International Women’s Day 2015: Lana Del Rey’s ‘Feminism’ Under Spotlight Thanks To Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon


In advance of International Women’s Day, Spotify released its most popular streamed female artists in the U.S., and Lana Del Rey topped the list. But considering Del Rey’s controversial stance on feminism and the comments made by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, women across America may not be thrilled with this at all.

International Women’s Day’s mission is to tackle some of the biggest issues facing women around the world. Their theme for this year is “Make It Happen,” and their website calls for the opportunity for greater equality while still celebrating the achievements of women. The fact that Del Rey landed at the top of the most popular female artists streamed today, according to the Hollywood Reporter, means that her views on feminism will be front and center — views that critics like Kim Gordon have a direct conflict with.

As reported by the Inquisitr, the Kim Gordon/Lana Del Rey beef started when excerpts from the Gordon’s new memoir surfaced online.

“Today we have someone like Lana Del Rey, who doesn’t even know what feminism is,” Gordon writes. “Who believes women can do whatever they want, which, in her world, tilts toward self-destruction, whether it’s sleeping with gross old men or getting gang raped by bikers. Equal pay and equal rights would be nice. Naturally, it’s just a persona.”

Gordon was referring to quotes attributed to Lana from a Fader Magazine interview last summer, on the heels of the release of her album Ultraviolence. In it, Del Rey is quoted as saying she’s “just not really that interested” in the concept of feminism at all.

“I’m more interested in, you know, SpaceX and Tesla, what’s going to happen with our intergalactic possibilities,” she added.

This opinion, along with her music, which, according to the article, “seems to idealize powerlessness and servitude,” has made her an easy target for critics like Gordon. It also could contradict the positive efforts International Women’s Day 2015 is trying to achieve. As Time asserts, women are still drastically striving for equality, but progress has not come easy or often.

“The ‘awareness’-based solutions for problems facing women generate a lot of Twitter activity, but little genuine change,” the article explains. “The last year was full of online discussion of feminist issues, from #yesallwomen to #rapecultureiswhen to #whyistayed, which help inform the public and give voice to survivors.”

And with Lana Del Rey representing a major voice as a top streamed female artist in the U.S., it may be time for her to get interested in the concept.

[Lana Del Rey Photo Credit: Katie Stratton / Getty Images]

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