Beth Ditto - shut up (3 Viewers)

[Dromed]

This is such a pile of shite. She's a fucking singer at the end of the day and a has a great voice. That's all she should have to be relying on. Posing on front of NME degrades and belittles her talent to zero.

I understand that for some its liberating to see her embrace the anti size-zero phenomena and to refuse to bow down to pressure and lose weight/ support TopShop etc. But by associating her every move with her weight it only serves to reinforce weight-obsessed culture.

Her weight and sexual orientation should be secondary to the reason why she's in NME at all...or in the public eye..and i realise that the media/NME have put her there on that premise..but she's letting it happen and by the looks of things is pushing it from her own end. Her credibility as a singer/musician gets overshadowed. She's a ballsy front woman which is always a nice change but her music and song writing should be her outlet for expressing her own personal emotions...if it's good enough it would speak for itself..and to the women she seems to hope to inspire. How patronising...ah poor fatty Beth, we'll put her on the cover..bless her little lesbian socks.

Put your tits away love... !zed!zed!zed!zed!zed!zed!zed

 

[sweetoblivion]

it's just female musicians being reduced to their tits and ass once again. That sort of shit fucking annoys me. Because even if Beth is doing it to promote a realistic body shape, the NME are doing it to get a naked fat girl on their front cover. They don't give two shits about her motivations.
You cannot escape your sexuality if you are a female musician. If you cover it up, you're called unattractive, a prude, a lesbian. If you promote it, you are taken advantage of. The fact you have breasts at all means that you will instantly be judged on your looks.
GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

[MDR]

I think that Beth Ditto has been championing a pretty vague cause: is she against valuing people because of their beauty, or is she trying to redefine beauty to include fat people?

These icon-led causes tend have credibility problems because it becomes difficult to distinguish between publicity for the issue and publicity for the person. Inevitably, the icon ends up feeling used and (slowly) realises that the cause was leading them rather than the other way around. No doubt there will come a time when beth Ditto just wants to talk about her music.

In the meantime, among the general public, the cogency of the argument is left to ride on the popularity or otherwise of the celebrity making it.

 

[avernus]

it's just female musicians being reduced to their tits and ass once again. That sort of shit fucking annoys me. Because even if Beth is doing it to promote a realistic body shape, the NME are doing it to get a naked fat girl on their front cover. They don't give two shits about her motivations.
You cannot escape your sexuality if you are a female musician. If you cover it up, you're called unattractive, a prude, a lesbian. If you promote it, you are taken advantage of. The fact you have breasts at all means that you will instantly be judged on your looks.
GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

exactly! it's complete bullshit. but also, she's complete bullshit for perpetuating this.

 

[Mitchum]

Hmmn.
it's a confrontational pic for sure & I reckon she is trying to show big women can be shexy.

There wasn't this sort of furore when Polly Harvey posed topless on the front of the same magazine a few years ago.

 

[avernus]

Hmmn.
it's a confrontational pic for sure & I reckon she is trying to show big women can be shexy.

There wasn't this sort of furore when Polly Harvey posed topless on the front of the same magazine a few years ago.

I didn't see it, but I think she's an idiot. She seemed to one day be all about feminist ideals etc. and then another day announce she wasn't and did stuff like the above. She's bullshit too.

 

[muffin]

Hmmn.
it's a confrontational pic for sure & I reckon she is trying to show big women can be shexy.

There wasn't this sort of furore when Polly Harvey posed topless on the front of the same magazine a few years ago.

see i wouldnt have a problem with pj harvery doing it because by her own admission she isnt a feminist..

edit: i mean i still think she is a complete arse and getting her gear off just compunds that fact..however i think the beth thing is different because its a feminist essentially getting exploited by getting her gear off..

 

[therealjohnny]

There wasn't this sort of furore when Polly Harvey posed topless on the front of the same magazine a few years ago.

link?

 

[MrT]

"realistic" body shape?...no more realistic than kate moss..just the opposite extreme.She is unhealthly fat.
Can we stop talking about it?...its bollix.

it's just female musicians being reduced to their tits and ass once again. That sort of shit fucking annoys me. Because even if Beth is doing it to promote a realistic body shape, the NME are doing it to get a naked fat girl on their front cover. They don't give two shits about her motivations.
You cannot escape your sexuality if you are a female musician. If you cover it up, you're called unattractive, a prude, a lesbian. If you promote it, you are taken advantage of. The fact you have breasts at all means that you will instantly be judged on your looks.
GRRRRRRRRRRRR!

 

[classic seanc]

What do you guys expect out of NME?

 

[avernus]

see i wouldnt have a problem with pj harvery doing it because by her own admission she isnt a feminist..

so.. if I say I'm not a philanthropist, is it ok for me to attack people and burn their homes? Yes.. I know.. this is a ridiculous analogy

just because she isn't a feminist, doesn't make it ok for her to pose topless for a magazine cover. I mean, she can do what she wants.. but people can think her a sap for it.

 

[avernus]

"realistic" body shape?...no more realistic than kate moss..just the opposite extreme.She is unhealthly fat.
Can we stop talking about it?...its bollix.

you can stop talking about it if you want to. always remember that. you always have a choice.

 

[muffin]

sorry avernus..i added my edit there after i read it through after i posted it..

i didnt mean she can do it and get away scot free..i think shes an idiot..i just think the hypocrasy(sp?) of it is exacerbated in beth dittos case cos of her ideals..

 

[Lili Marlene]

wahey, it's alright everyone

http://www.nme.com/news/the-gossip/28648

Feminist icon praises NME's Beth Ditto cover

Germaine Greer applauds us and The Gossip singer's 'courage'

1 hour ago
NME's cover of The Gossip's Beth Ditto has been praised by feminist icon Germaine Greer.

Greer is perhaps most famous for her groundbreaking 1970 feminist tome 'The Female Eunuch'. More recently she surprised the world by appearing in the 2005 edition of the UK's 'Celebrity Big Brother'.

Writing in the The Guardian, Greer declared: "NME had enough courage to put the coolest woman on the planet on the cover, and Beth Ditto has given them the kind of picture that they can use: attention-getting but certainly not obscene."

Professor Greer then praised Ditto.

"Stripping has become part of her stage act; she is reputed to have exposed her hairy crotch to an adoring audience at the London venue KOKO last year," she explained. "Her intention is to force acceptance of her body type, 5ft tall and 15 stone, and by this strategy to challenge the conventional imagery of women."

To see all the photos from the session and the read the interview with Ditto, get this week's issue of NME, on UK newsstands now.

ON NEWSTANDS NOW

 

[avernus]

wahey, it's alright everyone

http://www.nme.com/news/the-gossip/28648

ON NEWSTANDS NOW

I think I'd probably place more stock in what Jermaine Jackson had to say on the matter.

 

[Lili Marlene]

Well apparantly Doctor Germaine Greer's opinions on it are newsworthy

 

[sweetoblivion]

that well known bastion of feminism, the NME, calling in one of their regular readers there.

 

[muffin]

where was germaine greer when the nme pulled their cover of beth,lily allen,karen o and kate jackson and replaced it with muse cos they were afraid it would hurt thier sales too much?

 

[BC]

What Would Dworkin Do?

 

[Juno]

see i wouldnt have a problem with pj harvery doing it because by her own admission she isnt a feminist..

edit: i mean i still think she is a complete arse and getting her gear off just compunds that fact..however i think the beth thing is different because its a feminist essentially getting exploited by getting her gear off..

But being a feminist doesn't necessarily mean you're against taking your clothes off - Kathleen Hanna for instance used to be a stripper. However I seriously wonder about any woman who says they're not a feminist but who claims to want equality and who is perfectly willing to take advantage of the progress that was achieved by women who did call themselves feminists over the years. Feminism is the struggle for equality for women.

As for Beth Ditto, my jury is out on her. I think she's got a great voice and that's pretty much where my opinion on her begins and ends.