There’s no dignified way to say this: I was looking down Sandra Malak’s corset.

A bit of background, you say? Here we go. (Here we go! Here we go!) I was watching the World/Inferno Friendship Society (Check episode 20. Does this feel like a comic book yet?) perform in the Pittsburgh area (Millvale) earlier in 2009. Jack Terricloth and Co. were very clearly having a lot of fun, as the venue (Mr. Smalls) afforded them a rather sizable stage. About a third of the way through, I noticed, that the bassist (Mrs? Ms? Etc? Malak) of the nattily-dressed ensemble (guitarist Lucky Strano, excepted, who is contractually obligated to have a Disfear shirt on) was wearing a corset.

This is the World/Inferno Friendship Society, a raucously anachronistic band. Not a surprise, given that the men were wearing suits and ties. (And I mean real suits and ties, not a “punked out” skinny black tie.) But the problem first started when Malak was leaning down to yell the words back at the audience and my eyes slipped.

I looked down her corset.

My first reaction, aside from the neurological wiring, was “Hey, that’s a rather nice view.”

My second reaction was “I shouldn’t be doing this.”

(If now, you’re thinking, James, this is a World/Inferno show, you’re probably thinking too hard about this, which at an Inferno show, means you’re dangerously close to missing the point, you’re probably right. But, on the off chance I’m not thinking too hard, I continue.)

Here, now is the issue of identity politics.

Of course, I wasn’t thinking in academic terms at the time. I wasn’t that coherent or lucid.

The voices in my head went like this:

My first question was: Am I respecting her as a member of World/Inferno and as a performer? She’s playing, right now, music I like, in a band I’m pretty fond of. Choosing to look down her corset and I use that word carefully, since I had control of my body and my mind, does the performer a disservice. My gut check was swift and decisive. Really? A disservice? This is a grown-ass woman in a band whose major themes tend to revolve around debauchery, alcoholism, drug abuse, dancing and chasing girls. The band is not Escape The Fate, by any means, but let’s be honest: ambiguity, allure and intrigue are three of the cards World/Inferno has been playing for a long time. This kind of thing has to go with the territory.

Okay, okay, but what the hell does drug use and alcoholism have to do with the possible objectification you may have engaged yourself in, I thought. Also, what about the themes of solidarity, status quo subversion and dissent generally? Those don’t fit as easily into your casting of World/Inferno as a quote unquote crazy rock band.

The counter argument came pretty naturally. Point taken, but… objectification? You peeked down her corset maybe five times over the course of an hour and a half, which she wore onstage, in a public place, where she knew she was going to be viewed. (This is distinct from the “she was asking for it” argument.) She’s older than you, so odds are pretty good this is something she’s thought about before, so saying she wouldn’t know theoretically insults her intelligence. Also, you tended to avoid looking at her as soon as you realized what was up. Saying that you objectified her is hard to sustain on that basis. More to the point, do “serious” performers have to be without attractive hooks? Must performers be viewed outside sexual appeal? That’s a pretty white/Protestant view of musicians and performers, isn’t it?

Touche. Jack was making a big show out of the slit that broke his pants, terribly close to his crotch. And I acknowledge that viewing a performer as an entity outside of epistemic location reinforces that status quo of viewing performers “correctly” in the male/female/queer context. (Guys in punk bands post-Black Flag are supposed to be belligerent.) But, consider your epistemic position. You’re a young white person watching a female onstage for pleasure. You, of all people, need to pay attention to those boundaries.

How was I looking at her, I thought? I was looking at her as the bass player in World/Inferno Friendship Society (a band who’se four studio full lengths I own, 3 on CD, 1 on vinyl) who made a choice in her wardrobe which possibly affords audience members a view of her cleavage, which may be more or less important to particular people in the crowd. Male gaze aside, this is a band that pays very close attention to how they look. It’s reasonable for me to look, given they want that attention and that’s a large part of their strategies, gig in and gig out, to get it. It’s likely part of an exaggerated, but calculated onstage persona, which, odds are, loosely match their offstage personalities. How they look is a huge part of their presentation. She’s also a woman in a rock band, who wants have fun making music and make money. I’m a male fan. Do the math. That entire band plays up how they dress as part of their act, which – *gasp* – can be usefully monetized.

That said, I’m not sure I can prove any of that.

I can’t find a quote on the internet where she or someone from the band says, “Yeah we dress up because it’s fun for us, it’s a neat little shtick and it makes money.” I haven’t looked, so let’s say no. But, I don’t think the point can be usefully avoided. I’m at a concert, situated as a white male, watching a group of performers who are like me and it’s reasonable to ask, I think, to what extent physical attractiveness plays a role in that performance. Dan Yemin (episode 18) takes off his shirt at Paint it Black shows, Trent Reznor has a fondness for tight black tshirts and (much love and respect for both bands) while I’m not quite the target audience, if I don’t mind it there, why should I mind it here?

That said, I’m not sure those are equivocal. There’s a power imbalance that you’re not taking into account.

Bullshit and yeah, there’s a power imbalance, it’s not just that she appears to be female and I appear to be male, but that I’m a fan and she’s a part of the band. Not everything can be reduced simply to white male dominance and a gaze from the relative safety of the crowd. It goes with the territory. It’s more complicated and more nuanced than that, I think. Are we being used?

No, we’re not being used, in that she’s probably not thinking or vocalizing, “You know, I want the fans to pay attention to my breasts so they’ll buy more tshirts.” That doesn’t make it okay and by suggesting you’re impugning her integrity without evidence to support it. Also, it’s not like she was bending over to give people a better view, she was engaging in the time honored tradition of performers in punk bands who aren’t the singer engaging with the audience, despite a barrier or stage. Yes, its showmanship (showpersonship, maybe?) but not in the way you think. The moment was entirely innocent (as if a moment can be) but it was without guile, I’d be willing to bet. It’s about that connection with the audience, and probably, yes, it is part of that “look at me look at me look at me” performance variety that Franz Nicolay lovingly touched on in an interview.

Okay. But more than that, am I over-thinking this? Could I just be looking at an attractive woman onstage, that being the end of it and making the preceding pages an exercise in pretense and intellectual masturbation, like the smarmy male character in Propagandhi’s Ladies Nite In Loserville?

Uhhhhhhhh…well…I…hadn’t thought of…Hey! Look over there! There’s a cute girl 20 feet to our left. They’re playing Brother Of the Mayor Of Bridgewater. We ought to dance with her.

Yes, we should.

And really, I got to feel uncomfortable around a different girl and that settled the argument for that night. But looking back on it, that doesn’t end this questioning in my head. I don’t have any answers, but maybe a couple provisional suggestions. (I find it kind of silly to be attempting to offer answers to the question it took me a couple pages to even get to and is still consuming me.) If any female performers see this and want to share their perspective, let me know. I doubt Ronen is going to mind.

1) Don’t gawk.
2) Don’t be a dick.
3) Really. That’s all I’ve got.

Don’t gawk is pretty obvious. That part really is about respect. Don’t be a dick is a related point, which means consider the feelings and perspectives of the people you’re looking at. My thoughts really come down to respect and being contrite. If I’m right, or at least looking in the right direction, then the “answer” is thinking of other people and looking beyond yourself, which is one of the big important lessons I should have internalized from punk years ago.

I guess there’s still more learning to do.