Abstract

From approximately 2002-2008, the previously underground, punk rock offshoot known as “Emo” broke through to mainstream culture and became a musical phenomenon that would in part define the youth culture of the era. While there were two previous “waves” of Emo, this 3rd wave, which included bands such as My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Jimmy Eat World, Brand New, and Taking Back Sunday, was the first to find mainstream success. In addition to being a distinctive musical sound, Emo of this era also had specific fashions, aesthetics, emerging internet communities, mental health advocacy, and shared values around acceptance of the socially othered. However, there was a significant hypocrisy in how those values were enacted, especially towards the women in the community. Here, I will be specifically looking at the relationship between gender presentation and misogyny in 3rd wave Emo. The aesthetics of the genre and the emotional, introspective nature of the music led to interesting subversions of gender norms which seems to be part of the genre’s success; however, this subversion took place alongside many songs with incredibly misogynistic lyrical themes and an extreme lack of female representation in the genre. Additionally, in the past few years, there have been substantial allegations of sexual misconduct from many of the men in these bands against members of their largely young, female fan base. After defining the genre more specifically, I will approach these questions of gender politics in 3rd wave Emo through a series of three case studies on specific musicians from the era and how they relate to these questions of gender, gender presentation, and how misogyny manifested in this scene. 

Keywords

Emo, music, gender, misogyny, pop culture, punk, alternative music

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