Feminist Issues and Kerrang's cover of Paramore.

Paramore graced the cover of Kerrang earlier this year. The style of their music is Punk-rock, and they are one of the only, if not the only mainstream Punk band that feature a female in this day and age. Hayley Williams is without a doubt the most famous member of the band; she appeals to both males and females. Males find her attractive and a lot of young girls see her as a strong role model. This particular Kerrang cover is the only one I have seen that features a headline like "Secret Conflict Revealed!" It is not a gossip magazine but a music magazine, but this may be a featured part of the article inside because this particular magazine will appeal more than it usually does to females purely because of Hayley Williams. When it is a band with only males in featured on the front, it tends to be all about the music. What is suprising is that the female member is far more dominant in the picture. Her brightly coloured hair, her clothes and stature stand out on the page, giving the impression that she is the dominant, outrageous character in the band. The men are clearly not the attraction on this cover. It also appears she has made an effort while the others have not, indicating she herself is trying to appeal to men in other ways than just the music. The headline saying "Paramore!" also seperates her from the rest of the band, giving the audience the idea that the conflict is between her on her own and the rest of them together.

The article about the band that featured in this magazine caused a lot of controversy. The journalist supposedly created rumours and suggested many things that were not true. It seems likely that this would never happen with a band that only contained male members. The journalist suggested that Hayley controlled the group, and bossed them around. This implies that in order to be a female in a punk-rock band you have to have an attitude, when in fact this is not true. Rumours have also surrounded the band involving romantic relationships between her and the other members, which again are false. It is implying that females cannot just be about the music, there has to be some kind of drama surrounding them. However, it seems she is not the conventional girl we generally find in the media. She tends to have very artificial, crazy hair colours that she changes regularly, her dress sense is very modest and it is clear she does not try to appeal to men in that way, yet for acting like this, she only appeals to them more. It is apparent she is subject to the male gaze, despite her being different from what is generally seen as beautiful. (Tanned skin, curvy figure, lots of make-up) It seems the music comes after the gossip for this band, purely because a female fronts it.