Iona Fyfe

Aberdeenshire based folk singer/songwriter Iona Fyfe has had her fair share of experiences with sexism in the industry. As soon as I sat down with her on the phone and asked her about what she has had to deal with, she responded:

“If you just Google ‘Iona Fyfe sex’, you will find loads of stories about a situation where an older guy in a really well-known folk band that runs a festival asked me for sex in return for a slot at the festival. That was the main thing I’ve spoken about in public but there’s so many other microaggressions which contribute to this culture of sexism and misogyny and violence against women.”

Iona, who was awarded Musician of the Year 2021 at the MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards, also mentioned the language used to describe her comparing to the male musicians in her session band.

“The language used to describe me was about how I looked rather than how I contributed. It was, you know, ‘lovely’, ‘beautiful’, ‘charming’. The boys were being introduced based on their musical abilities and skill, but I was being introduced based on what I visually look like.”

“And then it gets worse. I’ve definitely had a clap on the arse at a CD stand, or people making comments like ‘boy if I were 50 years younger, you’d be in trouble!’ and I’m just like but you’re not 50 years younger, you’re old! You’re like the age my grandparents would be if they were still alive! There’s loads of microaggressions that range from really small comments to sexual assault, harassment and abuse and its really bad.”

I wanted to know more about the genre Iona specialises in, folk, and find out as to why there’s such a gender imbalance within it.

“It kind of begins at education. Sometimes girls are put towards singing and piano more whereas boys are put towards more like guitar or pipes. When girls reach puberty, they don’t want to put themselves forward as much, and they become a bit shy. It’s about supporting girls at that pivotal part at the beginning of their musical career that’s really important…”

Another point Iona made during our chat is something I had never really thought about before. When you think of feminism, you just presume that all women stick together like glue. But Iona pointed out that’s not always the case.

“There are women out there who know about male abusers, predators and misogynists, but they won’t call them out on it because they maybe work with them or that male might employ them for session musicians, or be connected to someone in their band. We need male allies but we really need our own women allies as well and that’s where we are really falling down on.”

Like all the women I interviewed for this website, I asked Iona what advice she has for young or aspiring female musicians.

“Pretend that we are genderless. Be absolutely fearless. Send out that email asking for the support slot. Send out your demos. Just pretend that gender doesn’t exist. You may need to be a wee bit thick-skinned but you’re going to hear more no’s than yesses. But that can be seen as a good thing because you know the yesses are probably good ones and they have taken the time to listen to you. Gender shouldn’t be something that holds you back but unfortunately it is right now.”

My chat with Iona really opened my eyes as to how sexism impacts women in different genres of music. I left our call feeling empowered yet shocked at just some of the many stories she told me. Despite the misogyny she has faced, Iona has powered through it all and continues to shed light on the equality that is so desperately needed in such a popular industry.

You can find Iona on:

Instagram - @iona.fyfe

Twitter - @ionafyfe

https://ionafyfe.com/

Spotify - Iona Fyfe