There is something inherently parasexual about live music. Probably across the board, but certainly for women.
But this logic also implies that there is something inherently objectifying about being a female performer. Which has time and time again proved to be true.
Lizzy Goodman said
"Young women – fans – but a lot of the time we're talking about young women, they are the engine of every great rock scene. Maybe there's some sexism that goes into this too about the way young men are told they're allowed to express enthusiasm... Young women are allowed by our culture to be excited and joyful – you think of the images of girls crying at the Beatles. It's this safe space for women to express feeling and to express, to some extent, sexuality. Like crushes, and being into boys – I mean Elvis was literally dangerous, people thought, because of what he was unleashing in these women. You know, like these girls shouldn't be feeling this way. It's like, no, this is a safe place to put that. And the Beatles were an incredibly safe place to put that. This is how far back it goes to this sort of very beginning of modern pop culture in terms of music culture." Almost Famous is so great because it's about the fans and what it's like to have this music mean so much to you that it defines your life and then have the freedom to go and serve it in that way. In my time, this is what young women did. It was girls at these shows."