Jinjer, Gender, and Genre: Interrogating the Rhetoric of Voiceless Vocals Through Feminist Psychoanalysis

Utilizing a feminist psychoanalytic lens, we unpack the patriarchal rhetoric within the two most popular YouTube reactions to the metal band Jinjer’s “Pisces” music video. Jinjer’s “Pisces” especially allures patriarchal discourse since they are fronted by a woman vocalist, Tatiana Shmayluk, who performs through a combination of clean singing, screaming, and growling. Whereas “harsh” vocals largely avoid the collision of the vocal folds, we categorize such expressions on a spectrum between voiced and voiceless vocals. Although voiceless vocals are not specific to biological sex, the abjection expressed in the reaction videos reveal gendered expectations of performativity. In analyzing the reactions per the rhetorical presence and absence of Shmayluk’s “voice,” we identify and further theorize the patriarchal aural gaze, or patriarchal ear gaze, and its rhetorical implications. Shmayluk’s voicelessness complicates the patriarchal expectations and desires of the Symbolic Order by reminding listeners of the sonority of the Real.