Pat Benatar’s Path to Reclamation

Pat Benatar performs live in November, 1979 in Los Angeles, California – Image from Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Pat Benatar began her music career signing in her church choir in Long Island, NY, as this was one of the few places a girl was allowed to explore her musical interests. After living the life of a bank teller army wife, Benatar divorced her husband in 1979 and went on to live her dream of being a rock musician. However, this was a time where rock was not appropriate for women to take part in, therefore she was marketed as a pop artist and vocalist. This took away from her personal identification and her work of creating a rock band. Chrysalis Records, with whom she signed with in 1978, perceived her audience to be male, so they told her to dress and move to appeal to the male gaze creating an image of a ‘sex-goddess.’

Rolling Stone Cover: 1980 – Image from Annie Leibovitz/Rolling Stone

Interviewers asked Benatar charged questions that took away the focus from her music and put focus on her image and personal relationships (Lewis 1990, 85). For example, the Rolling Stone article published in 1980 as an interview with “Rock’s newest sex-symbol” mainly focuses on her outfits, domestic duties on the tour bus, and relationship with guitarist and husband, Neil Geraldo. The writer included sexually toned wording that critics used to demean her work and credit on the band, such as “vampish, sensual bitch [in] skimpy tights” (Rolling Stone 1980). This shows how people reacted to Benatar during the years she was popular.

Pat Benatar performs in Minnesota in 1985 – Image from Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

At the time, others accused her of playing into the hands of the producers, however she later explained how she followed instructions because she was young and unaware of the effect it would have on her image. By 1983, Benatar was motivated to become “sexless onstage” (Rolling Stone, Interview 1980) by cutting her hair short and switching from wearing spandex leather tights to sporting a jacket, gloves, and pants. This reclamation of her image shows her shift in attitude towards the capitalization on her feminine image. MTV gave her a platform to reinvent her image, which gave her an opportunity to speak out against being a stereotype through her music and music videos (Lewis 1990, 90).