I like to think I'm something of a feminist. There are lots of different sub-sects of feminism, but I lie somewhere between equality for all people and the liberation of certain social standards for BOTH sexes. It's okay for a dude to be girly and it's okay for a chick to be a tomboy. I don't care. Be who you are, get hired for credentials and not sex, don't discriminate, etc. etc. And there it is.

Now. Being a girl in a band. Not only that, but being a band of all girls. My my, what's that like?

Well, I'd assume it would be like being in any band, except we complain about our periods and where to bra shop. The Peggy Sues decided a long time ago that we didn't want to be one of the bands that arrives at their first show with merch to sell. We didn't want to have band photos taken before we'd ever practiced together. We wanted to develop a unique sound that we all liked and that other people seemed to dig too. And nearly two years into it, it seems like we've finally found it, found our sound, found people who like what we sound like. I think we may have gotten the best compliment a few weeks ago when a very good musician told us he now thought of us as a band and NOT just a girl band. We always thought of us as such, but it was nice to have others think so too.

Ah. To be held equal.

So, last Saturday evening, I was absolutely livid to see a fellow female in a band stripping on stage. I'm all about sexual revolution - in fact, 85% of what I write outside of the Gazette is sexually-based - but there's a time and a place.

The particular band I went to see had two females on keyboards, which I initially thought was very rad. One of the females was also some kind of world class hula hooper, which, y'know, maybe that's artsy or postmodern or something and I just don't get it, but whatever bounces your ball. This female did a choreographed hula hoop routine to one of their songs which actually ended up being pretty friggin' rad - she could hula hoop on her shoulder, she could hula hoop around her neck, she could hula hoop sitting down, to a beat, shooting arms up and down. Wow. This was a far cry from the hula hooping I'd done as an eight year old in gym class.

Especially when the girl took her shirt off mid-hula-hoop.

Cue the angry feminism.

Also cue a crowd of dudes ooing and ahing at the pretty girl in the black bra. Cue the dude standing next to me, whipping out dollar bills. Cue another guy asking me between chuckles if this would be my band's new attire. Cue me spatting an expletive at him, my bandmate with me telling him we're too busy actually playing an instrument to bother taking our clothes off to win a few horny male fans.

And cue me completely forgetting what this band sounded like, only remembering hula hooping boobs. Is this how a female musician is supposed to find fans? Should the Peggy Sues play in their bras just to get a crowd in a venue?

I think there is a way to do tasteful nudity is an artistic way that is both not offensive and completely seductive. But I was absolutely appalled - what a cheap, raunchy way to get attention for your band. So appalled, actually, that my bandmate and I left the show.