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Celeb News: Annie Lennox talks feminism and sex in pop music
Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 6,868
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Annie Lennox talks feminism and sex in pop music
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In your opinion, what is "Summertime" about?
Well, I’m not the writer of the song. And as a songwriter I know that very often people can take your songs and interpret them in their own way, which is actually fine. I just want to qualify that. But in my perspective, I have that picture in my mind of a wealthy white family with a black nanny holding the baby, infant child, in those protective arms. And already, you’ve got the division between a woman who has very little, living in poverty and there’s this wealth around, and she’s singing a lullaby to the baby. And she’s telling the baby, “Go to sleep, everything’s good.” She’s telling him or her, “Everything’s fine for you, everything’s fine, your life is set up, your daddy’s rich, and your mom is good-looking, and everything’s good. Everything is plentiful in your world.” You see, the twist for me is, I always imagined, she’s telling him that, but she will never have the opportunity to go beyond her circumstance. And that really speaks to me. When I’ve traveled in developing countries, I’ve seen people living in the hole of poverty, and I know they’re not going to get out of it. Unless they get access to education and opportunity, and everybody wants that for their children. Being a mother made me wake up to understand like, oh, everybody who is a parent loves their children very much and wants the best thing for their children.
My gender has given me the opportunity to sort of engage with women who are coming from a very different background from me. I feel that women in developing countries, particularly, and girls, are at the very bottom of the ladder. There’s not even a comparison to Western countries, and that is where I feel that feminism and empowerment of women needs to happen, and that just means as Malala [Yousafzai] has said, “Give girls education, get them books. Get them into school, and you’ll see the world start to transform.” I believe in that.
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I read about an event that you were speaking at, and you had asked all the feminists to stand up, and only half of the women stood up. That was surprising.
A few years ago, I was attending an event in London, it was the “Woman of the Year” awards, there were 400 women there, all exceptional women. I was given an award and I was flattered by that. During my acceptance speech, I said, with a sense of pride, “Well, I’m a feminist, everybody in the room who is a feminist please stand up.” And half the room stood up while the rest stayed seated. And I was taken aback by that. But it taught me something: it really taught me that the term “feminist” is still very divisive and polarizing. And even women sometimes want to distance themselves from it for a variety of reasons, and that is a challenge. That, specifically, the the challenge that feminists, male and female, need to address.
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I think some people still think of feminism as a ’60s bra-burning thing.
Yes: that’s what it was, a strident movement. Women were very angry and did express a rage against a kind of machismo society. It had to be that way [back then]. But in order for it to evolve, it must be inclusive of everyone. At the end of the day, if it’s divisive, then we really need to do something about it. Because then everyone gets fractionalized, and then we fight against each other.
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So let me ask you this: does feminism have a place in pop music today?
What does that mean?
Is there a place for women who are beautiful and strong and don’t pander to men?
You see that with Adele: she’s an artist in her own right. But look, I’m not censorial. It’s not that I think that women shouldn’t be sexual at all. It’s not about that. For me, what was specifically disturbing about this overt sexualization onstage, of so many artists, is that many of them have very young audiences. It’s just inappropriate when your fan base starts at [age] seven, and you’re synonomous with incredibly overt sexual moves, that are going into soft ****ography, basically. It’s not appropriate. It’s not down to me to point the finger, it really is about the parents. “Wow, is this the kind of landscape that I want to bring my daughter up in? Does she need to be exposed to sexuality at this point?” And the truth of the matter is, when people are being extremely sexualized onstage, they’re selling records, because sex sells. Simple as that. But it’s a red herring: because when we should be talking about the serious issues of young girls getting education, access to sexual and reproductive health care, and all of these things, we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about twerking. It’s a total misnomer. And why? Because of that word—we know that word sells.
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Annie's Grammy nominated album 'Nostalgia' can be purchased here. Look out for her performance with fellow Grammy nominated artist Hozier tomorrow at 8!
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 46,848
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I feel like she's a very oversensitive person. Always blaming the artist for things they can't control.
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Member Since: 11/11/2009
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 40,566
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 10,510
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And commanding everyone in the room to stand up is good for feminism cause?
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 6,868
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Originally posted by Lethal
I feel like she's a very oversensitive person. Always blaming the artist for things they can't control.
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I think she's opinionated but doesn't want to seem like she's dogging the artist for what they do. But I'll give her props for saying it's the parents fault. Parents are always complaining about the raunchy music their children like, but don't do anything to stop their kids from listening to it.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 46,848
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Quote:
Originally posted by Slayonce
And commanding everyone in the room to stand up is good for feminism cause?
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She's one of those overly aggressive feminists. Not my cup of tea.
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Member Since: 2/4/2014
Posts: 8,486
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I agree with her!
It's so sad that women who really do support women's rights are so scared to call themselves a feminist. The word has become so demonized by people. 
And not that person saying she commanded people to stand up. She asked whoever considered herself a feminist to stand up. Now when a woman asks a question she's considered overly aggressive.
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Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 6,868
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Originally posted by Priyanka Chopra
I agree with her!
It's so sad that women who really do support women's rights are so scared to call themselves a feminist. The word has become so demonized by people.
And not that person saying she commanded people to stand up. She asked whoever considered herself a feminist to stand up. Now when a woman asks a question she's considered overly aggressive. |
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Member Since: 10/14/2011
Posts: 3,934
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Maybe they didn't stand because they don't fit into her restrictive and disempowering definition of what being a feminist is.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 10,510
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Quote:
Originally posted by Priyanka Chopra
I agree with her!
It's so sad that women who really do support women's rights are so scared to call themselves a feminist. The word has become so demonized by people.
And not that person saying she commanded people to stand up. She asked whoever considered herself a feminist to stand up. Now when a woman asks a question she's considered overly aggressive. |
I didn't literally mean the word 'command' but it looked like it. She asked for everyone in that room to stand up. I find it a bit akward to tell to people to stand up. Why? All of us could be feminists without having someone else to tell us how to show it. Especially by standing up in an award show ceremony.
I do agree that the word feminism is quite polarizing but why should I support it by standing up in an award show ceremony?
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Member Since: 2/4/2014
Posts: 8,486
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Quote:
Originally posted by Slayonce
I didn't literally mean the word 'command' but it looked like it. She asked for everyone in that room to stand up. I find it a bit akward to tell to people to stand up. Why? All of us could be feminists without having someone else to tell us how to show it. Especially by standing up in an award show ceremony.
I do agree that the word feminism is quite polarizing but why should I support it by standing up in an award show ceremony?
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It was a small women's event and she asked a simple question. Her point was that many people are scared of the word and to be associated with it. We've all been to speaker events where they ask simple questions and the audience responds by getting up or raising their hands. This isn't any different. 
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Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 6,442
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Quote:
Originally posted by Priyanka Chopra
It's so sad that women who really do support women's rights are so scared to call themselves a feminist. The word has become so demonized by people. |
That's an oversimplification of the issue. It's not about being "scared".
The 2nd Wave (which completely redefined and dominated feminist conversation from the '60s onwards) went through a huge backlash during the '80s and '90s, and many women criticised it or refused the label outright because they felt it was far too restrictive and even "dogmatic", or not very inclusive (in terms of Western feminism) amongst other issues.
The idea of a 3rd Wave became popular in the early '90s, but it never caught on as much as 2nd Wave outside academic discussions, aside from a few noticeable critics - see: Judith Butler. So instead some women simply stopped defining themselves as feminists.
Feminism as a "movement" as opposed to a "collective of various ideas about various things" (which is what it really is) is still suffering because of this.
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Member Since: 2/4/2014
Posts: 8,486
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Originally posted by Mr. Fahrenheit
That's an oversimplification of the issue. It's not about being "scared".
The 2nd Wave (which completely redefined and dominated feminist conversation from the '60s onwards) went through a huge backlash during the '80s and '90s, and many women criticised it or refused the label outright because they felt it was far too restrictive and even "dogmatic", or not very inclusive (in terms of Western feminism) amongst other issues.
The idea of a 3rd Wave became popular in the early '90s, but it never caught on as much as 2nd Wave outside academic discussions, aside from a few noticeable critics - see: Judith Butler. So instead some women simply stopped defining themselves as feminists.
Feminism as a "movement" as opposed to a "collective of various ideas about various things" (which is what it really is) is still suffering because of this. |
That explains why academics are weary of the word, not average people. Average women are scared of it because the term had become demonized. People associate it with the scary woman 'feminazi' image perpetuated by the media and anti-feminists.
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Member Since: 4/6/2014
Posts: 2,407
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Quote:
Originally posted by Slayonce
I didn't literally mean the word 'command' but it looked like it. She asked for everyone in that room to stand up. I find it a bit akward to tell to people to stand up Why? All of us could be feminists without having someone else to tell us how to show it. Especially by standing up in an award show ceremony.
I do agree that the word feminism is quite polarizing but why should I support it by standing up in an award show ceremony?
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so where the best place for you to stand up ?
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 8/8/2008
Posts: 21,933
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She has been bleating on about this since the 90s with Madonna etc.
Can she move on?
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 5,910
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And today's artists are tame compared to Madonna's soft **** image. So what is she griping about now?
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Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 6,442
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Quote:
Originally posted by Priyanka Chopra
That explains why academics are weary of the word, not average people. Average women are scared of it because the term had become demonized. People associate it with the scary woman 'feminazi' image perpetuated by the media and anti-feminists.
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No. The backlash against the 2nd Wave was culturally pervasive. It coincided with, particularly in the US, a major return in conservative politics - feminism as a distinct "movement" was being heavily criticised from both ends.
Some younger women or girls nowadays may be "scared" of the label because it would supposedly signify that they behave a certain way, but only as a result of the women who criticised the 2nd Wave before them.
Madonna, PJ Harvey, Bjork and Patti Smith are all examples of intelligent women in popular culture who have rejected the label of feminist in the past - are you telling me they're scared?
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Member Since: 8/17/2013
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Member Since: 1/2/2014
Posts: 23,393
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Quote:
Originally posted by Marla Singer
Maybe they didn't stand because they don't fit into her restrictive and disempowering definition of what being a feminist is.
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