement
of the development of a feminist music criticism should be an absolute priority for academics,
journalists, and artists alike. Newsom serves as a single example of a much broader critical
imbalance, whose correction has potentially far-reaching consequences for the perception and
treatment of women both within and outwith the music industry.

218
I suggest this to be the case, too, for many other strands of identity politics, ranging from race to class and even to age;
all of these are likely to be coloured by the prevailing demographics of professional music writers, and, I suggest, are
liable to align with dynamics of privilege and oppression in society at large.
219
Heywood and Drake (1987): v

43
44
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Anonymous works cited:

Drag City (2012) Drag City: Joanna Newsom. Drag City (2012):
<http://www.dragcity.com/artists/joanna-newsom>. Accessed
25/08/2012

Feminist Music Geek: Facebook Feminist Music Geek. Facebook (2012):

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Joanna Newsom Is Perfect (2011) Joanna Newsom Is Perfect. Joanna Newsom Is Perfect (2011):
<http://joannanewsomisperfect.tumblr.com>. Accessed

57

Joanna Newsom Is Perfect: That
isnt a spotlight (2011)
Joanna Newsom Is Perfect: Why
are there so many songs about
rainbows? (2011)
Tumblr Tagged: Joanna Newsom
(2012)
Video: Cosmia (2010)
Video: Peach, Plum, Pear (2010)
Darnielle (2009)
Newsom (2002)
Newsom (2003)
Newsom (2004)
Newsom (2006)
Newsom (2007)
Newsom (2010)
24/08/2012
That isnt a spotlight. Joanna Newsom Is Perfect (2011):
<http://joannanewsomisperfect.tumblr.com/post/10978229201/th
at-isnt-a-spotlight-joanna-newsom-just>. Accessed 24/08/2012
Why are there so many songs about rainbows?. Joanna
Newsom Is Perfect (2011):
<http://joannanewsomisperfect.tumblr.com/post/13047443614/w
hen-kermit-the-frog-sings-about-why-are-there-so>. Accessed
24/08/2012
Tumblr Tagged: Joanna Newsom. Tumblr (2012):
<http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/joanna+newsom>. Accessed
02/08/2012
Video: Joanna Newsom Cosmia ~New Arrangement~
(2010): <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHR2MdmY3M>.
Accessed 27/08/2012
Joanna Newsom Peach Plum Pear (Paris 31.05.2010) (2010):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CprS7irIVCE>. Accessed
12/08/2012
Albums cited
Darnielle, John. The Life of the World to Come (London: 4AD
Records, 2009)
Newsom, Joanna. Walnut Whales (self-released, 2002)
Newsom, Joanna. Yarn and Glue (self-released, 2003)
Newsom, Joanna. The Milk-Eyed Mender (Chicago: Drag City,
2004)
Newsom, Joanna. Ys (Chicago: Drag City, 2004)
Newsom, Joanna. Joanna Newsom and the Ys Street Band
(Chicago: Drag City, 2007)
Newsom, Joanna. Have One On Me (Chicago: Drag City, 2010)
58