women entertainers who succumb to addictions aren’t afforded the same empathy as their male peers

On the 7th anniversary of the death of Amy Winehouse, I’m reminded of the astounding talent that women had, but I’m also reminded of her battle with addiction and how the battle and its role in her death made Winehouse, and women artists like her, into tabloid fodder. Winehouse’s memory was mourned after her passing in 2011 but the late songstress also had jokes made about her struggles and the condition those struggles put her in as a person and a performer. Winehouse’s passing was reduced to a “slow motion suicide”, forever tethering her legacy to her demise. This reality is depicted by the fact that majority of the images and videos of Winehouse available online are of her in later years, when her body and face showed the consequences of her substance abuse.

Female musicians face harassment and discrimination at substantially higher rates than women in general population, according to the results of a new survey of 1,227 professional musicians in the United States. – Noisey

When people speak about the likes of Jimmy Hendrix, Michael Jackson and Prince (all lost to various cases of substance abuse), the conversations around their deaths show more empathy towards their addictions unlike the same conversations had about women who faced similar circumstances. Musicians on average are “about twice as likely to drink alcohol frequently (four or more times per week) as the general population, and also indicated substantially higher rates of drug use (6.5 times more likely to use ecstasy, five times more likely to use cocaine, and 2.8 times more likely to use heroin or opium, for example).” Taking this into account, the way women musicians who struggle with substance abuse are treated in the media gets to a point verging on exploitative.

“Findings show that women make up about one-third of musicians, and of those, 72 percent say they’ve been discriminated against because of their sex—almost three times the national average of 28 percent. Harassment was also markedly higher, with 67 percent of the women surveyed reporting that they’ve been the victim of sexual harassment, compared to 42 percent in the general population.” – Nosiey

The most recent case is our beloved Whitney Houston, whose memory has been subjected to ridicule quite often. Pusha T’s most recent release ‘Daytona’ added to that noise by putting a picture of Houston’s drug-addled bathroom counter on the cover. Kanye “Slavery-was-a-choice” West bought the image for $85 000, prompting outrage and conversations about how quick we are to reduce the legacy of women artists to their drug-related deaths. Soon after Houston’s death, one of the hosts of The John and Ken Show, which airs on KFI AM 640 went on a rant saying, “It’s like ah Jesus… here comes the crack ho again, what’s she gonna do, ah look at that, she’s doin’ handstands next to the pool. Very good crack ho… after while, everybody’s exhausted. And then you find out she’s dead. It’s like really; took this long.” Women in music face scrutiny that men rarely experience but beyond that, Black women have to deal with the added layer of racism attached to their misgivings. Men in music (and the arts) are rarely called “crackheads” when dealing with cocaine addiction but Houston faced this kind of backlash even AFTER she passed away.

Houston’s widely reported battle with addiction plagued much of her career, and she was the butt of many jokes over the past decade. For instance, on countless occasions, Maya Rudolph spoofed the “It’s Not Right but It’s Okay” singer on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Rudolph often portrayed Houston as being erratic, spontaneous, drug-addicted, loud and obnoxious. – The Grio

In the aftermath of the passing of figures like Winehouse and Houston, the question of whether the media was insensitive to the person and their memory is often passed around. The answer is yes. All artists with substance abuse face some kind of scrutiny but the way the media has used the damaged reputations of these women (and many more) as fodder is gross and irresponsible. The media frenzy around Winehouse and Houston was so bad that it eclipsed the artistic legacies of these women to this day – few men have had to deal with this reality. We cannot ignore how we minimize such gargantuan legacies just for a throwaway punchline because, at the end of the day, when it’s a woman’s legacy involved, it’s the punchlines that endure.