Mid-Week Memo: Women and Rock

In Philadelphia, we caught up with Emily, 26, right, who is the lead singer of Philly-based electro-pop outfit Pony Pants.  She is the server of gelato by day, rock star by night, feminist all the time.  She had some thoughts about women in music:

“I put a lot of energy and thought into performances, and I have rarely had anyone imply that it’s bullshit because I am a woman. There have been a couple of guys that come up to us after a show and will be just gushing about all the guitar riffages, and the gear, and the amps, and I’ll be like…didn’t you like the singing? And they say, “not really my thing.”

"Generally what happens more is that girls come up to me and want to hug and talk about their projects and it's fucking amazing. They will express that they really admire me, stuff I would have never expected. I figured people were over it. I see bands with girls in them all the time, in every capacity, and I love it. Sometimes when we’re on tour we get paired with bands just because they have girls in them, which is cool and I don’t mind at all, but guys in the audience will more frequently be like “Come on, you're not even in tune,” which is so stupid. I have the biggest soft spot for bands with girls, even if they are bad. It’s the whole Riot Grrrl, cult of amateurism stuff. Bands that are like “we don’t know how to play, but we are just going to fucking do it, because it feels good.”

Trip to New York: MARISOL

Marisol: 22, native New Yorker, first-generation American, a financial analyst at one of the most famous investment banks in the world. Is going to quit next year and get her post-bacc to be a doctor.
(There she is, left, crossing Wall St)

On being a woman in the investment banking world:

"Surprisingly maybe, investment banks in New York are very modern in terms of women, childcare, minorities, diversity--they have it down. And you have to separate these banks from the rest of corporate America, like AT & T or GM, companies that are very old-fashioned. In those places, I feel like the environment for women is a lot different. My investment bank is five years ahead, not because they're feminists or anything...it's just that they realize that to work in the modern world and to get the best types of people you have to provide certain services and environments, otherwise you're going to lose women. There are three women in my group who recently have children, and they are provided with a childcare center in the building. That's better than other industries with more women, like publishing."