Aggession does scare people, but forthrightness is totally okay, Kirsten. ;-) Whether anything is "your problem" or not is your perception, and your decision. That sexism exists in the music field is as obvious as that bullying or racism exist in various venues of life. And it cuts both ways, as I think we have all discovered.

About 75% of my favourite performers in the last 4 decades have been females. Among them I list Joan Baez, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joni Mitchell, Tish Hinojosa, Loreen McKennitt, Lena Lovitch, Tina Turner, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Eartha Kitt, Odetta, and Emmy Lou Harris. And that's just the beginning...

I also love Dylan, Van Morrison, Jackson Browne, Al Stewart, Leonard Cohen and various other male performers, but I find that on average women seem to write more interesting stuff when they can write well. On average. I think that's because society teaches women to be more subtle in their thinking, whereas men are taught to operate in more narrow channels. I don't think it is innate to gender, I think it's mostly social conditioning.

The least important thing about any performer is which gender (or race) they belong to.