Gerard in Rock Sound

[ofyourdeath.livejournal.com]

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
Interview: Andrew Kelham

Have you thought about how My Chemical Romance will reintroduce themselves to music fans in 2010? Do you ever wonder if your band is still needed in music?
Says Gerard Way (vocals):
"It's funny because the musical landscape is ever changing, but I think there's always a place for us and I think we're absolutely needed, especially now. I don't say that with any arrogance, I just really believe in my band and I believe that our band does what it does better than anybody else. There's no one that can do this like us. I feel a gap when we are gone and I hope people do too, if they don't then we're not doing our job properly. I think we're absolutely needed, but I'm glad we're coming back in 2010 because, as much as people need us, I think they needed a break from us too. I hope we got the balance of that right."

What have you tried to achieve with your forthcoming fourth album? How is it different from you past work?
"With this record we tried to ignore all the cosmetic nonsense and focus on becoming a truly great rock band. We felt that the world needed a really straight and pure rock band, you're hard pressed to find a lot of those these days. It was less about the theatricality and more about how we become the greatest young American rock band musically."

How are you adapting to fatherhood?
"It's great, it's amazing. Obviously we just wanted a healthy baby, but I was excited to have a girl as there are things I can see myself helping a girl with that I could never do with a guy, things like picking out clothes and stealing eyeliner, all that sort of stuff!"

Mod note: As happy and excited as we are that people are starting to discuss and converse in the comments, we'd like to remind everyone to play nicely.

Comments

[thebiologicshow.livejournal.com]

How the fuck did this post turn into a huge debate about gender roles and sexism? Honestly.

Boys don't tend to like clothes and eyeliner as much as girls do. That's just a fact. Chill the fuck out.

[spuzz.livejournal.com]

I enjoy discussing gender roles and their current place in society and the fight to get rid of them.

Boys don't tend to like clothes and eyeliner as much as girls do.

Such as this statement. If true, I'm interested as to WHY that is so and how that is possibly changing.

[thebiologicshow.livejournal.com]

Why does it even matter that much, though?

Boys like certain things and girls like certain other things. No one's saying "you are a girl so you have to like pink and dresses and make-up" or "you are a boy so you have to like cars and dirt and hot chicks"... that's just the way it usually is. I don't understand how that's something to "get rid of". It's not something that can be changed.

[spuzz.livejournal.com]

It matters to me because I am a woman and this comes up in my life quite often. As well as the life of my sister, my mother, my friends. It also comes up with friends of mine who are men but get torn down because they enjoy shopping or like Gossip Girl. Does that seem right to you? That people are put into boxes because of how society perceives their gender as a whole?

No one's saying "you are a girl so you have to like pink and dresses and make-up" or "you are a boy so you have to like cars and dirt and hot chicks"... that's just the way it usually is.

Actually people ARE saying that, many people. People may have not said to you personally but I can't tell you the number of times people have commented on my love of baseball with confusion or implications that I may not be a "true fan". These things play into our everyday life and they can be extremely hurtful. Boys and girls in school teased because they may break the mold, harassed, bullied. That's not right, it's not fair and it SHOULD be changed and broken down. We as a society came up with these rules for gender, they have not always been historically like this and it CAN be changed because it has before. How did we get this way?

[thebiologicshow.livejournal.com]

Whoa, okay... Here's the thing.

I know that people get shit daily for not fitting in to tiny little boxes in regards to gender (well, in regards to everything else, too). It's awful. I know that. And I know what you're saying - it is messed up that people are expected to fit the mold and I'm on your side for that. But I don't think this discussion has a place here. (As a side note, I don't agree that we came up with the rules for gender - I think the rules were based off of general observations and are maybe just more strict than is fitting.)

Bandit hasn't grown up yet. Nobody knows what kind of person she'll be or what she'll be into but based off of general norms, she's way more likely to be into girly things than their kid would if it was a boy. That's just a fact.

Gerard said something cute about spending time with his daughter. He said nothing like "SHE MUST BE A NORMAL GIRL AND LIKE NORMAL GIRL THINGS BECAUSE GIRLS LIKE MAKEUP AND BOYS AREN'T ALLOWED TO". Hence me saying to chill the fuck out. It's making something out of nothing.

Don't let me stop you from discussing whatever you want... I just don't find it relevant here.

[spuzz.livejournal.com]

But I don't think this discussion has a place here.
The discussion has a place wherever it comes up. The topic can be discussed anywhere it comes up for whatever reason because it's a problem of our society as a whole. In a community about My Chemical Romance where there are fans that are female, where Gerard has discussed and brought up gender roles it has a place. Absolutely. If you don't want to PARTICIPATE in said discussionm, that is your choice but may not be the choice of others.

As a side note, I don't agree that we came up with the rules for gender - I think the rules were based off of general observations and are maybe just more strict than is fitting.
Where did those observations come from? When did they happen? Why if they come from observations like you say, have they remained strict instead of fluid? People are not static, they change and develop along with society and as such "roles", should change as well or fade away entirely. But part of the process is being aware of them, discussing them and being self aware as well as societally aware. I don't have to accept anything placed upon me by society because I have free thought, as do you. I don't want to have children, does this make me a lesser woman because I'm not following society's ideas of what a woman should do? Or just an individual who doesn't want to have children?

Bandit hasn't grown up yet. Nobody knows what kind of person she'll be or what she'll be into but based off of general norms, she's way more likely to be into girly things than their kid would if it was a boy. That's just a fact.
This is an illustration of the problem. WHY is that so? WHY is that a fact to you? IS that a fact? Why, before her birth, before she has formed a personality is she being molded into what you believe a girl does or likes? That makes no sense. Your use of "norms" implies that her love of "girly" things would make her normal. What is normal? Why is that normal? Do we all have the same normal? Should we all have the same normal?

And edited to add: I also want people to let ME know when I am saying something problematic or offensive because that gives me the ability to change and adapt and look back and say "oh maybe I shouldn't have said that because [whatever reason]" It gives me an opportunity to grow and change. So I tend to view statements with the same critical eye, especially with someone I admire (like Gerard for instance).

Sorry for the multiple edits! I am a fail typer today.

[jezrana.livejournal.com]

It matters if a boy does want to try on eyeliner but is afraid he'll get beat up, or if a girl feels pressured to conform to being stereotypically feminine when she doesn't really want to. If people conform to traditional gender roles because they want to, that's fine, but if they don't want to but feel like they have to, that's something I think can and should be changed.

[tuesdaysgone.livejournal.com]

Quite frankly, it 'is that way' because that's the way choices are presented to children from a very early age. I have a 1 1/2 year old son. Everything that's sold and marketed for children is very highly gendered. It takes a lot of work and thought on the parents' part to get past that and present a balanced array of choices, and it's very hard to do so, because we as parents and the vast, vast majority of the persons making, marketing, and teaching to children were also raised in the same highly gender-differentiated society.

It doesn't mean it cannot be changed.

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

This is an excellent point, and I don't envy parents who are trying to navigate this. (Pointless personal anecdote: I once bought a t-shirt for my twelve-year old cousin, and was thrilled when I found a t-shirt in the girl's section that said things like "Bright, Lovely, Original", etc. and not "Babe" , and was green. But when she opened it, she said, "Um, you know this spells Blonde, right?" Right. Also they sold thongs for seven-year-olds in H&M for a while.)

[tuesdaysgone.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, it's not easy! Because when they leave YOUR house, no matter what kind of environment you've created there, they're still inundated with these kinds of signals from school, the media, you name it. Even their toys. "Doctor/Lawyer/Pilot/whatever Barbie" is still a ridiculous anatomically impossible doll. Little boys who like to pretend to cook are still going to have to do so on a bright pink play kitchen. It just goes on and on.

[yekith.livejournal.com]

It's funny how many posts turn into deep discussions that don't exactly relate, yes!

I agree, it's not usual to hear a man say that, I found it pretty amusing, which doesn't mean it's wrong so I don't see the problem here!

[bexless.livejournal.com]

Hey, debate is all good, and I think in this case it's a totally reasonable discussion to have. Gerard doesn't have the firmest grip on irony, but I think even he would realise, if it were pointed out to him, that saying he wouldn't be able to share his enthusiasm for make-up and clothes with a boy when he is himself a boy is hilarious, nonsensical, and is assuming his hypothetical son would not be open to those things.

Also assuming his daughter will be. Maybe she won't! It's just interesting that even someone like Gerard, who obviously doesn't have a huge amount of time for gender norms, gets tripped up by this stuff. It's drilled into all of us by society and the media, and to be honest I think it's great that we have these kinds of discussions. His comments just show that we still need to be having them, as often as possible as far as I'm concerned!

[cheshireempress.livejournal.com]

You know, I think you're the first person I've seen come out and say that maybe Bandit won't be into clothes and makeup. Thanks for that.

[bexless.livejournal.com]

Yeah :/ It's kind of...something that a lot of the comments have been indignantly defending Gerard's hypothetical son's right to eyeliner and not Bandit's right to look on in horror while her Dad tries to make her let him give her a manicure.

[ciel-vert.livejournal.com]

I think this is the best comment in this entire discussion. Thanks!

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

YES. Maybe she won't, indeed. Thank you for that one, seriously. And of course it's better to talk about this shit because until we talk about it enough, how are we ever going to figure it out? (I mean, we could always be my philosophy teacher and assume prejudice is natural, but I don't think that's an approach we want to take, right?)

Anyway, I love you. And lets keep having these conversations.

[jezrana.livejournal.com]

That may be so, but I think it has a lot to do with oppressive and restrictive gender roles as enforced by society, and I think it's important to point that out and challenge it.

If you're not interested in discussing it, that's fine, but if other people do want to discuss it, telling them to "chill the fuck out" isn't very helpful. :)