Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth criticizes Lana in memoir

[Pensacola 212]

The way Kim comes for Lana is a little bit personal. Sounds like the problem rests with her, taking the Ride video 100% literally, wishing Lana would kill herself, whining about the fact that Lana isn't interested in carrying the burden of always being a feminist role model.

 

Lana built her own career, writes her own music, has a mind of her own, and never tries to pretend she is perfect. Sounds like a pretty strong woman to me.  She's open about her fantasies and honest - to a fault - about the things she feels. I bet if someone were to open up Kim's brain and find all of the secrets she's harbored in there, we could make plenty of comments about Kim's relationship with feminism or her own private fantasies/thoughts.

 

Her commenting safely from the pages of a memoir on someone else, seemingly for no reason other than to make an example of someone, well... like I said, sounds like she's got the problem, not Lana. Sorry if Lana makes you uncomfortable but hey, you slammed a very popular artist to make yourself (and your book) find some rumblings of attention, so congratulations but I see right through it.

[Divisive Princess 3,488]

I don't know who Kim is (and I don't care to find out at this point), but the bottom line is that that was a horrible, disgusting thing to say about ANY woman or person in general. If she said that about anyone else, I would still feel the same way. Picking on a girl who, in my opinion, has made herself very vulnerable to the press, is just a low-blow. I feel like at this point, people are dogging on her because they know they can without any serious backlash, and it's very sad to me. 

 

What a petty thing to do. I feel bad for both of them for different reasons.

[Viva 3,169]

Can "Pissing on Lana" be consider a career choice?

[whitman 1,286]

She just called Lana's music 'boring' in a Billlboard interview:

 

"With Lana Del Rey, it's all wondering what her persona is. She's interesting because she uses self-destruction as the next step in sexuality and self-branding. I just think her music is kind of boring."

 

But this particularly quote it's quite interesting: 

 

"And I didn't want to write about Courtney; that was something my editor was interested in".

 

Which leads us to the very suspicious differences between Pitchfork's quote and the one published on the book. Adding her attitude towards all this ( tweeting stuff just for the show of attention) and the media coverage she got after this I'm pretty sure this is her way to sell books.

[LiamViljoen 908]

I'm pretty sure this is her way to sell books.

Holy shit you just blew this wide open.

[whitman 1,286]

Holy shit you just blew this wide open.

 

 I genuinely believed her criticism might have come from a real issue with Lana's position and her artistic vision but after this....just no. 

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

mom's been making embarrassing posts on facebook again

[HighLikeABitch 138]

mom's been making embarrassing posts on facebook again

 

What is she saying!?

[smoledman 199]

Waiting for Azealia Banks to say something on this. I bet Lana herself would have a lot to say but she NEVER goes public about this stuff.

 

The saddest thing about this is if this happened to someone like Lorde or Taylor Swift everyone one would immediately come to their defence, fan or not, the things Kim Gordon said are that harsh, but Lana is always left to fend for herself. She's like the nerdy kid in high school, everyone sees this stuff happen to her but they just watch. No one thinks to throw her any fucking support.

 

Also I must be forgetting the song where Lana says no to voting or earning equal pay.

Let's just list all the sexism displayed in this paragraph:

1 Slut-Shaming Lana for her taste in men and lovemaking.

2 Criticising Lana's apt description of a true feminist because Lana said it.

3 Insinuating that Lana shouldn't sing as an individual who has chosen a different lifestyle to her, but instead sing about very certain topics. She's basically saying that Lana Del Rey's experiences are less valuable because she's a female, she should be singing about how independent she is and act like everyone wants her too because anything less is just unheard of in society (Jim Morrison, Kanye West, Eminem, pretty much all male rappers)

4 Advising Lana to kill herself. This isn't sexist so much as simply inhumane and reprehensibly irresponsible.

 

Does Kim think she's gonna get away with all this?

 

The in-crowd despire Lana because she truly "marches to her own drummer" and it isn't anything THEY approve of. She truly represents outsiders, the misfit, the others. I hope she never sells out.

[LiamViljoen 908]

Who has Lana edited her face onto in her new profile pic? Does it have anything to do with this?

[MotelHoney 303]

Who has Lana edited her face onto in her new profile pic? Does it have anything to do with this?

 

That's the girl with a pearl earring, famous oil painting. Looks like a pretty funny photoshop job to me, haha. I think maybe a fan sent it in to her.

[LiamViljoen 908]

That's the girl with a pearl earring, famous oil painting. Looks like a pretty funny photoshop job to me, haha. I think maybe a fan sent it in to her.

Oooh haha.

 

I saw it and assumed it was some pioneering feminist figure I hadn't heard of. That would have been really ironic in the context of this thread lol.

[Baby V Alex 2,858]

When does Lana said she is a feminist?

[LiamViljoen 908]

When does Lana said she is a feminist?

She never said that. But she never said she isn't. All she's ever said on the subject is that she doesn't like discussing it and it bores her when people bring it up in conversation. However, I think it's likely she IS a feminist seeing as how she gave a description of her own feminist ideals only moments after that comment. "My idea of a feminist is a woman who feels free to do whatever she wants"

Checks up for me.

[keegan 16]

She never said that. But she never said she isn't. All she's ever said on the subject is that she doesn't like discussing it and it bores her when people bring it up in conversation. However, I think it's likely she IS a feminist seeing as how she gave a description of her own feminist ideals only moments after that comment. "My idea of a feminist is a woman who feels free to do whatever she wants"
Checks up for me.

 

[LiamViljoen 908]

[DeadAgainst 1,514]

What is she saying!?

 

it's a metaphor honey

 

although i recall sky ferreira's mom saying about the same thing

[timinmass101 100]

FADER - June/July 2014

Her portrayal of those relationships, though, has prompted mixed reviews among feminists. Some criticize the way she seems to idealize powerlessness and servitude, while others appreciate her fluid embodiment of different identities, as well as her candor about both her desire and her weakness. In any case, her comments on the subject will be disappointing for both camps:

“For me, the issue of feminism is just not an interesting concept,” she says.  “I’m more interested in, you know, SpaceX and Tesla, what’s going to happen with our intergalactic possibilities. Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested.”

Fortunately, her ambivalence about politics doesn’t undo any subversiveness that may be embedded in her work (though, nor does it excuse any ill it may cause). When pressed, she adds, more illuminatingly,

“My idea of a true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants.”

***

THE NEW YORK TIMES - June 12, 2014

A recurring criticism was that her songs about being swept away by love were anti-feminist in their passivity; she contends that she was writing about private, immediate feelings, not setting out doctrine.

“For me, a true feminist is someone who is a woman who does exactly what she wants,” she said. “If my choice is to, I don’t know, be with a lot of men, or if I enjoy a really physical relationship, I don’t think that’s necessarily being anti-feminist. For me the argument of feminism never really should have come into the picture. Because I don’t know too much about the history of feminism, and so I’m not really a relevant person to bring into the conversation. Everything I was writing was so autobiographical, it could really only be a personal analysis.”

***

During her Ultraviolence promotional interviews, Lana Del Rey was attacked by the media for not being a feminist, which relied heavily on the soundbite “Whenever people bring up feminism, I’m like, god. I’m just not really that interested.”

How is this an admission of not being a feminist?  Is the lack of interest in discussing feminism tantamount to not being a feminist?  Further when you add in both the statements from Fader and New York Times, it is clear that Lana does have a sense of what feminism is to her:  “My idea of a true feminist is a woman who feels free enough to do whatever she wants.”  &  “For me, a true feminist is someone who is a woman who does exactly what she wants,”

 

Aren’t these sentiments that Lana describes the basis of feminism?

She further clarifies that “Because I don’t know too much about the history of feminism, and so I’m not really a relevant person to bring into the conversation.”

Furthermore, multiple statements from people who have worked with Lana (Dan Auerbach, Emile Haynie, Rick Nowels,  Dan Heath) all talk about how much control she exerts over her creative and production process.

While Lana may be a reluctant figure of feminism, where does all this hate from the feminist community come from?  (Jezebel, Ms., Kim Gordon, etc.)

[Deleted User 1,353]

The Lana statement has been removed from the memoir's final edition (the one that actually hit the stores)

[timinmass101 100]

The entire reference is removed?