The Gender Imbalance of Metal Festival Programming: How Notions of Masculinity and Sexism Influence the Dutch and Belgian Metal Scene

Abstract

In this thesis the main question is how do traditional notions of masculinity and sexism on metal influence the recent programming, regarding gender, of Dutch and Belgian metal festivals. The festivals central to this research are Graspop Metal Meeting (BE), Eindhoven Metal Meeting (NL) and Occultfest (NL). The combination of these festivals provides a broad view of the metal scene in this region. To answer the question theories about musical preference in one’s adolescent years and instrumentation preference will be used. Also, the total number of women participating these festivals will be examined, these show that the percentage of women playing these festivals are all slightly above average. However, this average is not at all remarkably high. This is because metal is rooted in notions of masculinity and sexism. Women need to move their gender to a greater extent than men. If they do not do this, they will not be part of the culture. This also scares away women who initially want to be part of the metal scene.