sound | music & gender | sex

Dear musician, sound artist, composer.

We would like to invite you to participate in our research on gender and sex in the artistic field of music and sound art. With this research we aim to explore the role which these notions play in the shaping and determining of artistic careers and art works, by asking questions about underlying dynamics, unwritten rules, unconscious psychology, inner and outer barriers.

The research is undertaken by Q-O2, www.q-o2.be, a workspace for experimental music and sound art in Brussels. We receive artists for residencies, organise concerts and develop projects and an annual festival. This research in framed in this year's focus on voice, gender, language and identity.

The following questionnaire was developed in response to a collection of remarks, anecdotes, frustrations and questions, formulated by our artists in residence in recent years. We very much hope to receive input from people of all sexes.  

It is a non-academic, qualitative research that gauges experiences and opinions about the undercurrent that is felt by many, but that is not easy to define. It attempts to pinpoint things that are difficult to understand and impossible to count. That’s why we invite you to illustrate your answers with examples of your own experiences. Your elaborate anecdotes and opinions is what we're looking for.
 
Before starting we'd like to be clear about some definitions: we are considering sex as a sliding scale between the two poles of male and female, with many areas in between. Sex, gender and sexuality form a complex tissue with many layers, consisting of the biological sex (anatomy, chromosomes, hormones), gender identity (psychological sense of the self), gender expression (communication of gender), and sexual orientation (romantic/erotic response).  

It will take about one hour to fill out this questionnaire, the deadline is August 1st 2015. The questions are in English, and although we prefer answers in English, they can also be in French, Dutch, Italian and German. Incase you encounter problems or have questions, don't hesitate to contact us at info@q-o2.be.
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You can edit your responses after submitting or continue answering at a later time through a personal link you'll have to save: click 'submit' at the very bottom of the page, then choose 'edit your response' and carefully save the URL of the page you're sent to. (so don't save the link ON the page, but the link OF the page)
Identity details
You can choose whether to stay anonymous or not, but we would like to have some details about the sexual, gender and musical identity of the participants. Because gender is related to the social context, we also ask some geographical information.  
Do you want to stay anonymous?
Name and Surname (if you want to share this with us)
If you choose not to stay anonymous, we’ll get back to you in case we would like to publish your name.
Contact information
The results will be presented from October 2015 onwards. If you want to be informed about these results, please give us your contact information. Also if you shared your name with us, please give your email or other possible way of contacting you, so we can ask your permission for publishing.
Year of Birth
Nationality
Country of Residency
Country/ies where you're currently working
In what genre is your working field?
You as an artist mainly work
Obejctively how much time do you give to each different way of working?
Can you describe how these ways of working relate to each other in matter of importance to you?
What is your familial situation?
Please situate yourself on the scale of biological sex (anatomy, chromosomes, hormones).
male
female
Clear selection
Please situate yourself on the scale of gender identity (psychological sense of self).
man
woman
Clear selection
Please situate yourself on the scale of gender expression (communication of gender).
masculine
feminine
Clear selection
Please situate yourself on the scale of sexual orientation (romantic/erotic response).
attracted to women
attracted to men
Clear selection
Self Image
How do you relate to your appearance? Has this changed throughout the years?  
Might this have influenced your career (choices) as an artist?
As an artist, are you conscious of your gender expression? Are you making choices? And if so, which ones and why?
As an artist, did you ever want to be of the other sex? If so, why?
Does sexual attraction play a role in your collaboration with or your appreciation of other artists?
Recognition
As an artist, do you sometimes get remarks that have nothing to do with your music, but are about your appearance, your character, your behaviour? Can you give some examples?
If so, do you consider these remarks as gender related? Can you give examples?
What are your feelings about this? What has been your response to this?
In a professional artistic context do you sometimes receive comments that are about sexual attraction or rejection? What has been your response to this? Do you experience this as positive / negative / neutral?
Do you think that these remarks consciously or unconsciously have influenced your career choices?
Do you think that your gender expression has influenced the reception of your work as an artist? Explain.
Do you think your work as an artist has been recognized enough?
Does it matter for you how others value your work? Are you easily influenced by opinions of others?
Role Models
Who have been your role models throughout several phases in your life? Whom have you emulated as an artist?
Do you have role models with the same gender identity as you? If so, who?
Do you experience a lack of role models with the same gender identity?
Do you have role models with a different gender identity than yours? If so, who?
Do you experience a lack of role models with a different gender identity?
Are you inspired by certain artists because of the way they express their masculinity, femininity or other gender expression?
Have these role models inspired you for the gender roles in your private life?
Music and Sound Art
How do you approach creating: e.g. from emotion, psychology, form, concept, reflection, improvising, self-observation or self-staging, etc. What role does your body play in it?
Do you believe that life circumstances, personality, cultural codes consciously or unconsciously play a role in the process of creating?
According to you, does ‘male’ and ‘female’ music/sound art exist? Explain.  
If you believe there’s a difference between male and female music/sound art, which do you prefer?
As a listener, does the gender expression of a performer influence your perception of music/sound art? Explain.
Is the music/sound art you perform / create / produce, gendered? If so, how?
Does certain music/sound art turn you on? If so, can you describe what music/sound art?
Private / Public
Were you brought up in an environment that imposed implicit or explicit gender related expectations on you regarding your position in the private vs. public domain of society? If so, what were these expectations? And how did you feel about this?
How did this influence your career as an artist?
As an artist, did you mainly develop your work in the private or the public sphere? Why?
Did your gender expression influence that?
Is your relational life and your career intertwined, either currently or at any point in your life? If so, how and was this a conscious choice?
If you have children, how did this influence your career?
Collaboration / Competition
Do you mainly work together or alone?    
If you collaborate with other artists, are they more often men or women? Give an approximate estimate.  
How are functional roles distributed in the group, related to gender? Do you think there exist stereotypical gender roles in the music and sound art field? Explain.  
What role are you easily adopting in the dynamic of a group? Do you feel comfortable in this role? Why do you or do you not?
In your experience, is there much solidarity amongst artists? And in the artistic field in general?
Do you sometimes feel jealous of colleagues? If so, how do you respond to this?
Does gender play a role in your jealousy and/or solidarity? Do you feel solidarity or jealousy towards collegues with the same or different gender expression?
How does sexual attraction influence a collaboration? Do you have positive and/or negative experiences? Can you give examples?  
Career & Money
Are you making a living from your music/sound art? Is this something you (have) aim(ed) for?
What does career mean to you? How strategically do you build yours? Do you have a website of your own? Do you show yourself? Why/why not?
Do you more often find jobs through informal networks, through auditions/open calls? Are you invited or proactively searching opportunities?
In your experience, how does gender play a role in networking, auditioning or open calls?
Generally, do you think gender influences the building of a musical/artistic career?
Is money important to you?  If so, why? (e.g. surviving, recognition, validation, symbolical value, status, etc.) If not, how do you relate to surviving, recognition, validation, status, etc.
Is money important for your self esteem?
What does power mean to you?
Opinions and prejudices
Do you believe that a parent (male/female) can be as available for an artistic career as somebody without family?  
Do you agree or disagree with following statements? If you want, you can substantiate your answer using the 'other'-option.  
Music / Sound Art made by women is usually softer.
For women it is more difficult to build a musical career than for men.
Men tend to be more assertive and ambitious in their schemes than women.
For women the creation process is more important, for men it’s the result that counts.
Do you have the impression there’s many prejudices in the music and sound art field related to gender and sex? What are they about? Can you give examples?  
Gender and the Music and Sound Art Field
Throughout your career, did you ever experience positive and/or negative discrimination because of your gender expression? If yes, can you give some examples?
Do you experience the music and sound art field as masculine or feminine? Explain.
Would you like to see a change in the gender balance in the music and sound art field? Why/why not?
If so, how do you think this can happen?  
Do you consider this research relevant? Why/why not?
Is there a question we didn't ask that you would like to add to this query?
Future
What does your future look like regarding the topics discussed in this questionnaire? What do you wish for and what is possible?
Imagine we would travel 100 years further in time, to 2115. Can you describe your utopia related to the interconnection of sex, gender, music and sound art?
Vocabulary
Our vocabulary to talk about complex issues as sex, gender, music and sound art, is quite limited. What words would you  like to add to our language, and what would be their meaning?  
A Personal Experience
Do you have an experience (nice, painful, juicy, embarrassing, etc.) related to sex, gender, music and sound art that you would like to share with us?
If we‘d like to use this anecdote when we present this research, can we mention your name? If so, please give us your (artist)name.
You can edit your responses after submitting or continue answering at a later time through a personal link you'll have to save: click 'submit' at the very bottom of the page, then choose 'edit your response' and carefully save the URL of the page you're sent to. (so don't save the link ON the page, but the link OF the page)
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