Is it reasonable to consider rock music gendered male?

In Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the top 100 guitarists of all time only two women appear, and in the top 50 there are no women at all. Why is this? There are no predetermined laws that say men are better guitarists than women. Bayton (1997) said “lead guitarists are made, not born. The reasons for women’s absence are entirely social”. So the issue becomes more about gender stereotypes.

Within music women are more often vocalists than instrumentalists and this may be because certain instruments have masculinity associated with them such as the electric guitar. For women to become rockers it is necessary for them to become one of the boys.

I feel that rock music is definitely gendered male, from the often derogatory lyrics to the euphemistic uses of the guitar. One quote that sums it up is “male fans buy a guitar, female fans buy a poster”.