when i went back and read the actual interview, i found, like others,
that the music industry comments weren't as acerbic as they sounded in the article.
but i definitely DID cringe about a couple of comments she made.
for those who didn't see joni's lesbian comment as homophobic
(besides just being sort of stupid):
to my mind what is... uncomfortable... about what she said
is, well, two things.
1. it sounds pretty clear to me that she is 'defending' women with low voices
as not being lesbians. i see how someone might read that as defending lesbians
as not being people who have low voices, but i don't really think that's what she's saying.
it sounds to me much more like people are getting "unfairly" called lesbians -
but what's the problem with being called a lesbian?
there is a problem?
oh, right. that homophobia thing.
2. as colin pointed out, the hairy chest thing.
what's up with that?
the other thing that i found weird (and maybe is just new to me
because i haven't read a lot of joni interviews - maybe this is totally
commonplace to everyone else at this point) -
her comments about men and women made her sound pretty sexist:
RS:Years ago, Dylan was asked in Rolling Stone about some women performers, and he had issues with their onstage sexuality, but he separated you from the rest of the pack.
Joni: The interviewer said, "What do you think of these young women?" He said they "whore" themselves -- that was the word he used. And the interviewer said, "Well, what about Joni Mitchell?" And he said, "Well, Joni Mitchell, well, she's kind of like a man." And I thought, "What does he mean by that? Kind of like a man?" I guess that's respectful. It was better than what the women painters used to get -- they were called an associate of the academy. Maybe that's what Bob was talking about -- that he was calling me a member of the academy.
Back to Yael - i guess the interviewer is ASKING for this, specifically, so it comes out.
but bobby d was certainly being sexist to say joni was 'like a man' as if that makes
her better and more worthy of his respect. and joni likes that, buys into it.
and i won't even mention the double standard inherent in the comment,
as if no rock and roll men trade on their sexuality.
the way i see these things - notice, file away, and move on.
tori amos has said some similarly dumb things that
reveal her prejudices.
but we ALL have prejudices -
how can we not since we are all raised in racist/classist/sexist/homophobic societies? -
and these biases always pop up at awkward moments.
in my mind the important thing is to recognize one's own biases and try to undo them when one sees them.
luckily for most of us, our stupid comments don't get broadcast to the whole world.
(though i suppose anyone could go back to read the jmdl archives,
years and years and years from now...)
-yael
At 03:00 AM 10/23/02 -0400, you wrote:
RS - Is that why the vocals on your new album sound so much more womanly and sexy?Joni - "Yeah, the soprano is a girly tone, just by the nature of it. You will notice American women -- because this is such a youth culture - speak unnecessarily high compared to women around the world. Women in Europe frequently talk with low voices, but here somebody is ready to call you a lesbian at the drop of a hat. You know, they want to check for hair on your chest or something. America is weird that way."
