Breaking barriers through femme-led punk performances and art curation, sold out show REPULSE fostered a space of female liberation like no other. Held on the 22nd of March at GoodSpace in Chippendale, REPULSE filled the walls of the small gallery space to the brim with femme and non-binary artists and filled our ears with the music of female led bands.
REPULSE’s theme encompassed all things ‘gross’, defying stereotypes that women are perfect, pretty beings. The art on the evening exhibited this imagery: your eyes being met with a large scale textile bloodied sanitary pad, clad with charms and beads; making what is seen as ‘repulsive’ into something possessing immense beauty. The walls were covered in depictions of the female form, paintings, prints and poetry shedding light on the femme experience- a space to be rebarbative and be liberated from the expectations to be ‘clean’.
The lineup was just as repellent as the art, the stage a platform for femme punk bands such as Butterknife, a four piece punk band from Newcastle. The power of Butterknife’s lyrics echoed the art surrounding them- Gracie, the lead singer shouting “don’t touch me” repetitively as a part of their unreleased song appropriately titled ‘don’t touch me’. The band noted, “it’s about women facing sexual harassment in the music industry, and we always feel so much liberation getting to shout “don’t touch me” over and over again.”
Hunter Shanahan spoke to the reason behind curating an all fem event, “events with bands and music as well (as art), especially in the sydney scene (as amazing as they all are) are very male centred”. Further noting that although this was an all-femme event, every step of the booking process was dominated by men, “it is kind of ironic, having such a female forward event in like, in a pub. which is so traditionally male.”
It is well-known that meritocracy is a myth within the Sydney music industry. As skilled non-male artists are continually pushed aside and being regarded as ‘too complex’, something which would never happen with their male counterparts. Large festival lineups continue to be dominated by men- notably only 22% of artists on the bill for Good Things Festival 2023 (an emo, metal, rock and punk festival) featured at least one non-male band member.
Hunter commented on the lack of diversity within the booking process, “I can’t think of any venues that are femme fronted or queer fronted, and that sort of speaks for itself, really.” Butterknife- the headlining band of the evening further commented on this lack of representation within the scene, “there is a prevalent lack of femme/non-binary representation on many lineups in the local scene. whereas when we see femme led lineups majority of the time it is a female pioneering for that event to happen.”
