closing my eyes and relaxing, yes, counting sheeple, no. It would only piss me off.

You may be confusing the available talent with your access to the available talent. That is, there are a TON of fantastic female musicians, but their visibility is low because they aren't Jessica Simpson. Y'know, blonde, 5 feet short, petite, and large-breasted. Music executives and A&R douchebags aren't going to bother with anything outside of that mold, because they're not creative enough. Oh, and if she's fat, she has a big uphill climb. By fat, of course, I mean not starving.

Guys, though, can be ugly, dirty, and inarticulate. Look at Kieth Richards, for crying out loud! Longest-running stardom for a guitar player possible, and he looks and sounds like gravel stuffed into an old leather purse.

The only people who make it in distribution (not just as a local band who gets by having fun making music) do it by working all the time. It's a very competitive business. Even the guys who do studio work in LA (what a scary-ass place Hollywood is) and Nashville (where they still use the word "nigger" to refer to black people and have their pick-up trucks valet parked) are constantly fighting to get gigs. New guys have a really hard time breaking in, if they can at all, and so women would have to be doubly amazing, since it's still a male-dominated profession.

Yes and no. Note that the examples I provided are not in the least bit mainstream. I actually knew Adrian Connor before she was touring with Hell's Belles (I'm down like that.). I don't listen to the radio outside of work and feel that phenomena you cited is in large part to blame for the dumbing down of America and the world at large. I just prefer music that is a blend of technical ability and great song writing (emphasis on writing), and don't feel, based on what I've found, that women are as strong in that department. A lot of it is either trite, sloppy, avant garde (The artistic equivalent of religion. If you don't have talent just make a bunch of noise and act like other people "don't get it".), or overly simplistic. I'm not saying by any means that they can't make good music. I'm just saying that they typically don't.

On the subject of female musicians: in my experience, women are more often singers, while men men more often play an instrument. Some women will be quite accomplished at an instrument, but oftentimes it is one that can compliment their singing, and allow them to write songs (the piano, first and foremost, and, to a lesser degree, guitar). Think Fiona Apple, Tracy Chapman, Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys.

I am a singer myself (at heart, that is, not by profession, unfortuantely. Not yet anyway, but here's hoping). Some of my greatests idols are women (Fiona Apple, and Annie Lennox, Billie Holiday). I've learned to play guitar, but almost as an afterthought. I simply consider it something I do so that I can sing when I'm on my own. I Imagine many female singers feel the same: the song is their expression, and the instrument is just a necesary element to make and perform those songs. That is part of why female bassplayers and drummers are in a league of their own among female musicians. Their artistic expression is completely different from the girl singer-songwriter with her guitar, or by the piano.

That certainly depends on how you define "good music". Granted, most women write a different kind of music than most men. But some of my favorite music is written and performed by women (again, Fiona Apple springs to mind). I would, however, be very surprised if it was a women who composed and performed the next big hard rock hit. Music like, say, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Soundgarden, or MUSE is very male as far as I percieve it. I'm not saying that women don't enjoy it, just that you don't see many women making that type of music. But how it would rock if they did though More melancholy singer-songwriter men, and more Hard Core, Indie, metal women, now that would be a sight to behold!

But here is a question: would that just* require a cultural transformation, a breaking down of the typical male/female stereotypes we conform to, or do you suppose we are more naturally hardwired to see the next Chris Cornell or Jimi Hendrix be a man (again) and the next Fiona Apple be a woman (again)? A question that can actually not be considered derailing of the thread, since the same question could be transfered to the discussion started by the OP. Could the next mother Theresa be a man, and the next Richard Dawkins be a woman?

*Obviously this is not just something you do. That would be a tremendeous undertaking, by any standards, but with time, and the right resources it could be possible, provided this behavior is not hardwired into us.

I think the stereotypes will fall when the actions and behaviorS they describe change. It's entirely possible for a role reversal to occur. Bands like Smashing Pumpkins and Muse (pearsonal favorites) for example definitely have a more effeminate approach, while bands like Kitty and other female metal acts are coming up in the decidedly masculine metal world, while artists like Fiona Apple and Amy Winehouse approached things like sexuality with a bit of brashness and bravado.

In the end though I think we are hardwired and it's usually a fluke or an act of mind over matter when people break away from it.