Girls online

One more online music magazine, but this time its girls only. The Lipster, is written by women, about women and, presumably, for women. It was launched towards the end of last year and so far, I’ve enjoyed reading it. But… (and there’s always a but)

But… the idea that women writers and women artists need to be corralled into a special space, lest our crazed lunar ways frighten the horses, that upsets me. As does the implied (and largely incorrect) idea that your Cat Powers or Polly Harveys will always be a set of breasts with a guitar underneath for male music fans. But… (again)

But… still, despite many good intentions, female artists are under-represented; both at the record deal and record review stage. As my good friend Miss Amp comments: “I’m all for anything that foregrounds women and makes men feel left-out, just so male readers can see what it’s like to be sidelined as a result of gender-bias.”

In the end, I think it’s probably a good thing. Certainly, your average indie female is left in the cold by both mainstream women’s magazines (“This will get you boogying round your handbag!”) and a great deal of the music press (“Leave this one for your girlfriend.”) A tighter editorial focus and an online community for women like me is really to be applauded. I want to hear someone else say, on one end of the scale, that American Apparel makes everyone look fat, and, on the other, to read a more involved commentary on that awful Shins domestic violence story. Do It Yourself and Make Your Own Space are pillars of both indie culture and the web. So here’s The Lipster, making their own space.