Honestly I would love to meet a girly t adorned girl, that way she might be into my girly metal bands instead of being like “You like kittie nightwish and evanescence? Thats not very masculine”. The girl in the slayer shirt will look like a badass, but I wouldnt consider her any more a fan or real than the girl with the brittany spears t-shirt who happened to get interested metal by her not so pop interested boyfriend recently.

I’m a different breed of metalhead though, so It might be rare to find people who share my opinions.

1) I studied Comparative Religion in college, and so I loved browsing scholarly books on religion. I found an interesting article on black metal in an anthology on modern Satanism, that attempts to understand a facet of this aggressively male demeanor of black metal that you so aptly characterized. It’s not completely relevant, since it is more interested in black metal’s connection to satanism, but it definitely talks about it. The article is called “‘With my art I am the fist in the face of God’: On Old-school black metal,” and the anthology is called “Contemporary Religious Satanism: A Critical Anthology.” If anyone is interested, I’ll link it below:

http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754652861

2) Your article, as I said above, caused me to reflect on my own experience with black metal. Long story short, my love story with black metal began with me as a fundamentalist evangelical christian, and ended with me as an atheist. I listened to all the monoliths of the second wave while still intensely religious. It was an interesting struggle, trying to validate my christianity simaltaneously with my black-metaller-ness (just made a word, sweet). I remember early in my black metal past coming across the song “Tormentor of Christian Souls” by Dimmu Borgir and being both appalled and enchanted at the same time. Retrospectively, I chuckle thinking of my reaction, knowing the facets of black metal that I would later find. As my black metal tastes evolved and my religiosity vanished (by the way, these aren’t causally linked, just for clarity.) I began to also identify as a feminist and LGBTQ ally. Just when I thought my relationship with black metal had become uncomplicated, the contradictions returned! And they remain today. Why do I share this? One, because I sympathize with your experience of the misogyny (and homophobia) in the genre, but, two, because I also think there is hope for positive change, despite my experiences.

I think black metal is intrinsically contradictory, both ideologically and aesthetically. But I won’t go into detail about this, because it digresses from the point. I think that it is within this inherent contradiction that the answer lies. The very entropic nature of black metal implies its potential for change. I think the genre is too malleable in it’s vast range of aesthetic and ideological possibilities (and already existing unique manifestations!) to not have room for a more gender-inclusive future.

Thank you for listening, and keep on listening to black metal! :)

Ha, they’re awesome :D

Just forgot to mention, I’m a Nightwish fan, as well.

Also, as a disclamer, English is not my first language, so I might not have been very clear and for that I apologize. So I’d just like to point out that what I wrote referst to my situation and I’m by no means saying that’s also your case.