There’s a psychology of navigating unwanted advances as a woman in the music industry, at least in the school of Marcy Chin.
Tales of music gatekeepers offering career advancement in exchange for sexual acts from female artists have plagued the business for decades, but Chin has a workaround for it.
The Gimmie More artist shared her strategy to emerging acts in a Kizzy TV interview this week.
“You have to stand on business,” the ‘Chin City’ president started. “Sometimes being flirtatious is to your advantage because some men just can’t hear you unless you’re smiling and kinda, like, touchy-feely, but learn to work it without being taken advantage of. Don’t let that become something that works against you.”
She encouraged women to “figure out your power,” considering the issue exists in other fields.
“Most industries are male-dominated, so, you wanna come in kinda strong too, but still show some softness because men tend to repel that whole ‘I’m a strong woman’ and give you a bigger fight when you’re like that,” she argued. “So, you kinda have to find that happy medium and it sucks for us – that we have to put in that type of work, and it’s mental work – but it’s work, so you have to prepare yourself before you leave, okay, how am I gonna talk to this guy today? How is this gonna go? What am I gonna wear to this studio?”
On the matter of society telling women to dress how they want to be addressed, the Downsound Records signee delineated the mental gymnastics of commanding respect without being body-policed.
“I love to dress provocatively, I love to show skin; I feel very empowered when I do,” she said. “I also love to wear a lot of clothes too, it doesn’t matter, but some people might see it as ‘oh, she’s fast’ or ‘she wants something’… It doesn’t matter what they think; you have to stand in your power. So, if I wear short-shorts and I come around you, my energy has to say, ‘You can’t touch me’.”
“Some men might see you and waan slap you on the butt or whatever because maybe of the energy you give off, and some men might not be able to read your energy. So, if they do step out of line, you have to figure out how to put them back in their place…without embarrassing them, if you can, but sometimes they do deserve some embarrassment, so, it’s really just being aware of your surroundings…”
By her own admission, it’s a tricky ball game, but not one that can’t be managed with the right mindset.
“I’ve been amongst people who felt like they wanted to get to know me more intimately and sexually than musically, for sure, but with the type of attitude I have, it never really manifested that way…” she said. “Send me the rhythm – I’m not coming to the studio at no night. Things like that, like you can’t catch me like that, so that’s how I deal with that.”
Marcy Chin’s latest release is When Mi Ah, which is described as “a spirited anthem celebrating female empowerment and resilience.”
