Queering Punk

Malic White wrote a great piece  for Bitch magazine about the blurring of gender roles in rock and punk, in light of Against Me!'s singer's announcement she's trans:

"Rock stars who defy gender roles have always been at the forefront of music—the New York Dolls, David Bowie, Annie Lennox, Patti Smith, Boy George—the list goes on and on. Then we have bands with trans-identified singers like Jayne County and the Electric Chairs and the heavel metal group Life In Agony, whose lead singer, Mina Caputo, came out as transgender last year (and made this gorgeous music video). 

But Gabel's transition has made a bigger splash, perhaps because she made her big reveal Rolling Stone. According to Josh Ells, who wrote the piece, Gabel wanted her story to be a very public resource. "Instead of having people e-mail and call over and over, she could just say, '[The Rolling Stone] article explains everything and after that we can talk,'" he said of the piece."

I think it's interesting to note that when listing cis artists who play with gender norms, it's usually men who are mentioned first, with maybe Patti Smith and Annie Lennox thrown in for good measure.  This is not to slight the writer of the original piece -- I'd probably do the same thing. In fact, I have done the same thing, but it's most likely a combination of women's lesser profile in punk in general, and men queering gender roles are seen as more transgressive.