Breaking Barriers & Barricades in Boots and a Red Lip
Article by Amanda Peabody
“I figured out it was a social thing, what women were allowed to do. At a very young age, I decided I was not going to follow women’s rules.”-Joan Jett
This International Women's day is bittersweet, it feels empowering and exhausting to be a woman in 2025, we are continuing to find our power and fighting to claim our places in the world daily, all while it feels as though the world is yelling at us to shut up and smile.
Photo by Amanda Peabody
If you feel like this you are not alone, one thing that fuels me is pulling energy from all of the badass women that came before me. Similar to everyday life, being a woman in the metal scene can bring to light the same struggles.
Well to that I say fuck that. Ladies, we are bold, badass, and deserve to take up as much space as we want and 2025 is going to be the year that we are doing more than breaking glass ceilings. 2025 is the year we hold the line; at the barricade, in the photo pit, or on the stage. Rock n Roll after all was made by women.
Before Elvis, or The Beatles there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe. A queer black woman who has been noted as “The Godmother of Rock n Roll” founded the genre in the early 1940s. Since then there have been an abundance of strong loud women claiming their space in a room that has always claimed to be predominately male.
We have women like Ella Fitzgerald, Janis Joplin, Joan Jett, Stevie Nicks, and Suzi Quatro. These women opened the doors for women like Maria Brink, Lizzy Hale, Taylor Momsen, Courtney Laplante, and Poppy. We also have powerhouses such as Baby Metal, Amy Lee, Hayley Williams, Cristina Scabbia, and Tatiana Shmayluk to name a few. One thing these women have in common? They never listened to those around them that told them to be pretty and smile. They ignored those who told them they wouldn’t make it, that the metal scene was for men. They laced up their boots and took over the Metal world like the badasses they are.
So whenever you are feeling defeated hit play on Stevie Nicks latest ballad Lighthouse or blast Whore by In This Moment so loud the glass breaks, throw on your combat boots and red lipstick and take up as much damn space as you want to. It’s yours, always has been and always will be.
Photo by Amanda Peabody
