The F-Bomb Is Dropping

Feminist is becoming a very charged word despite a remarkable number of people trying to shut it down. TIME memorably said it should be banned. This backfired royally with a massive media backlash.

A variety of pop stars and actresses have come out against feminism in the recent past as I have said many times but some minds have finally started changing.

Beyonce perfectly displays how feminism isn't an all or nothing game. Find the space where you're comfortable that aligns with your beliefs.

Lady Gaga and Katy Perry both said the label didn't apply to them. After an education about the equality the word really represents, both have changed their tune. Neither will be marching in a rally any time soon but let's enjoy baby steps.

Taylor Swift hung out with Lena Dunham and realized that she was absolutely a feminist. She even had some interesting things to say about how she's often reduced to her relationships and inability to keep them. I loved how she played on this trope in her video for Blank Space.

Unfortunately, not all minds are so open. Despite several outcries, Kelly Clarkson still hasn't made any response to the ugly and ignorant things she said about feminism and feminists a year ago. I can't listen to her music anymore because of what she said. I lost all respect for her. It's a combination of the blatant hypocrisy and her breathtaking, willful ignorance.

Clarkson has been out of small town Texas long enough to figure out what the word means and how the independence she values epitomizes it. She's called out music execs for sexist behavior and the amount of attention paid to her weight but somehow she's not a feminist.

Maybe she doesn't want to alienate the conservative country crowd she's been courting so hard since she feel in love with Brandon Blackstock. It might explain why Carrie Underwood is still singing the same old song. Although country music seems to be changing its tune with Girl in a Country Song and Quarterback.

Please name any other group of people celebrities can openly misrepresent and bad mouth without media backlash? Who else can consistently be reduced to its extremists without anyone major complaining?

You can't touch religions although Christian extremists and hypocrites are vocal enough to make this surprising. Gamergate has created a very discernible barrier between normal gamers and misogynistic troglodytes. Mormons have come out against the polygamist minority, especially since the poly folks started getting their own shows. I can't think of any group that earns such open dismissal and derision from society.

Amy Poehler said she doesn't get why people like Shailene Woodley come out against feminism. "But then they go on to explain what they support and live by -- it’s feminism exactly. I think some big actors and musicians feel like they have to speak to their audience and that word is confusing to their audience. But I don’t get it. That’s like someone being like, "I don’t really believe in cars, but I drive one every day and I love that it gets me places and makes life so much easier and faster and I don’t know what I would do without it."

A blog I just discovered has the best response to those type of women: "You are either a feminist or you actually think you should get paid less for equal work."

Until some of these women learn what it means to get their cars taken away from them, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, and Madonna don't need my money. Any production with Shailene Woodley, Susan Sarandon, Demi Moore, Sarah Jessica Parker, Dita Von Teese, or Gwenyth Paltrow can look somewhere else for their box office dollars.

I'm gonna go crank Taylor's new album and see what Bustle and BuzzFeed have to say today.

PS - Some of the above women say they're 'humanists.' It's a lazy cop-out to say they love equality but are scared of the f-bomb.

Pop Star Fail

Whilst looking up info regarding Kelly Clarkson’s pregnancy I came across an interview she did with Time. While I'm still happy for her that her personal life is perfect, she just plummeted in my estimation.

When it comes to music she’s a bit more ballsy but apparently the only definition for feminism is “Get out of my way, I don’t need anyone” and she loves being taken care of by a man “who’s an actual leader.” The bottom line is “I don’t believe what the word feminism stands for”

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is more than one version of feminism! I am so unbelievably sick of celebrities publicly getting it wrong and constantly bashing a word they can’t be bothered to try and understand.

Most pop/country stars are taught a very narrow and erroneous view of feminism. Rather than look into it for themselves, they continue to perpetuate a negative stereotype. 

If a New York celebrity went out and started bashing southerners because people from the South are unsophisticated, uneducated hicks who love Wal-Mart and processed food, the media would rip them a new one. If a non-religous starlet said she’s not into Jesus because Christians are holier-than-thou jerks more interested in what they believe than how they behave, the media would have a field day. When Kelly Clarkson and Katy Perry do it with feminism, it’s fine.

Making blanket statements about people you can't be bothered to understand is ignorant and shameful as a role model. All feminists are not man haters, we don’t believe we in the ‘I don’t need anyone’ mentality, and we don’t hate marriage or family.  You want to know why 'feminism' is such a dirty word? Public figures constantly making ignorant and erroneous statements like Clarkson did at Time.

I believe I am just as capable as any man and deserve the same rights and opportunities. That's the core of feminism. If any starlet anywhere has a problem with that, you can give up your career and go home.

Let’s not forget how Clarkson subtly bashes men who date feminists as well. Just because a man loves a feminist does not mean he’s incapable of leading. Michelle Obama is a strong woman and a feminist and regardless of what you think of Obama’s politics, he is leading this country. 

Men who date feminists want partners. Period. One of my favorite things about The Boy is that he doesn’t want to be the center of my universe. If I lost myself in our relationship, I would stop being the girl he fell for in the first place.

In the unlikely event any of the pop darlings I tweet this at read it, here’s what life would look like without feminism:

-No athletic programs or scholarships for girls

-No female professional sports leagues

-Women would openly be paid less than a man for doing the same job

-Women would be relegated back to the typing pool and denied opportunities afforded to men

-Women would be openly denied leadership roles at work, school, and (probably) home

-Women would be forced to keep a pregnancy resulting from rape or risk a back alley abortion

-Women wouldn’t be allowed to wear pants to school, work, or church

-Women wouldn’t be allowed to vote

-The same celebrities who bash feminism (Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Kelly Clarkson) would have little to no creative control over their careers. No agent or manager would take their opinions seriously. "Just shut up and sing sweetheart."

My mother was denied a car loan despite having a stable career, good credit, and steady pay check. It wasn’t until my mother threatened to sue the bank for denying her a loan they readily gave to any man that they gave her the loan. 

Bashing feminism as a national role model who benefits from it every damn day is deeply offensive. To think it plays no role in a professional woman’s day to day life is impressively ignorant. I know Clarkson and Perry come from different worlds but they’ve been out in the big old world long enough to know better.

Before you decide you’re against something and start saying negative things about feminists and the men who love them, maybe you should know what you’re talking about. Ignorance should not be acceptable.

PRISM Isn’t So Shiny

Katy Perry’s new album dropped today and it has been hyped like carzy. There were promos for the first single and music video only to sound very similar to Brave by Sara Barielles. Many of us were a little disappointed. For me, that trend continued with the actual album.

I was hoping for a really interesting record since Perry went through a divorce that had her contemplating whether or not she should go on. Unfortunately Perry saw her new love John Mayer as better material than a divorce that pushed her to the edge. There are 16 tracks on the deluxe album. Four of those tracks are about loss, the difficulty of relationships, self love, and bouncing back. It’s five if you count Ghost but I found that one to be fairly standard. Eight are fluff-tastic love songs.

Of the love songs, Dark Horse has a new and interesting sound that suits Perry well. Unconditionally is lovely if a little sentimental for my tastes. This Moment is very good because the lyrics are slightly more multi-faceted. I found the other five to be fairly forgettable.

I found the darker songs so much more personal and interesting. Everyone sings about how wonderful love is but what the other side? I loved hearing about owning your role in the demise of a relationship or how you have to choose your battles. Apparently Perry or the label didn’t because those tracks are only on the deluxe album.

I like the stuff about the demise of her marriage so much more than the sugary love songs. It’s more personal, more interesting, and pretty original for pop music. After being promised a darker version of Katy Perry and being handed 50% lovey-dovey nonsense, I’m really disappointed.

The other tracks were likeable but Firework is a better anthem than Roar and Part of Me is a better ‘over it’ song than Ghost. The silly/fun songs This Is How We Do and International Smile don’t apply to anyone who noticed the recession. They’re also less interesting than California Gurls, Last Friday Night, or Peacock.

Despite how it sounds, I do like PRISM. However, I think Teenage Dream had a more cohesive sound and was, overall, a better record. I’m not sure any record could have stood up to the expectations and publicity. The more you hype something, the more it has to live up to that hype.

For the mega-publicized, darker side of Katy Perry, PRISM is fun but doesn’t deliver.

Eye of the Tiger

Katy Perry had an interesting interview with Billboard magazine recently and she said some things that bothered me.

I’m going to start off by saying how much I love Katy Perry. Her devotion to her fans is incredible. Her fight to be heard and maintain her creative vision makes her an admirable role model. The fact that she makes fun, enjoyable music is validated by her immense success.

I’ve never been divorced but her marriage was so brief you knew something was wrong at the start. Sometimes you’re so in love you don’t want to face the problems that could end the relationship. Admitting this love may not work is hard and it sucks. When you expect forever and it falls apart, it’s devastating.

Depression is an isolating illness so that even if you know all of that stuff logically, it doesn’t change how you feel. But wanting to end your life because the man who was in it is gone? That’s really sad.

I’ve had issues with depression and I could see my mind going there if I was going through a divorce. But I would immediately. I would never give some man who threw away my heart and feelings that sort of power over me.

Perry had the successful career she fought for years to have. She had, and still does, a team of people working for her continued success. She has a loving and supportive family.

The fact that Brand had that much power over her emotions, especially given what a douche he became post-split, makes me think of the words ‘needy’ and ‘pathetic.’ I know that makes me sound like a huge bitch but she is a role model for young girls. Yes, Perry did endure but if a divorce is the greatest trial she’ll ever face and it made her contemplate ending her life, I don’t know if I’d want her as an icon for my daughter.

My family has been through a much harder trial so I’m biased but watching someone you love die puts things like divorce and keeping up with the Jones into perspective.

Perry isn’t a feminist and wouldn’t say anything about control or male power and saying “Yeah, screw that.” I don’t think she fully realizes the potential impact of that message she’s sending. She spent part of the interview gushing about her on-again boyfriend John Mayer.

I’m glad she found love again. She deserves it. However Mayer has a past of burning through celebrity women and being a jerk about it. He seems different with Perry and, as always, I’m rooting for them. Perry may believe in the power of women but I think she believes in the power of twitterpadtion more.

Music: Suffragette by Nina Gordon

PS: One of the morning DJs on the Kane Show said Perry sounded a little needy to her as well. It’s not just me.