There are songs written that clearly involve no gender, songs that were written for one gender that can easily be sung by the other gender, and some songs that were just written for one gender and basically meant to elevate/denigrate one's gender.

In the second category, John Denver wrote the song "For Baby/For Bobbie" as a love song. Good song, but it really did not hit the charts until Mary Travers sang it as the lead, changing the meaning slightly as she sang it for her child. Many, many love songs have this interchangable dynamic.

Mac Davis penned and sang one of my all time favorite songs when he wrote "It's Hard To Be Humble". It is a tongue in cheek look at how men view themselves and the women in their lives. (Which, sadly, can take on very serious other dimensions). Perhaps the song could be performed by a female, but it would sound like a song written about a man was being performed by a female. It is so infused with the male psyche that I doubt a woman could have written it, and if a woman performed it the song would just lose some of its charm. While both genders may think of themselves as superior, I believe that if she wanted to poke fun at herself a woman would use different images and metaphors to convey that idea.

There are some songs that promote feminism (or femininity) that just could not be sung by a man - "I Am Woman" comes immediately to mind, as does "You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman". Sorry, gents, just don't think we could pull those off. And since I have not heard the song the original poster wrote about her monthly cycle I cannot speak to it, but when Shania Twain sings her song all that comes to mind is "what a female dog". My mom worked hard to instill in me a basic honor and respect for women, but when certain ones of them throw their unique biological functions in my face then I cannot help but be put off. The song mentioned by Rockhen may truly be something that men may smile at, but it is still (at least for the "older" generation) something that some men find offensive and would label the song and singer as "for women only". Again, this may be generationally specific more than gender specific, and I would be interested to know the man's age who told her the group would do better if they did not sing "women's songs".

Obviously, this is just my 2 cents worth. I think Rockhen's question has merit, and I have wondered about it myself from time to time. I don't think one can just say "songs is just songs" because that would denigrate the intentionality of some of the great song writers. I think that is probably the case in the overwhelming majority of songs, but that makes the few "gender specific" songs truly stand out, whether for good, or for ill.

Freightdawg