The Women’s Music Movement

Abstract

Scholarship on artistic output during second wave feminism (SWF) primarily reflects art-genres such as visual art, performance art, literature, and poetry. In The Women’s Music Movement: Music as Feminist Praxis, 1973–1980, Paul Ambrose Shaw III contends the women’s music movement (WMM) was a vibrant locus of feminist activity during SWF but received comparatively less scholarly attention. Specifically, Shaw conducts a content analysis of five songs recorded between 1973 and 1980. As such, he draws on musical elements and structures, poetic and lyrical devices, personal insights from the artists, and feminist theory to explore the following important questions: What can we learn about second wave feminist movement through the lens of the women’s music movement? Was the women’s music movement, as some scholars and activists assert, simply a cultural and lifestyle movement, or an impactful locus of feminist praxis? Through a detailed analysis of five songs recorded by stalwarts of WMM—Meg Christian, Cris Williamson, Ferron, Holly Near, and Linda Tillery—Shaw argues for the importance of WMM as a vibrant center of struggle, growth, and creativity that serves as a model for modern social movement cultural activity.