Problems With Being A Female Metalhead

It’s not easy being a Metalhead in a mainstream world listening to pop or rap music, but being a female Metalhead has unique challenges as well.

I fail to understand why there is still some belief that heavy metal is a “boy’s genre” it just enforces the stereotype that girls only listen to romantic pop music, and that’s not true. I don’t see this stigma too often, but there are times when we deal with struggles that male Metalheads don’t have to deal with.

Band shirt sizes

You might as well consider finding a band shirt that fits equivalent to a needle in a haystack. Many times I’ve gone to concerts and have found that the coolest ones stock out quickly. This also happens on websites too. Sometimes, the only sizes left are M, L, and XL.

I’m a tiny person and fit best into XS. Sometimes there is no XS option available, just S. The latter can fit into me as well but it’ll be baggier, especially if it’s a unisex shirt! I can imagine it’s also difficult for girls who are plus sizes as well.

But my biggest gripe would have to be the lack of XS options. Some female Metalheads are small, let us have more small options, please.

Period starts before or during a show

No-brainer. Ever gone to a gig and then your time of the month robs you of a fun experience?

I almost had the misfortune of this happening to me when I went to see Lordi in 2017. I was due right around that time and went to the gig more than prepared. It turns out it was late and didn’t come until two days later, but if it did come on that night, I wonder how that would have impacted my experience. Hell, I wasn’t going to move from my spot, regardless!

It’s too bad we have to put up with it every month and it’s even worse when it comes at a time we don’t want it to!

Lack of girls-fit shirts or too revealing

It’s bad enough having trouble finding band shirts in my size, but it’s just as vexing when there are no shirts made for us this way too. Sure, unisex shirts are the easy way out, but I don’t like when I shop for them online that they show the model wearing them is always male. It makes me feel like the shirt is only meant for guys. If the male model is one of the band members, I’ll be forgiving but still.

I also like to wear girlie band shirts because they are snugger. The problem is they are hard to find, sometimes the band’s website has only one, or none at all. Orden Ogan only had their Fields of Sorrow girl’s shirt, which had a beautiful design but it was the only one available and S was the smallest size available.

Then when I was searching for some Rob Zombie shirts, I started with the official site and the only girl’s shirt was one with a colourful animated design but it was a cropped top exposing midriff. Any T-shirts that reveal that, or have those stringy tears at the back to make the wearer look sexier is not for me. It wasn’t until I went to Hot Topic did I find two shirts themed of Rob that fit me and didn’t look explicit.

I ran into this problem with Lordi as well when their Sexorcism album was out, the girl’s shirt had a pretty disturbing design on it which is where I draw the line in the sand. I didn’t mind Sabaton’s “Carolus Sex” shirt because it was basically the album’s logo with one letter changed, but then again I think that band is more aware that they have female fans! Judging from what I’ve written, I think this is the biggest issue I have as a female Metalhead!

We’re sometimes seen as posers

Too often I hear stories about girls, and famous celebrities wearing band shirts but they are not genuine fans, they’re just wearing it for attention or because it’s “fashionable”. The only example I can give is in my last semester of college, there was a girl in my class who was wearing a Guns n’ Roses shirt.

The first thing that popped into my head was that I was no longer the only person in the room who listened to rock and metal. I never made a single assumption that she was a poser, but, when I complimented her shirt and asked her what her favourite GNR song was, the answer was so disappointing: She said she just got the shirt and didn’t know the band.

The problem is that this can happen more than you think, more commonly with bigger bands like GNR. I sometimes worry that some older guy might approach me and demand to know all my favourite KISS, Megadeth, or Rob Zombie songs and name ones other than the most popular.

There is nothing wrong with liking a band’s most popular song, but I’m at the middle ground with this problem. I don’t encourage you to wear a band shirt of a band you don’t even listen to, but because it still happens, the rest of us who are genuine fans sometimes get treated the same way as those who just want attention.

I shouldn’t be too harsh, then again, maybe some of those pop stars actually do listen to metal!

Anyway, this isn’t a super-serious article like the one I made about women in the gaming community, as the issues in the metal community for us are not as severe, but still, these are some common problems we deal with.

👽Emily