These women who rock matter

While I agree with Ann Powers that female rockers haven’t gotten their just dues -- just look at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! -- I have to strongly disagree with her suggestion that there aren’t any women rockers around today [“Pink: Color Her a Rock Star,” Nov. 3].

Besides Sheryl Crow, Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Nicks, all of whom she mentioned, I can easily think of Bonnie Raitt, Pat Benatar, Melissa Etheridge, the Wilson sisters of Heart, June and Jean Millington (formerly of Fanny, now fronting the Slammin’ Babes), the Bangles and Suzi Quatro.

Yes, these ladies have all added elements of pop and ballads to their set lists over the years, but what male rocker hasn’t as well? To quote a Quatro classic,these women still “rock hard.”

The fact that they haven’t garnered their well-deserved accolades (of the above list, only Raitt and Hynde have been inducted into the Hall of Fame) has nothing to do with their ability and/or status as rockers and everything to do with a misogynist society that still makes up most of the record company executives, radio programmers, concert bookers, etc.

Jef Fazekas

Newport Beach