Hmm, well let’s start with a recent example: So yeah. A record label with a slur in its name. Now let’s go back in time to the early 1990s, and destroy people’s illusions of Bikini Kill (which, admittedly, I am a huge fan of, but with awkward caveats I will now describe): “Feels Blind” - C’mon, this reeks of appropriation! I shouldn’t have to explain it, especially since it’s not something I can really discuss from personal experience, but it does bug me quite a lot. It just makes me think of rich white gay men saying that they can understand racism because they’re gay. Uhm. What? That makes no sense whatsoever, dude. Kathleen, being completely able-bodied, has no business comparing being a woman to being blind. “This Is Not a Test” - ‘You’re dumb, I’m not’ / ‘You’re so blind, you don’t wanna see’. These aren’t just ableist, the second line is a cliché on top of it all. And about the word dumb: a.) it’s used sometimes to refer to muteness [if that term is problematic, please tell me], and b.) well, the meaning itself is messed up. Fool might be a better word, since it’s based more around jesters and a lack of knowledge rather than any sort of societal thing. “Jigsaw Youth” - ‘We know there’s not one way, one light, one stupid truth’. Stupid basically has the same problem as dumb.There could be more - Bikini Kill never recorded several songs they wrote, and I don’t have lyrics for all the songs they *did* record (although I have lyrics for one or two unrecorded songs). And this is from the liner sheets, not the audio itself.
Anyway, I still love BK, but I really really wish Kathleen would realize and admit that her lyrics have been… problematic. And improve on that. She’s done a lot of good work in the past, I’d hope she’d be receptive to valid constructive criticism. But it’s not like she’ll see this.
Oh well. I needed something to write about. Just, nobody scream at me for this, it’s not a personal attack against any of these people - ableism is among the easiest axes of oppression to get sucked into supporting. Then again, I guess they’re all really easy. But it seems that almost everyone engages in it. Hell, I’ve been really fucked up on it in the past! But I’m making effort to research and think about this stuff, cuz it’s just as important as everything else in Social Justice.
There could be more - Bikini Kill never recorded several songs they wrote, and I don’t have lyrics for all the songs they *did* record (although I have lyrics for one or two unrecorded songs). And this is from the liner sheets, not the audio itself.
Anyway, I still love BK, but I really really wish Kathleen would realize and admit that her lyrics have been… problematic. And improve on that. She’s done a lot of good work in the past, I’d hope she’d be receptive to valid constructive criticism. But it’s not like she’ll see this.
Oh well. I needed something to write about. Just, nobody scream at me for this, it’s not a personal attack against any of these people - ableism is among the easiest axes of oppression to get sucked into supporting. Then again, I guess they’re all really easy. But it seems that almost everyone engages in it. Hell, I’ve been really fucked up on it in the past! But I’m making effort to research and think about this stuff, cuz it’s just as important as everything else in Social Justice.
To be fair, Kathleen Hanna has been known to say that she puts material out there at the risk of making mistakes, hoping that somebody else will be inspired enough to correct her and produce material that is better at representing them. She told me that a part of being an ally is about making mistakes and listening to criticisms.
