While 1980s rock might have presented itself as the realm of boundary-pushing, fun-loving rebels, it also presented real barriers to creative women. Even Ian Wagner, the male groupie known as “Pleather,” told fellow groupie Pamela Des Barres that he saw his relationships with female rockers in gendered terms. “I’ve subconsciously set up my entire life to take the traditionally feminine role in relationships,” he said in Des Barres’ book, “Let’s Spend the Night Together.” “When I say feminine, I mean the person who is seen as weaker to the outside world, but is really the one making things happen. Women make the world go ’round, but the men take the credit.”
Pleather hinted at the broader notion that women were more likely to be categorized as groupies, which allowed others, from musicians to critics to journalists, to dismiss them without allowing for their role in the creative, music-making process. As Gretchen Larsen argues in Organization, this persistent othering shored up the stereotype of women as mere fans who only consume and never create.
Thus, it was often all too easy for groupies of the 1980s and other eras to be relegated to the role of hangers-on and not artistic forces in their own right. Of course, as the (admittedly small) group of female rock musicians in the 1980s, as well as ardent fans like Pleather, could tell you, stereotypes are rarely applicable to everyone.
