Artist News

Kathleen Hanna: I’m really sick of educating people about sexism in music

By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 6 July 2016

As an artist who has long written about feminism in her lyrics, any interview with Kathleen Hanna will eventually turn to that subject. Though her latest album with The Julie Ruin arrives since feminism became a hot topic in the media again, and she’s now fed up of being asked questions by people ignoring the solutions.

Speaking to Bandcamp’s blog, she says: “Someone wrote to me recently about how they wanted to interview me, and it was all women-in-the-music-industry horror stories. And I was like, ‘I’m really sick of educating people about sexism in music’. They always ask, like, ‘How’s it changed?'”

“I feel like every time we have a conversation about sexism in the industry, that’s the sound of my songs being eaten by mice”, she continues. “Why don’t a bunch of straight white dudes, with all the vast resources available to them, read a bunch of books and then start coming up with solutions? We’re already working”.

“There’s actually things that can happen, and it’s not for me to do”, she adds. “It’s for you to do. It’s not up to me to hand-hold these dudes who all of a sudden want to do some good deeds. Read some books about people who are different than you”.

Straight white dudes, go find a book. For everyone else, here’s the video for ‘I Decide’.