Thursday, 14 November 2019, 07 pm

Published in 1995, The Sex Revolts – Gender, Rebellion and Rock’n’Roll by Simon Reynolds and Joy Press, is a standard work of analysis on female and male roles in rock music. Evidently, stereotypical attitudes have changed little in this sphere: Men on stage applauded by women in the auditorium. Twenty-five years later this phenomenon remains unaltered.
 
In the working world, in politics and, in fine art, one has sought to correct this grievance by increasing the female quota. Substantive contemporary discussion on the issue has meant that change now appears realistic. So why should the same not hold in the sphere of rock music? What is apparently taken entirely for granted in pop music, is evidently impossible in these other spheres.
 
In The Sex Revolts, Reynolds and Press adopt the standpoint of the fan. They also visited numerous concerts by their favourite groups and, among other things, describe and analyse performances by Led Zeppelin, My Bloody Valentine, Nick Cave, Jim Morrison, Pink Floyd, Public Enemy, Rolling Stones, The Clash, Sex Pistols or Van Morrison. The authors’ precise analyses show how the cult of the male in the various forms of rock is defined consistently by misogynous features.The Sex Revolts – Gender, Rebellion and Rock’n’Roll not only indicts but shows that there are also exceptions, as seen in Courtney Love, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Siouxsie or the protagonists of the band The Slits, albeit that many of them failed to receive the appreciation their art deserved.
 
Translated by Jan-Niklas Jäger, the first German edition has now been published by Ventil Verlag. The book also includes additional chapters which further narrate and document the history of the feminist revolts within the rock scene following the work’s original publication.
 
Born in London, in 1963, Simon Reynolds currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Prior to The Sex Revolts he published Rip It Up and Start Again, which still endures as an important work on the post-Punk era. A much sought-after journalist, Reynolds has published numerous articles, among other things, in the New York Times, the Guardian and Rolling Stone.

The Kunsthalle Bern is especially glad to announce the reading with Simon Reynolds. Our cordial thanks extend to both Shantala Hummler for moderating the evening and to Ventil Verlag.