Action Note
When Women’s Musical
Activism is Motivated by
an Activist Musician
Humanity & Society
36(3) 260-269
ª The Author(s) 2012
Reprints and permission:
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DOI: 10.1177/0160597612451247
http://has.sagepub.com
Adrienne M. Trier-Bieniek1
Abstract
In order to better understand connections between music, healing from trauma,
and feminism, in the summer of 2009 I began interviewing and observing women
who were fans of the musician Tori Amos. One outcome of this research was
the large percentage of women who identified as a feminist and acknowledged
that their feminism was influenced by Amos’ displays of feminism in her music
and artistic expression. Further, many of the women found themselves motivated to action because they were inspired by Amos’ lyrics, live shows (which
are as many parts feminist activism as they are rock shows), and Amos’ work
with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). Because most fanbased scholarship presents women as the ‘‘fanatical’’ fan, studies which examine
female fans and the links between activism, music, and art are rare. A result of
this is limited portrayal of women in popular culture. This article serves
attempts to challenge this portrait and serves as a call for further research in
order to present a more clear definition of a female fan.
Keywords
Feminist activism, women and music, popular culture and gender, activism and
popular culture
1
Valencia College, Sociology Program, Orlando, USA
Corresponding Author:
Adrienne Trier-Bieniek, PhD, Valencia College, Sociology Program, 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, MC:
3 29, 32825, Orlando, FL, USA
Email: [email protected]
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Reflexive Statement
I came to learn of Tori Amos in 1997 when I was a junior in high school. I was
told to purchase Little Earthquakes (Amos’ first album, released in 1991) by a
friend whose musical taste I admired. Immediately I was connected to the themes
of personal transformation, survival from abuse and generally feeling misunderstood. As I have grown and changed, I found that Amos’ music was a constant companion and stood by me through the death of people I cared about, helped me deal
with familial relationships and helped me grieve during the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech where I was a graduate student at the time. My activism was even
inspired by Amos, from 2002 to 2005 I served as the volunteer coordinator for a
campus women’s center and became an advocate for female students who had been
victimized. Now, as an academic, Amos’ music has continued to inspire me to be
active in feminist, LGBT, and women’s issues and has led me to want to understand
more about how a feminist artist mobilizes and inspires women to become activists.
When Women’s Musical Activism is Motivated by an Activist Musician
Push that evil from you boys/Push that evil out/Push just like your mother/No violence to your women.
Tori Amos’ ‘‘Strong Black Vine’’ Improvisation, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. August 4,
2009.
During the concerts for her 2009 ‘‘Sinful Attraction Tour,’’ Tori Amos ended
each night’s set with her song ‘‘Strong Black Vine.’’ The original lyrics addressed
the patriarchy behind the War in Iraq and the effect of the war on the earth’s natural
resources, even declaring that ‘‘Eagles serve Mother first,’’ referring to Mother
Earth. The song culminated in a different live improvisation every night, which each
had a variation on the same theme. The improv’s each called for men to rally in support of women, declared that violence against women be abolished, and that political
gains on the backs of oppression should be denounced as crimes against humanity.
While it is easy to write this off as the egotistical rants of a performer who wants to
rally a crowd, Amos’ history of activism within her music and her female fans’ reaction to her calls are part of a larger social picture that has been missing from studies
of fans, gender, and music as well as speaks to a limited study focused on the use of
music as inspiration for feminist activism.
Tori Amos’ experiences as a public activist began in 1994 when she cofounded
the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network or RAINN as it has become more
widely known. Amos has said that the idea for RAINN came to her after hearing
many women talk about their experiences with rape, as O’Brien writes, ‘‘In response
to all the female fans who came up to her after shows talking about their experience
of rape or abuse, Tori set up RAINN in the mid-1990s, a U.S. national helpline and
counseling service for victims’’ (2002:409). Perhaps their comfort in disclosing their
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abuse was grounded in Amos also being a survivor of rape, indeed her song ‘‘Me and
a Gun’’ described her rape and was performed during every concert for the first six
years of Amos’ career.
The purpose of RAINN was to provide a national hotline for people who have
been sexually assaulted. The hotline offers counseling, support, and resources for
individuals, and Amos has often played benefit concerts, recorded public service
announcements, and done interviews on RAINN in order to boost the hotline’s visibility. Since 1994 RAINN has grown significantly and has amassed numerous
volunteers, built a large comprehensive Web site which not only provides resources
for survivors but also gives updates on legislation, such as the Violence Against
Women Act. In addition, RAINN has been named one of the ‘‘World’s 100 Best
Charities’’ by Worth Magazine and has had a large celebrity backing with many men
and women using their fame to support the organization (RAINN.org).
For my doctoral dissertation I set out to understand how Amos’ music was being
translated into activism by the women who are her fans. I was curious whether the
work Amos’ had done at RAINN as well as her on-stage activism had an impact on
the women who were attending concerts and buying her albums. What I found was
that many women were seeking female performers who presented women’s varied
experiences within their music while also presenting a feminist agenda. Not content
with simply listening and experiencing this art, many of the women take inspiration
from Amos’ music and build an activist agenda around it. On a small scale, this article focuses on the impact Amos and RAINN had on these agendas and as well as the
links between art, inspiration, and feminism. On a large scale, this article serves as a
call for further research on the links between feminist music and women’s activism,
an area which continues to be underdeveloped in sociological studies of music and
feminist art research.
Tori Amos and Musical Feminism
In general, feminist musicians attempt to reclaim what it means to be a female musician, a challenge that the third wave of feminism has taken on as one of its goals
(Baumgardner and Richards 2004; Gillis, Howe, and Munford 2004; Heywood and
Drake 1997; McCabe 2005). Amos is a part of these challenges because her music
and her identity contest the hegemonic masculinity found in both male artists and
men who write music for women as well as women who compose songs which capitalize on hegemonic masculinity (i.e., Britney Spears, Ke$ha, Katy Perry, etc.).
Indeed, Amos’ female fans are aware that Amos’ music, performances, and persona
confronts the notion that female fans are screaming, uncontrollable messes who cannot be tamed when their favorite performer is present (e.g., Ehrenreich, Hess, and
Jacobs 2001; Scodari 2007).
Since her first widely disseminated album in 1992, Little Earthquakes, Tori Amos
broke through a music barrier saturated with grunge and heavy rock. Driven by piano
compositions, and written as a diary of a woman in her late 20s, the album’s main
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themes of the religious persecution of women throughout history and rejection of
patriarchal domination were coupled with a song called ‘‘Me and a Gun’’ which
described Amos’ rape by a fan after a concert. The album garnered Amos a following
of women who identified with her experiences. Since 1992 Amos has released 12 studio
albums and each have addressed various themes relating to feminist identity, religious
oppression of women, miscarriage, violence against women, the U.S. political system
and hegemonic masculinity. Many of her recent albums have been categorized as, what
Amos has referred to as ‘‘sonic novels,’’ centering on a female protagonist, and Amos
alter ego, who navigates and challenges an aspect of U.S. society. Using art as a political
feminist message and presenting it via albums and live performances has not gone unnoticed by her fans; they are as likely to listen to Amos’ music for the artistic value as well
as for her political commentary. When I interviewed Madeline she made a note of mentioning how Amos’ feminism is reflected in both her personal and professional life.
I absolutely think that a part of her life work is to help foster feminist consciousness in
her fans because that will lead to them making more empowering decisions. And I think
she’s probably very conscious of that, in whatever her own way is . . . I teach a class
‘‘Critical Approaches to Pop Culture,’’ I guess between my own life experiences and
the things I am teaching and reading and writing about I keep realizing that the messages we put in our head really impact the way we see the world and so I guess I’m
just attracted now to messages that are empowering to me.
Researching Musical Activism
It was with the desire to understand these connections between feminism, art, and
activism that I set out to research Amos’ female fans. In the summer of 2009, guided
by Blumer’s (1969) theory of symbolic interaction, I set out to understand the emotional and activist connections women were drawing from this music. My research
agenda was largely based on Simon Firth’s suggestion that within the sociology of
music there must be an intention by the researcher to examine music aesthetic from
an alternative point of view. Firth asserts, ‘‘The question we should be asking is not
what does popular music reveal [Author emphasis] about ‘the people’ but how does
it construct them’’ (1987:137). Firth’s discussion of the aesthetic qualities of popular
music has been used in the work of many scholars who link the sociology of music to
symbolic interaction (e.g., Bessett 2006; Vannini and Waskul 2006). There is an
‘‘[i]mportant role of aesthetics in the constitution of meaning, interaction, self and
society’’ (Firth 1987:5).
I began by recruiting women to participate in my study, mainly using fan-based
Web sites. I conducted 42 qualitative, semistructured interviews conducted mainly
over the phone (although some were in person) with women across the United States.
The women varied in age from 21 to 45, were mainly white (79% of participants)
and, generally, had at least a college education. The questions I asked ranged from
‘‘What are your favorite songs?’’ to ‘‘Has Tori been an inspiration for your own
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activism?’’ In addition, I conducted three participant observations at Amos’ concerts
during her 2009 summer tour as well as performed a content analysis to find consistent themes in her lyrics. These combined methodologies informed each other and
allowed me to (1) begin to paint a picture of one area of Tori Amos fandom and
(2) understand why women are attracted to the activism present in her music.
Activism: In Concert
Displaying feminist activism has always been the keystone to Amos’ live performances since she began touring in 1991, mainly through her use of city-specific set
lists. In every city she performs in Amos takes the local and national political temperature and creates a nightly set list indicative of the day’s events (Amos and Powers 2005). In addition, costume, hair and makeup choices as well as her use of live
improvisation all form a Tori Amos concert. Additionally, in the second decade of
her career Amos began performing as alter egos of herself and in 2007 she presented
her most ambitious character-driven project with the ‘‘American Doll Posse Tour’’
in support of the album American Doll Posse. The album, written from the perspective of five ‘‘dolls’’ each representative of Greek Gods and Goddesses, used Amos’
alter ego’s as different voices of protest for the continuing patriarchy in American
politics (Tingen 2007). The album challenged the U.S. government, and The Bush
Doctrine, with its decisions to invade Iraq with songs like ‘‘Yo George’’ where
Amos (singing as the ‘‘doll’’ Isabelle, inspired by the Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt)
declares that the country is held captive by ‘‘the madness of King George.’’ In addition, the ADP Tour (as it became known among fans), ran for roughly 144 shows and
began each night with Amos dressed and performing as one alter ego. For Allison,
the switch to performing as an alter ego was a main draw for her to attend five shows
on the tour. She said, ‘‘I thought the shows were incredibly fun and she had a breath
of fresh air breathed into them and I guess if that took her wigs to accomplish, bring
em’ on back!’’ Additionally, as Doreen points out, the use of alter ego in the shows
were performed with an eye toward what women want.
I really felt like Tori was trying to say ‘‘Hey, the way we look at women is messed up!
Women need to support each other and society should re-think the messed up ways that
women are presented.’’
Further, using improvisation has become a cornerstone of Amos’ concerts and often
serves as one of the more feminist-activist moments in her performance. For example, in 2009 while performing at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, California, she
combined the Britney Spears’ song ‘‘Baby One More Time’’ with her own song
‘‘Maybe California.’’ While singing the last line in ‘‘Baby One More Time,’’ which
is ‘‘Hit me baby one more time,’’ she improvised the line ‘‘You always do’’ and then
moved into her own song ‘‘Maybe California’’ which addresses a mother about to
commit suicide. The combination of the two songs demonstrated a clear comment
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on domestic violence. Pandora was present at this concert and talked about the performance in her interview,
That was, it was so disturbing . . . She was making it so haunting. Then at the end when
she’s saying ‘‘Hit me baby one more time’’ [Tori added] ‘‘You always do’’ and from that
she went into ‘‘Maybe California.’’ It was so obvious she was trying to make it about
domestic violence and go into a suicidal mother. It was just the most disturbing song.
When these observations are coupled with the founding principles of Blumer’s
(1969) approach to symbolic interaction, (that we apply meaning to things based
on the meaning these things hold for ourselves), as well as considering Amos’ performances as a challenge to the male gaze (e.g., Doane 1991; Mulvey 2003) a portrait of feminist activism emerges. Most of the women I interviewed knew Amos’
music has a feminist agenda and is meant to entice them, make them think, and draw
their own conclusions. In fact, this was what initially drew them to her music. This
attitude was best illustrated with my interview with Haven who, within the first minute or so of talking, began addressing Amos’ feminism,
[Q: So what do you think it means to be a Tori fan?] I think it means, it definitely means
that you are a feminist. I think it’s difficult to be a Tori Amos fan and not be a feminist.
When I asked Alba if she was a feminist she replied,
Absolutely. And I know that [Tori’s feminism] has a lot to do with it because I would
definitely call myself that . . . I sort of began my feminist opinions by listening to Tori.
Many of the women I interviewed expressed a desire for a larger connection between the
music they listen to and ways they can mold the message into their own lives through
feminist activism. It is only natural, then, to consider how the inspiration women were
gaining from this feminist music translated into activism on behalf of women.
Inspired Feminist Activism
Feminist activism has been conceptualized in a number of ways, but perhaps the
most common approach has been to emphasize the willingness to speak out or act
on behalf of women as well as assert a challenge to patriarchal standards (Kinser
2004). Indeed, Amos’ commitment to presenting her art as activism on behalf of
women is noted by her fans. As Sera said, ‘‘Her job is to (a) yes to make music but
also (b) is to make a difference in the world. And she does that one person at a time.
And I think a lot of people are drawn to that aspect as well.’’
One growing component of feminist music is the promotion of organizations and
nonprofits that women can use to find help and healing. Tori Amos did this through
the cocreation of RAINN. Many of the women I interviewed identified Amos’ work
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with RAINN as examples of Amos’ feminist activism and for some women, such as
Allison, knowing that Amos was a founder and supporter of RAINN was enough for
them to reach out to talk to someone about their rape. As Allison said, ‘‘It was
RAINN that helped me reach out in the beginning.’’ Most women admired the personal responsibility Amos has taken on with RAINN. As Anne noted, ‘‘People really
put a lot on her especially with the whole RAINN thing.’’
As a founder of RAINN, Amos began performing benefit concerts for the
organization as well as featuring the organizations information in the lobby of her
shows, doing public service announcements for the organization and creating art,
t-shirts, note cards and other merchandise bearing her name and music which were
sold on the organization’s Web site. This inspired fans to create and sell their own
work to benefit RAINN. Lily created paintings for RAINN which were eventually featured as products on the organization’s Web site. Lily also had the opportunity to introduce herself to Amos before a concert. While they were talking, Lily spoke about the
opportunity to create something for RAINN. Lily said, ‘‘I just wanted to meet her to
thank her for letting me work with RAINN.’’ In addition, Rose, who works on a college campus, organizes her students to participate in ‘‘RAINN Day’’ a day for sexual
assault awareness. Further, many of the women interviewed are currently involved in
the RAINN Speaker’s Bureau which ‘‘[e]ducates and informs the public about sexual
violence. Members will have the opportunity to share their personal stories with students, communities, victim service groups and/or the media’’.
Yet, true to what Richards and Baumgardner term ‘‘recognizing opportunities for
change in our own lives’’ (2004:xvii), many women found inspiration in Amos’
approach to helping women heal through activism and translated this inspiration into
benefitting not only the Amos fan community, but their local communities as well.
An Amos-inspired fundraiser effort for RAINN occurred in the late 1990s to early
2000s called ‘‘ToriCon.’’ ToriCon took the form of various awareness raising festivals and was promoted as a place for fans of Amos to meet and sell various Amosrelated products with the proceeds benefitting RAINN. Gail served as an organizer
for ToriCon 2000 and noted that it was inspired by people who were ‘‘[p]assionate
about Tori’s fandom and pretty passionate about the community.’’
While many women felt inspired by Amos and wanted to find ways to contribute
to her organization, others used Amos’ music as activism in their careers. For
instance, Haven and Charlotte both work as counselors for girls and women. They
found that using Amos’ music served as a tool for them to help their clients heal from
trauma. Haven and Charlotte also asserted that Amos’ feminist identity contributed
to why they ask clients to listen to her music. This suggests that they see the music as
not just beneficial in the sense that music is soothing but that feminist music can
bridge healing with empowerment for women. ‘‘Haven’’ expressed this through her
work with teenage girls who have eating disorders. ‘‘I currently have a fifteen year
old female client who’s gone through a lot of trauma and she really identifies with
the song ‘Girl.’’’ Haven went on to call her use of Amos’ music with her clients,
‘‘Tori 101.’’
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Isabelle felt compelled to begin an Amos-inspired project that led women who
have been sexually assaulted to find each other and heal together. Amos music influenced Isabelle’s activism because the songs made her to critically examine herself.
As such, Isabelle built a successful nonprofit organization that has worked to benefit
many women and men who have been victimized. She said, ‘‘It started with Tori’s
influence, now it’s so much bigger than Tori, which I think that we all recognize.’’
When discussing symbolic interaction, Blumer noted that action is an overlapping component of finding meaning in things. He said ‘‘Fundamentally, action on
behalf of the human being consists of taking account of various things that he notes
and forging a line of conduct on the basis of how he interprets them’’ (1969:15).
Because Amos’ feminism served as a source of empowerment and thus a source
of healing, regardless of the level of their activism, most women I interviewed felt
the need to be an activist either in the public sphere or in their own lives as well as in
the public sphere.
The Big Picture: A Call for Further Research
Presenting a scholarly assessment of feminist musicians who have an activist impact
on their fans could certainly fit within sociological discussions of public sociology,
particularly because the activism women are participating in is usually born from a
reaction to various social problems. Further, these connections also have an impact
on the ways women have been studied and presented in popular culture. The perspective of female fans of musicians as the hysterical messes who worship (particularly) male artists or hegemonic themes in popular music is distinctly gendered in
nature. It sets the stage for popular culture’s perspective of women, not just in music
but in all artistic and media-driven venues and alludes that most women continue to
fall into the category of ‘‘teeny boppers,’’ indicating that they must engage their
inner teenage girl to enjoy music, and is not the only area of current media and popular culture where women are presented as infantile (e.g., Kilbourne 2000; Levin and
Kilbourne 2009). Over the course of my research I had discovered a different portrait
of female fans. Through their connection with a feminist performer they were not
only finding their own identity, but they were inspired to act on behalf of women.
This challenges not only previous incarnations of the female fan but also speaks
to the larger picture of advancing the ways that women are presented in popular culture. Additional research is needed to deconstruct images of women in popular culture and their relationships with music and other media.
Further research can also address a larger need for better representation of women
in popular culture and their artistic inspiration for activism. Amos’ willingness to
both project her activism in her songwriting and onstage, as well as help create a
national organization founded to help women who have been raped, are examples
of a musician translating her feminism into activism, something that the women I
interviewed are looking to replicate. Further study of their experiences with multiple
genres of music will allow for the field to have more definition and, perhaps, be able
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to engage in media-driven activism aimed at changing the popular culture perception
of women and girls. While I can present one experience women have with feminist
music, surely there are many more that can be folded into this genre and help it
expand. Studies of female fans have the potential to incorporate research in the fields
of feminist theory, gender and sexuality, social movements, sociology of art and
media, and more. Further research, encompassing multiple genres of music and other
forms of art, will help to define this emerging field of study and may contribute to
women’s media-driven introspection and activism.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to thank Michael Gillespie, Amanda Pullum, and Eileen Weigand for
their helpful reviews and comments of this piece during the revision stages. The author would
also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their time and insight on this article.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship,
and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article.
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