12:53 pm - 12/02/2012
"I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women."
"I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women," Katy Perry said Friday during her "Woman of the Year" acceptance speech Year at Billboard's Women In Music 2012 luncheon.
"I don't really like to call myself a role model for my fans. I hope that I am an inspiration for them, especially young women. My mantra, especially for the ['Part Of Me'] film, was: If you believe in yourself, you can be anything."
That empowering message was felt through the room at Capitale, which hosted many of this year's honorees, including Rising Star Carly Rae Jepsen and Atlantic's Julie Greenwald, Billboard's reigning No. 1 female music executive for three years running. But there can always be room for more.
"As we sit here today, over half of the college graduates are female but less than one fifth of the executives in businesses of the Fortune 500 and above are female," said Prometheus Global Media's CEO Dottie Mattison. "We are losing the potential and promise of young women's careers, who are leaving for a variety of reasons. Many of us in this room are old enough to remember a time when it was much worse for young women but are young enough to know that we can…create something better than what we found."
For Perry, some of the most validating career advice she received came from one of her idols, Alanis Morissette. "I used to believe that mystery was [mystique]," the "Jagged Little Pill" phenom recently told Perry, "that there's a time and place to be a star. But I really think that transparency is the new mystery."
Speaking with "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart in an onstage Q&A, Perry applied that bon mot one step further to her own relationship with fans. "People don't want to look up to someone. They want to look at across at someone and say, 'That's my girl. She's singing something I don't know how to put into words. She's captured something and became the soundtrack of my life.' And I know that if I get out of line, my sister back home will whack me across the face - and so will my management."
Perry and Jepsen join an illustrious rank of previous honorees such as Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Fergie and 2009's pairing Beyonce and Lady Gaga, who shortly after being recognized by Billboard went on to film the infamous "Telephone" video together. "So Katy and Carly, no pressure," teased Billboard editorial director Bill Werde. The event also doubled as a chance for upcoming talent to show their appreciation. Rising Atlantic country star Hunter Hayes was on hand to pay tribute to his boss Greenwald by performing his hit "Wanted." Epic recording artist Cher Lloyd also popped by to sing an acoustic cover of Perry's "E.T." as well as her own hit "Want You Back."
In fact, it was pop stars like Perry and of course Jepsen's current tour partner Justin Bieber who helped make "Call Me Maybe" Billboard's No. 1 Song of the Summer, spending nine weeks at the top of the Hot 100 and winning her an American Music Award for Best New Artist just last week.
The song made her an overnight sensation in the States, even though she'd been a well-known name in her native Canada since 2007, when she finished third on "Canadian Idol." Speaking To NBC's Natalie Morales onstage, Jepsen says she's learned first hand how the music industry of 2012 is driven less by labels and managers and more by the fans. "The thing we have now is more access to dance parties. I can remember my sister and I falling in love with the Spice Girls and we decided we were able to make our own little dance to it, only we weren't able to share it. Now you can do that. There's easier access to share the love that way." And who's Jepsen's favorite Spice Girl? "Geri," she said without hesitation. "I always thought she was the businesswoman of the group."
In accepting her Rising Star award, Jepsen thanked Brenda Romano, Interscope's president of promotion and Billboard's No. 9 most powerful woman in music, and fellow Interscope execs Jennifer Frommer and Karen Goodman in addition to her Schoolboy Records team as being the women in music who've given her the biggest support. But the most influential women in her life have been her mother and my stepmother, to whom she dedicated her award.
Mary Perry Hudson, Katy's mom, was also shouted out in Perry's Woman of the Year speech as one of the women who've inspired her most in her life, as well as her sister ("for keeping my head above water throughout all the 124 shows of the tour and some of the hardest times of my life") and her cousin ("who just had a baby with no epidural.") Perhaps most inspiring of all was an 11-year-old girl names Jodi DiPiazza, who duetted on "Firework" with Perry last month at Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars benefit for autism, hosted by Stewart. "She showed me the true meaning of being a firework, and she inspires me."
Perry was also humbled to share the room with this year's industry honorees - see the full list here - among them Pepsi's Bozoma St. John, whom Perry thanked afterward for sponsoring the premiere concert of Perry's "Part Of Me 3D" in Hollywood (as part of Billboard's Summer Beats concert series) in June. Noting she's met and worked with some of this year's honorees, having previously been signed to Def Jam and Columbia before joining Capitol - and now, post-EMI merger, Universal. "I'm really excited for my new boss, Steve Barnett. I'll keep letting him think he's the boss, anyway," Perry joked of the new Capitol chief.
"I'm very excited to be part of Universal's family," she continued. "I'm really looking forward to my third upcoming adventure with you guys, I just have to let you guys know my Saturn has returned so it'll be ugly. Thank you for this incredible honor and I hope we can all start our cycles together now."
src : billboard
Katy Perry: I'm Not A Feminist
"I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women."
"I am not a feminist, but I do believe in the strength of women," Katy Perry said Friday during her "Woman of the Year" acceptance speech Year at Billboard's Women In Music 2012 luncheon.
"I don't really like to call myself a role model for my fans. I hope that I am an inspiration for them, especially young women. My mantra, especially for the ['Part Of Me'] film, was: If you believe in yourself, you can be anything."
That empowering message was felt through the room at Capitale, which hosted many of this year's honorees, including Rising Star Carly Rae Jepsen and Atlantic's Julie Greenwald, Billboard's reigning No. 1 female music executive for three years running. But there can always be room for more.
"As we sit here today, over half of the college graduates are female but less than one fifth of the executives in businesses of the Fortune 500 and above are female," said Prometheus Global Media's CEO Dottie Mattison. "We are losing the potential and promise of young women's careers, who are leaving for a variety of reasons. Many of us in this room are old enough to remember a time when it was much worse for young women but are young enough to know that we can…create something better than what we found."
For Perry, some of the most validating career advice she received came from one of her idols, Alanis Morissette. "I used to believe that mystery was [mystique]," the "Jagged Little Pill" phenom recently told Perry, "that there's a time and place to be a star. But I really think that transparency is the new mystery."
Speaking with "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart in an onstage Q&A, Perry applied that bon mot one step further to her own relationship with fans. "People don't want to look up to someone. They want to look at across at someone and say, 'That's my girl. She's singing something I don't know how to put into words. She's captured something and became the soundtrack of my life.' And I know that if I get out of line, my sister back home will whack me across the face - and so will my management."
Perry and Jepsen join an illustrious rank of previous honorees such as Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Fergie and 2009's pairing Beyonce and Lady Gaga, who shortly after being recognized by Billboard went on to film the infamous "Telephone" video together. "So Katy and Carly, no pressure," teased Billboard editorial director Bill Werde. The event also doubled as a chance for upcoming talent to show their appreciation. Rising Atlantic country star Hunter Hayes was on hand to pay tribute to his boss Greenwald by performing his hit "Wanted." Epic recording artist Cher Lloyd also popped by to sing an acoustic cover of Perry's "E.T." as well as her own hit "Want You Back."
In fact, it was pop stars like Perry and of course Jepsen's current tour partner Justin Bieber who helped make "Call Me Maybe" Billboard's No. 1 Song of the Summer, spending nine weeks at the top of the Hot 100 and winning her an American Music Award for Best New Artist just last week.
The song made her an overnight sensation in the States, even though she'd been a well-known name in her native Canada since 2007, when she finished third on "Canadian Idol." Speaking To NBC's Natalie Morales onstage, Jepsen says she's learned first hand how the music industry of 2012 is driven less by labels and managers and more by the fans. "The thing we have now is more access to dance parties. I can remember my sister and I falling in love with the Spice Girls and we decided we were able to make our own little dance to it, only we weren't able to share it. Now you can do that. There's easier access to share the love that way." And who's Jepsen's favorite Spice Girl? "Geri," she said without hesitation. "I always thought she was the businesswoman of the group."
In accepting her Rising Star award, Jepsen thanked Brenda Romano, Interscope's president of promotion and Billboard's No. 9 most powerful woman in music, and fellow Interscope execs Jennifer Frommer and Karen Goodman in addition to her Schoolboy Records team as being the women in music who've given her the biggest support. But the most influential women in her life have been her mother and my stepmother, to whom she dedicated her award.
Mary Perry Hudson, Katy's mom, was also shouted out in Perry's Woman of the Year speech as one of the women who've inspired her most in her life, as well as her sister ("for keeping my head above water throughout all the 124 shows of the tour and some of the hardest times of my life") and her cousin ("who just had a baby with no epidural.") Perhaps most inspiring of all was an 11-year-old girl names Jodi DiPiazza, who duetted on "Firework" with Perry last month at Comedy Central's Night of Too Many Stars benefit for autism, hosted by Stewart. "She showed me the true meaning of being a firework, and she inspires me."
Perry was also humbled to share the room with this year's industry honorees - see the full list here - among them Pepsi's Bozoma St. John, whom Perry thanked afterward for sponsoring the premiere concert of Perry's "Part Of Me 3D" in Hollywood (as part of Billboard's Summer Beats concert series) in June. Noting she's met and worked with some of this year's honorees, having previously been signed to Def Jam and Columbia before joining Capitol - and now, post-EMI merger, Universal. "I'm really excited for my new boss, Steve Barnett. I'll keep letting him think he's the boss, anyway," Perry joked of the new Capitol chief.
"I'm very excited to be part of Universal's family," she continued. "I'm really looking forward to my third upcoming adventure with you guys, I just have to let you guys know my Saturn has returned so it'll be ugly. Thank you for this incredible honor and I hope we can all start our cycles together now."
src : billboard
There's this strange perception that feminists are crazy people who hate everything about men, think men are monsters, and just generally hate the world. Tumblr is riddled with people who perpetuate this belief. They declare war on anything and everything, in the name of feminism. That wouldn't be that big of an issue if idiots didn't go around believing that most feminists are batshit crazy. It's gotten to the point where people are quick to shame others for being feminists, as if that's a bad thing. It hurts the legitimate concerns and messages that define feminism.
bb, I mean this as constructive criticism rather than an attack: Then please educate yourself about it rather than mansplaining what's wrong with those feminists. Plenty of those "crazy" feminists "declaring war on anything and everything" have a very different experience of the world than you do, so when you lump them into the extremist category without a basic understanding of feminism, you're out of your depth and are likely drawing the line where you're comfortable. And when it comes to feminism, the comfort of sheltered males who don't understand feminism should not be a major concern.
When it comes to social justice issues, when we personally don't have experience, the best and most respectful thing we can do is shut our mouths and listen. Because frankly, your opinion on what is a reasonable level of outrage for women dealing with sexism is about as relevant as my opinion as a white woman on how much outrage is reasonable for a Black person to feel about living in a racist society. That is to say: Not relevant. Especially when you don't have a basic framework/understanding of the topic.
There are crazy people in any movement. But often, people are dismissed as "crazy" for challenging the status quo a little too much. It's OK to be a feminist if you still make a point of making sure you're not threatening to men, but get too aggressive or demanding, and suddenly you're a feminazi and you hate men and so on. If you're a Black person, it's OK to be against the KKK, but if you get angry about the microaggressions you experience on a daily basis, you're angry, dangerous, you hate white people, you're playing the race card, etc.
Me, I'm a fucking loud and proud feminist and LGBTQ advocate, and I strive to be an ally for people of color. I don't hate men, straight people, cis people, or my own white heritage. But I'm sure there are plenty of people who would gladly paint me that way for the views I hold. Because, while I love people of all stripes and am fortunate to be surrounded by many wonderful people in my personal life and my career, including those in dominant groups, I refuse to accept the larger systemic context in which we all operate. e.g., I love men, I hate the patriarchy, etc.
Again, no hostility intended here. It just rubs me the wrong way to see you dismissing certain feminists for being over the top a few sentences after saying that you have no real understanding of the context from which they are operating. Critique is necessary for any vital movement, but it can get very sticky very quickly when you critique movements of which you are not a part and about which you are not educated.
Edited at 2012-12-02 05:39 am (UTC)
He is addressing how it isn't true at all and is a misconception, he said "Tumblr is riddled with people who perpetuate this belief." Next time, re-read before shitting on someone who could possibly be an ally.
That's what I hate about these nuance-free statements that every woman SHOULD be a feminist. No. The movement actually has failed some of us. We're allowed to say that we tried it and it didn't work out and now we're living our lives in ways that make us happy.