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Sexism

The popular media and academia have long charged heavy metal with sexism and misogyny. In the 1980s, American conservative groups like the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) co-opted feminist views on anti-woman violence to form attacks on metal's rhetoric and imagery. According to Robert Christgau in 2001, metal, along with hip-hop, have made "reflexive and violent sexism... current in the music".

In response to such claims, debates in the metal press have centered on defining and contextualizing sexism. Hill claims that "understanding what counts as sexism is complex and requires critical work by fans when sexism is normalised." Citing her own research, including interviews of British female fans, she found that metal offers them an opportunity to feel liberated and genderless, albeit if assimilated into a culture that is largely neglectful of women.

In 2018, Metal Hammer editor Eleanor Goodman published an article titled "Does Metal Have a Sexism Problem?" interviewing veteran industry people and artists about the plight of women in metal. Some talked about a history of difficulty receiving professional respect from male counterparts. Among those interviewed was Wendy Dio, who had worked in label, booking and legal capacities in the music industry before her marriage to and management of metal artist Ronnie James Dio. She said that after marrying Dio, her professional reputation became reduced to her marital role as his wife, and her competency was questioned. Gloria Cavalera, former manager of Sepultura and wife of the band's former frontman Max Cavalera, said that since 1996, she had received misogynistic hate mail and death threats from fans and that "women take a lot of crap. This whole #MeToo thing, do they think it just started? That has gone on since the pictures of the cavemen pulling girls by their hair."