No, no, Norman

Sexism isn’t just sexual harassment and slapping nurses on the ass. It’s the different ways we talk about and treat women just because they’re women. For instance, an obvious example is in the 2016 presidential campaign, and how often Hillary Clinton’s appearance and clothes were remarked upon. But apparently not everyone learned that very simple lesson.

Enter Norman Lebrecht, old white dude who writes about music in a way that would earn him a C+ in my Intro to Music class. He presents a clear perspective, but is sloppy with facts, conflates his his subjective experience with objectivity, and doesn’t know enough about music to describe it in an accurate and compelling way.

But I’m not here to be an academic music snob. I’m here to be a feminist and a conductor calling out casual sexism in the mainstream media. He published this today on slippeddisc.com, and I fixed it.*

In case anyone is unclear on why this is bad, here’s a primer on how to write about women conductors:

1. It is sexist to talk about a woman’s attire, because women’s clothes are part of a long history of the policing and oppressing of women’s behavior. Clothes have been blamed for women being sexually assaulted. Clothes have prevented rapists from being convicted. Even if you would talk about a man’s clothes (which… why? that’s just dumb.), don’t talk about a woman’s clothes unless you want to be perceived as a sexist ass hat, because you’re always talking about a woman’s clothes in the context of a system that punishes women for their bodies and how they clothe them. Google “rape culture,” Norman. Google #metoo.
2. Don’t assume that you know how a woman feels, or what she should feel, or how she should express it. Yes, even in the context of conducting. Limit your discussion to the music itself and your personal experience of the performance. Unless you have a graduate degree in conducting, in which case you are allowed to talk about technique.**

It’s that easy.

Wikipedia says Richard Taruskin (all hail the great overlord of musicology) described Norman as “sloppy but entertaining.” But I think it stops being entertaining when the writing perpetuates an unexamined understanding of women as objects.

+

*No, I’m not gonna link to the page because if you want to read a cheap, shallow review of classical music, you can google it yourself. I don’t recommend it.

**This isn’t sexist, it’s just a misunderstanding of how conducting works: an ensemble’s focus is not on a conductor’s hands. Ensemble members perceive the whole of a person, which is why conductors with weird technique create great performances. Seriously, have you ever even heard of Leonard Bernstein??? This is why you shouldn’t talk about technique. You just get stuff wrong, and make real musicians roll their eyes.