The Compressor – C21: Women and Work

The Compressor is confused. Over the last month we have had a band staying with us recording an album, a good bunch of guys, but very prone to the use of vile language……so they fitted in perfectly. I’m not proud, my studio is a male dominated area and most of the talk revolves around guitars, football and beer. At one point this week we were arguing with said client over the origins of a particularly commonly used word.

This word has Germanic cognates including old Norse (kunta), middle-Dutch (Kunte) and possibly High German (Kotze meaning prostitute), which all point to a pre-historic germanic ancestor kunton. A Latin word, Kuntus, meaning wedge, might also have been an influence. The word would appear to have entered the English language during the early Middle Ages; in 1230AD, both Oxford and London boasted districts called ‘Gropecunte Lane’, in reference to the prostitutes that worked there. The Oxford lane was later renamed the slightly less-contentious Magpie Lane, while London’s version retained a sense of euphemism when it was changed to ‘Threadneedle Street’. Records do not show whether it was a decision of intentional irony that eventually placed the Bank of England there.

The word has good Shakespearian usage, though even he was a little subtle. Hamlet asks whether he can lie in Ophelia’s lap, ‘I mean, my head upon your lap?’ and then says ‘Do you think I meant country matters?’ and follows up with ‘It is a fair thought to lie between maids’ legs’. Ophelia answers non-committally to most of this. A slightly more bawdy use of the word appears in Carry On Don’t Lose Your Head, one of a series of British comedy films of the 1960s, in which actress Joan Sims refers to her husband, ‘The Count’, deliberately pronouncing the word ‘Count’ with just enough room to be (mis)interpreted while still getting past the British film censors.

There is a story in Oxford that one of the religious societies in England’s oldest university was the Cambridge University New Testament Society, though that has the whiff of urban legend about it. And more recently, there is a rumour that the former Newcastle Polytechnic had got to the stage of printing their letterheads with the name City University, Newcastle upon Tyne before noticing what they were doing.

Other Universities can also be hotbeds of a certain inspired madness. Late in 2000, feminists in Penn State in the USA held a ‘C***fest’ with the stated objective of reclaiming the word, which, according to Inga Muscio in her book C***: A Declaration of Independence, stems from words that were ‘either titles of respect for women, priestesses and witches, or derivatives of goddesses’ names’. (Though how that squares with what the dictionaries say is not entirely clear). Not surprisingly, the local community did not see the event in quite the same way.

The expression See You Next Tuesday is also frequently used as a term of endearment. Well, I reflected on this debate and thanked the Big Man, who I don’t believe in, that there were no women in the building…..and then it got me thinking…and I got worried.

Why aren’t there any women in studios? How came we only have men? Sure, we’ve had female artists, and some of the best studio managers are women….but what about engineers and producers?

In an earlier Compressor article I talked about the role of the Producer. Let’s re-cap: the Producer is the ultimate project manager right? Well, some of the best project managers in the World are female. They can multi-task in a way that men can only dream of. Why are women successful in business? Because they don’t carry the testosterone fuelled macho rubbish that we men have to bear. They are highly unlikely to use one of my favourite expressions: ‘Get out of my office or I’ll stamp on your face!’

Who better to organize the studio, negotiate rates, ship in the session musicians, sort out the pre-pro, arrange the songs, book the engineer, the mix, the mastering and finally get the best out of the artist? If it’s a male band, they’ll be like putty in the hands of the female producer. If the artist is female….well they’ll feel at ease immediately.

Look at TV and film….loads of women dictating policy…..reducing men to quaking lumps of jelly.

You heard it here first. Women should be in the studio, behind the glass….and the Compressor is going to start cleaning up his act starting today! Fuck….I meant tomorrow.

TTFN

The Compressor