“I Don't Give a Damn 'Bout My Reputation!”
Joan Jett’s performance at Stern Grove in San Francisco, CA, united women from all ages, backgrounds, subcultures and socio-economic statuses. I went to the show with my mother, stepmother and a few of their friends. We sat in the VIP section with a great view of the stage. Before the show started, I observed ticket holders scrambling to find seats. Clusters of punk rock moms and daughters were in the audience. The spectators resembled a rainbow flag. Each color represented a different social phenomenon.
Seeing women use their creativity and strength to change societal standards has shown me that a woman's role in the world does not have to be fixed.
Joan Jett’s anthem “Bad Reputation,” which was released in 1980 was a game-changer for women. Her song directly addresses female sexuality and a woman’s right to be shameless. When Jett was beginning her music career women didn’t play rock and roll. Jett explains in a documentary titled, Bad Reputation, that she was called a “slut” for wanting to do everything that male bands were doing including making an album and going on tour. She said, “Tell me I can’t do something and you’ll make sure I’m going to be doing it!”
Joan Jett was one of the first female musicians to lead her own band. A male musician in the documentary says, “Joan Jett was nobody’s sidecar.” She is the driver of the motorcycle. The song “Bad Reputation” takes power away from the male gaze. The line “And I don't really care if you think I'm strange, I ain't gonna change,” was an essential message for young women because it hadn’t been saying before. Jett brought owning one’s sexuality into the mainstream.
“Victim of Circumstance” from Jett’s 1981 album, I Love Rock n Roll addresses the same themes as “Bad Reputation.” The lines “I'm just a victim of circumstance. Wherever I go. Just a victim of a bad reputation,” illustrates that women aren’t to blame for the way they are treated. A woman’s reputation shouldn’t hold her back because most men don’t have to worry about theirs. Many of Jett’s songs discuss sexuality, feminist beliefs and double standards in subtly strategic ways. Her band The Runaways opened the door for Jett as a musician but she walked confidently through it on her own.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts heavily influenced the lead singer of Bikini Kill, Kathleen Hanna, who continued to spread Jett’s feminist message to the next generation. Jett also performed her song “Androgenous” with Miley Cyrus in 2018. Jett is now 62 years old, still setting an example of how to be a strong woman in a world where we are told to shrink for the benefit of our male counterparts. Joan Jett’s music showed women how to be the driver in their lives without guilt. I remember listening to the Clash, Siouxie and the Banshees, the Sex Pistols and the Slits in high school. I really looked up to these musicians. Seeing women use their creativity and strength to change societal standards has shown me that a woman's role in the world does not have to be fixed.