Shirley Manson

I knew a guy back in community college in the mid-’90s who judged female singers on how well they scream. This struck me even at the time as appalling, and it’s the environment Shirley Manson has been in since she first became known in the music industry. There were people saying even at the time that she was “fake,” somehow, and she’d been hired for the band so they’d have a woman as their singer and get more attention for it. Never mind Manson’s body dysmorphia and certainty that she isn’t attractive, much less her, you know, actual longstanding history as a musician and songwriter.

Really, it’s hard to imagine why Manson considers misogyny one of the world’s biggest problems. An examination of the media coverage of her over the years absolutely won’t be an example of the situation. (It’s worth noting that she was hired because they didn’t want someone who screamed, the opposite of what that guy I knew thought was the ultimate credential for a woman.) Clearly she was never examined far more than her bandmates, scrutinized in appearance more than musically. I don’t know why you would possibly think that sort of thing happens to women in the music industry—or, as Manson would hasten to point out, the film and television industries as well.

I mean, sure, you don’t like Garbage’s musical style, that’s fine. I am ride-or-die for “Only Happy When It Rains,” but that’s me. If it doesn’t work for you, that’s between you and the Lord God. But it’s weird if the only thing you want of women is for them to scream, and I don’t have time to unpack what exactly he was going for with that statement. I have been into that style of music for lo, these many years, but as I do keep pointing out, I’m a woman of my generation. A lot of us liked that Manson was one of the women out there reminding us we didn’t have to fit in to be cool.

It’s a thing I think surprises her. She’s been open about her struggles with depression, and as said, she doesn’t even think she’s pretty. It took a Calvin Klein ad where she appeared without makeup to make her realize that there was something of value to her appearance. She’s never had plastic surgery because she knows it wouldn’t fix the problem and she’d just be dissatisfied with something else about herself soon after, which is about as healthy as you can expect with that condition. But she’s also open about getting treatment, and Gods bless her for that, not that she’s all that interested in religion either.

She recently made headlines, and a lot of them, by saying she identified as non-binary, or at least with non-binary, though I checked and she still uses she/her pronouns. If that’s accurate, I can well imagine that it’s even more frustrating to be pushed into the boxes that women are put in, when you’re not even sure that you want to be part of the box labeled “woman” at all. Really, it’s enough to make you want to scream.