Women in Metal - why is this still a thing?

Pictures (from top to bottom): Agoraphobic Nosebleed, All That Remains, A Forest of Stars

So Jezebel, who have made a name for themselves as the perennial whiny feminists of the internet (yes, worse than Buzzfeed), are running an interview with Nina Osegueda (A Sound of Thunder) tomorrow about "what it's like to be a woman in a metal band". Given the site's...biased...history, it's very likely this interview is going to be absolutely horrendous, painting metalheads as misogynistic knuckledraggers as hordes of disgruntled feminists with no real knowledge of metal or the scene descend upon poor Ms. Osegueda and besiege her with buzzwords like 'patriarchy' and 'privilege'.
        Which is unfortunate, because Osegueda seems quite smart - MetalSucks' brilliant reply to the Jezebel posting has her show up in the comments to dispel any rumors about what she is going to say, as well as crack some jokes with the MetalSucks userbase:

Hi there, Nina here. There's actually a lot of people out there (people who don't know much about metal) that have no idea how many women are in the scene. This is kind of my way of saying "hey ladies, we're here, no need to be afraid!" and showing the genre to mainstream folks. It's not a way to separate us from the dudes. Cheers!

          That's all well and good, but this entire interview and the resulting impending doom of tomorrow is enough to make me wring my hands in exasperation, namely because of how it shows how tenuous Jezebel's knowledge of metal actually is. Now, while metal is a fringe movement and will always remain a fringe movement, one of the only things the mainstream ascribes to metal is that it's a dudes' game (the other being metal fans are satanic degenerates, but I digress). But, as anyone who has actually been to a show can tell you, this isn't entirely true. Sure, most of the bands onstage are a pack of guys, but if you look at the audience there's generally a fair amount of ladies in the crowd - hell, when I went to see Dopethrone, who are a lesser known stoner band from Montreal, the crowd was at least 40% female. No one batted an eyelash. No one wondered aloud why there were a bizarre number of women at this show. No one actually in the scene cared. If you're going to run an article about how it's different to be a woman in a scene, find out if it actually is different.
           Women have been actually getting more shit from mainstream media sources about being women in

metal than from within the scene. Take a look at that interview, in which NPR interviews Liz Buckingham of the almighty Electric Wizard. Firstly, it's a little bizarre that NPR chose to interview Buckingham and not frontman Jus Osborn, who has been involved with the 'Wiz since its inception in '93. Additionally, there's a surprising amount of questions about what it's like to be a chick:

As a respected female heavy metal musician, you've never been one to make a big deal of or draw unnecessary attention to your gender, which is one of the reasons I was so keen to gain your perspective on a few things. I read a quote you made once about your desire to be known as "a good guitar player, not a good female guitar player," which is an incredibly strong statement. Do you find that a majority of female musicians think along those lines?

What are your thoughts on female musicians and front women that overuse their sexuality and appearance to gain more exposure for their bands?

How do you feel about the way women are generally portrayed in the rock/metal media? Revolver's Hottest Chicks in Metal issue and the perception of women musicians as either pretty faces or posers is diametrically opposed to the reality of the matter (which sees you and countless other female musicians focusing on riffs and songwriting instead of mascara and booty shorts).

      In this interview with Kylesa's  Laura Pleasants, Pleasants expresses my thoughts directly:

I think more than anything, it’s become a tired question. We’re on tour with three other bands,  right now and two of them have amazing women in them.

       It seems to me that, more than anything, people are either hypersensitive to the possibility metal is sexist or tired of thinking it is just because it started out as a dude's thing. Hell, even Jezebel's chosen prophet for tomorrow's interview is going into the interview ready to explain that women in metal are totally a thing.
        Secondly, misogyny in metal, while it does exist (remember, deathcore is a thing), is generally frowned upon as stupid and pathetic. The classic slut-shaming song that springs to mind for me is Pray for Plagues by Bring Me the Horizon.

She starts her new diet of liquor and dick,
Just like Hollywood, but laced in sick,
The sun goes down, and so does she.

           Now, a fair amount of people would probably point at this song and loudly proclaim that all metal is misogynistic, but to that I'd have to point out that Bring Me the Horizon - hell, the deathcore genre in general, which is known for having  'songs about a cheating ex' as a cliche - is held in contempt by most metal fans. When Memphis May Fire singer Matty Mullins made disparaging remarks about girls being scantily clad in the summer heat, not only did he get a very verbal callout from the Amity Affliction (noteworthy, check out the band's remarks on racism), but he also earned the scorn of the entire internet. It's this level of self-policing when it comes to being intolerant that makes me scratch my head and wonder why metalheads are

painted as hating women - and that's saying nothing of the stigma NSBM has in almost every metal circle.
          Not only that, but bands like Butcher Babies and Huntress, who feature an SFS (Sexy Female Singer) - or two in Butcher Babies' case - prancing about with their tits out are also scorned and rejected as 'boob metal'. Again, this is potentially an example for people to call sexism and slut-shaming on the genre, but I'm not sure it's entirely true.
          The metal subculture - and, consequently, a fair amount of its followers - actually have a penchant for being highly cerebral about their listening material. All of my metal fan friends devote a not insubstantial amount of time to thinking about and researching bands they're interested in - the Metal Archives are testament to this. Sure, the odd knucklehead exists, but because metal is, as mentioned before, a fringe movement, people need to put time and energy into finding music they like. People don't have time to waste on a band whose only claim to fame is electrical tape on their frontwomens' nipples because they don't want to listen to an artist that attracts people by being sexy - it's music, you can't hear someone's appearance.
        So, idiotinremission, what are you getting at? Well, the reason this whole interview got me so riled up is because it's addressing what is, as mentioned before, a non-issue. As far as I have noticed, metal is welcoming and, in fact, highly supportive of women in bands. Claims that it's a highly toxic subculture are entirely false, and can be shown to be incorrect by going to one concert.
        While I have full faith in Ms. Osegueda's representation of us tomorrow, Jezebel definitely has an agenda with this, and they're going to use any excuse they can to paint metal fans as no better than any other fandom. Hopefully this post can help elucidate some of the myths around women in metal - if this entire rant can be surmised in one sentence, it's this:
           Go to a show and decide for yourself. Don't trust this interview.

          Best ~<3
             IIR