Access to the electric guitar is becoming more open and inclusive of women. The ability to start a band or company virtually anywhere and gain traction through new technologies has enabled the emergence of more female figures in the industry. The openness of the internet in the dissemination of information and music gives way for women to be recognized on some level.

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The guitar has even opened up more possibilities for a more diverse group of women to express themselves. Laura Jane Grace - a male to female transgender - of the punk band, Against Me! proudly holds a guitar while singing about gender dysphoria.

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Below is a video from the band's show in North Carolina, where Grace burns her birth certificate on stage in a symbolic act of defiance against gender constraints, all while slinging a guitar.  

 

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There has even been a focus on global applications of the guitar, with women like Fatou Seidi Ghali of West Africa using the technology to connect to her village in through themes of tradition and religion. “I want to have a great future with the guitar,” Ghali says, “and I want to have girlfriends who play guitar so we can play together and be successful together” (Schemmer, 2017).

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LOOKING FORWARD

 

Through my research of female figures and their influence on the electric guitar, I have come to a few conclusions regarding the reversal of women's erasure in music and the potential for change in the future. Firstly, the continuation of gendering technologies is a learned practice based on vocalized perceptions that have become regarded as truth. The guitar is not unequivocally "phallic" unless it is specifically used as such in a purposeful manner by a particular artist. Education and awareness at an early age – and even through adulthood – can help to shift some of the ideologies that have developed around the instrument. This may mean there is a need for more female voices in academia and media to balance out the types of discussions that take place.  Magazines like She Shreds create a unique way for women to be a part of discussion and inclusion, where content is created by women, but disseminated to a larger variety of readers.

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There also needs to be supply and demand of female musicians, particularly in rock music. Many times it's not out of malice that female-led bands are ignored, but that listeners have a predisposed idea of certain musical styles and have no interest in exploring it further. When I was young, I never listened to female artists because I felt the vocals were jarring; I wasn't exposed to the music in a daily setting and I immediately disregarded it because it wasn't what I was used to. Eventually, I came to appreciate many of the bands I previously disliked, finding the innovation and uniqueness appealing, but it did, admittedly, take time and repeated exposure. If more people are exposed to female-led rock bands or female electric guitarists through education and media, it might generate more demand. A quick-and-easy fix like a female led festival won’t change the way people instinctively think about women and the electric guitar, but once people become more accustomed to female players, greater emphasis can be placed on their skills, styles and techniques that are often overlooked.