Only one more day left of this year’s free Pop Conference at the EMP. I attended the Women’s Rooms panel this morning.

Miranda Campbell discussed record collecting as it relates to gender (and generation), using Enid and Seymour from the film Ghost World as major examples. Seymour is a total nerd and completist who has “record parties,” while Enid’s record purchasing seems to be an extension of her thrifting habit and hip fashion sense. Campbell explored the idea of young women buying records in pursuit of “camp hipness;” it holds some truth with me as someone who primarily collects 45s—way cute compared with their 12-inch LP counterparts—and seeks out records with attractive covers and colored vinyl. The problem is that some people interpret this kind of appreciation as indifference to or lack of knowledge about the actual music. To me, that’s a very close-minded view.

Kara Jesella and Marisa Meltzer (authors of the great new book on Sassy) talked about girl power anthems like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and Bikini Kill’s “Rebel Girl.” Out of their paper came the idea that the more mainstream a performer is, the less seriously she’s taken as a feminist. Kathleen Hanna used to dress just as provocatively as Christina Aguilera, who speaks out for women’s issues in the media, sings feminist lyrics and supports domestic abuse charities. But Aguilera’s stuck being viewed as a pop tart, while Hanna is (appropriately) celebrated as a feminist hero.

Holly George-Warren, in her talk “Yodeling Our Way Out of the Kitchen,” presented the singing cowgirl as a career choice for independent young women as early as the 1930s. The histories and film clips of singers like Patsy Montana provided a rare look at a genre in which women weren’t overtly sexy or sexualized.

Take a peek at Ali Marcus’ blog for more thoughts on the Pop Conference.