Aside from, perhaps, a gay bar or an old-school gentlemen's club, one of the only places in the world you'll find a significantly shorter line for the women's bathroom than for the men's is at a Phish show. Within the small community of female Phish fans, it's common knowledge that you could be tripping your face off, wearing some kind of complicated lace-up leotard that takes five minutes to free yourself from, and you'd still probably beat your guy friends out of the bathroom at set break.
It's a blessing to be able to piss in peace, but it's also a bit off-putting to look around at a sea of white dudes and realize that no, this isn't a Trump rally, but rather a community you love and have invested significant time and energy in. I've attended 35 shows, 14 of which were in the past year. Over the course of my evolution from casual fan to this "sorry, I used all my vacation days on Phish" person, I've found myself wondering why there aren't more female fans, and why many of the women I do encounter seem to be there at the behest of their boyfriends. I get that not everyone is down with Phish. As an open fan of one the most obsessively followed yet widely maligned bands in rock history, I am well aware that a lot of people fucking hate the music that Phish makes. But what I don't get is why women, apparently, fucking hate Phish more than men.
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