Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia Never Had an Issue with Being Labeled a “Hot Chick” in Metal
The topic of sexualization of women in the media is a complex one to look at from a feminist perspective. Is every sexualized photoshoot of an attractive woman anti-feminist? What about the women who say they find empowerment in being sexualized? Should we disregard their feelings and tell them that what they’re doing is degrading? That somehow doesn’t feel particularly feminist. But at the same time, does the fact that the person being sexualized is okay with being sexualized then override the people who find it degrading as consumers of the media?
Yeah, I don’t know the answers to all of these questions, but I do think that, when women tell us they find something empowering, we should, at the very least, take that into consideration. And apparently Cristina Scabbia of Lacuna Coil found something empowering in appearing on Revolver’s “The Hottest Chicks in Metal” article back in the 2000s.
In a recent interview with Belgian Jasper (that was transcribed by Blabbermouth), Scabbia was asked about her appearance on the cover of the February 2006 issue of Revolver for the “Hottest Chicks in Metal” article and she responded:
“The thing is that I never saw the malice in it. I always thought that it’s actually a very powerful thing for a woman to be feminine. I love women power. I love to be empowered by who I am, and I don’t want to hide myself because I’m a woman and if I show my legs that means I’m worth less. That’s not my problem. So when I actually went on that cover of Revolver magazine, because I was the very first woman to to actually appear on that cover, for me, it was just the biggest honor because it was the first time that a magazine, an American magazine, would give a woman the pleasure of being on a cover. So for me, it was something that blew my mind back then.”
Okay, that’s great that she found that empowering for her at the time. At the same time, as The PRP pointed out when reporting on this story, you have to keep in mind the fact that not participating in articles like this could allegedly get a band with a female vocalist blacklisted. According to Arch Enemy vocalist Angela Gossow, when she refused to take part in one of these photo shoots for Revolver they threatened to keep her out of other magazines, with Gossow recalling:
“It basically came down to Revolver telling us that if you don’t want to be in these Revolver Magazine chicks issues anymore, then they’d make sure Arch Enemy would never be featured in another magazine by their publisher. So we are no longer seen in any magazines by their publisher. We are not a small band so we just don’t give a fuck.”
So maybe the whole Revolver spread wasn’t as innocuous as it seemed.
