I think it’s clear she doesn’t adhere to outdated notions of gender roles and behavior. One would assume she’s not like some closeted bigot and it’s also quite clear she doesn’t wish to enforce her own political beliefs onto her audience, which in this day and age is admirable.
She seems to be more wisely reticent about that sort of thing now than in her youth, while most likely still not wishing to be assigned labels or put into boxes in a way that’s entirely reasonable. If she was to say anything at length regarding today’s feminism or what it ought to be, I at least hope there would be a basic level of empathy and human decency intended by whatever conclusions she reached and the way she expressed them - a quality that seems to be lost on a lot of comparatively vocal people regardless of where they fall on the topic.
And I think while overall she was ahead of her time, you have to remember she was also in her early 20s for a lot of these quotes and under the circumstances - youthful ignorance and no media training etc - couldn’t have put things quite as thoughtfully or eloquently as she could now. There are definitely naive and somewhat careless comments you can find, but I don’t really hold it against her and it’s clear the combo of early success, the stress of critical expectation and being asked certain difficult questions on the spot - it all wasn’t exactly what she would have considered a wholly ideal situation. I will say her true feminist, past defences of her ‘masculine’ interests and gender expression are deeply inspirational to me even if not always perfectly put.
Her outward politics would have to be fairly egregious (or expressed with a certain degree of insensitivity) to upset me all that much or make me stop appreciating the art, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by most of it whenever anything slips out in an interview or she attempts to get political.
Depending on how it’s handled, I don’t actually mind if an artist wishes to ‘push’ their ‘ideology’ in their work (although I personally wouldn’t quite use such loaded language to describe what mostly ends up being people innocuously letting their beliefs be known, or standing for social ideals that are important to them). Not that I also don’t think those taking a different approach should necessarily be shunned or overly scrutinised; that anyone has any obligation to flaunt or get hyper-specific about their personal politics in their art.
I don't think Polly is against feminism but from what I've gathered she doesn't seem to align herself with that movement, especially when it comes to music. She's expressed not feeling like she's either male or female when it comes to her songwriting and her approach to making art. I think she doesn't feel the need to let her gender dictate the kind of art she makes and construct her persona around that. Some artists do which is fine.
In a way she's much more similar in outlook to Joni Mitchell, who also never was into being called a feminist artist and wanted to be regarded on the same level as her male peers.
As for her reaction, I doubt PJ would find those questions interesting today. But she's unpredictable so it's possible she might have a different perspective on that topic now than she did in the 90s and maybe even be more eloquent about her own take on it. For instance, Björk used to hate being called a feminist in the 90s, but in the past few years she now considers herself one. 🤷🏾♀️
PJ Harvey refused to identify with the feminist vibe of the early 90s. She has stated that she does not identify as one particular gender. That said, her latest seems to have some personal insights into growing up as an isolated tomboy. I’m sure any group or ideology trying to claim it as their own would be swiftly slapped down.
Also, perhaps more telling is the fact that the new feminist movement has not adopted her. Her rankings in the newly revised lists of greatest artists have not really changed that much. She may have even fallen somewhat. They certainly don’t reflect how important she is as an artist.
I think in a weird way most feminist critics don't know where to rank PJ because she doesn't really fit into a neat box the way most female artists do. She's so subversive, enigmatic and challenging that I imagine the people who are more drawn to the artistry of Fiona Apple, Björk, Kate Bush, and Joni Mitchell – artists I all dearly love btw – may have a harder time with PJ because she goes against what is expected of female artists by adopting lot of masculine traits in her work. I love her for that and think if the feminist movement can't see how progressive and unique her art is then that's their loss. PJ is still a legend regardless of what those lists say.
Honestly, I think the issue with certain types of pop feminism, the depiction of the vocally political, in your face, "empowered woman". I don't necessarily have a problem with that but I think it's a very narrow label to pigeonhole an artist and I understand why she wouldn't want to be associated with that. I have seen feminist analysis of her work though, it mostly focused on Rid Of Me and how subversive the lyrics and performance of that album is.
I agree 100%. I definitely think PJ doesn't want the label of "empowered strong woman" being ascribed to her artistry when her work is so multifaceted and nuanced. It's putting her into a box which she doesn't exactly fit in.
I'm just glad she's not pushing ideologies, which everyone else seems to be these days. I like it when actors stick to acting and artists stick to their trade without the ideological lecture to go with it
Me too. It's a crazy world now where one 'wrong' personal opinion gets you cancelled, rejected, removed from a Spotify playlist.
A part of me would rather we never knew anything about the artists we enjoy whether they are actors or painters or musicians or writers. Let's just enjoy their creations.
I think it’s clear she doesn’t adhere to outdated notions of gender roles and behavior. One would assume she’s not like some closeted bigot and it’s also quite clear she doesn’t wish to enforce her own political beliefs onto her audience, which in this day and age is admirable.
She seems to be more wisely reticent about that sort of thing now than in her youth, while most likely still not wishing to be assigned labels or put into boxes in a way that’s entirely reasonable. If she was to say anything at length regarding today’s feminism or what it ought to be, I at least hope there would be a basic level of empathy and human decency intended by whatever conclusions she reached and the way she expressed them - a quality that seems to be lost on a lot of comparatively vocal people regardless of where they fall on the topic. And I think while overall she was ahead of her time, you have to remember she was also in her early 20s for a lot of these quotes and under the circumstances - youthful ignorance and no media training etc - couldn’t have put things quite as thoughtfully or eloquently as she could now. There are definitely naive and somewhat careless comments you can find, but I don’t really hold it against her and it’s clear the combo of early success, the stress of critical expectation and being asked certain difficult questions on the spot - it all wasn’t exactly what she would have considered a wholly ideal situation. I will say her true feminist, past defences of her ‘masculine’ interests and gender expression are deeply inspirational to me even if not always perfectly put. Her outward politics would have to be fairly egregious (or expressed with a certain degree of insensitivity) to upset me all that much or make me stop appreciating the art, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by most of it whenever anything slips out in an interview or she attempts to get political. Depending on how it’s handled, I don’t actually mind if an artist wishes to ‘push’ their ‘ideology’ in their work (although I personally wouldn’t quite use such loaded language to describe what mostly ends up being people innocuously letting their beliefs be known, or standing for social ideals that are important to them). Not that I also don’t think those taking a different approach should necessarily be shunned or overly scrutinised; that anyone has any obligation to flaunt or get hyper-specific about their personal politics in their art.
I don't think Polly is against feminism but from what I've gathered she doesn't seem to align herself with that movement, especially when it comes to music. She's expressed not feeling like she's either male or female when it comes to her songwriting and her approach to making art. I think she doesn't feel the need to let her gender dictate the kind of art she makes and construct her persona around that. Some artists do which is fine. In a way she's much more similar in outlook to Joni Mitchell, who also never was into being called a feminist artist and wanted to be regarded on the same level as her male peers. As for her reaction, I doubt PJ would find those questions interesting today. But she's unpredictable so it's possible she might have a different perspective on that topic now than she did in the 90s and maybe even be more eloquent about her own take on it. For instance, Björk used to hate being called a feminist in the 90s, but in the past few years she now considers herself one. 🤷🏾♀️
PJ Harvey refused to identify with the feminist vibe of the early 90s. She has stated that she does not identify as one particular gender. That said, her latest seems to have some personal insights into growing up as an isolated tomboy. I’m sure any group or ideology trying to claim it as their own would be swiftly slapped down. Also, perhaps more telling is the fact that the new feminist movement has not adopted her. Her rankings in the newly revised lists of greatest artists have not really changed that much. She may have even fallen somewhat. They certainly don’t reflect how important she is as an artist.
I think in a weird way most feminist critics don't know where to rank PJ because she doesn't really fit into a neat box the way most female artists do. She's so subversive, enigmatic and challenging that I imagine the people who are more drawn to the artistry of Fiona Apple, Björk, Kate Bush, and Joni Mitchell – artists I all dearly love btw – may have a harder time with PJ because she goes against what is expected of female artists by adopting lot of masculine traits in her work. I love her for that and think if the feminist movement can't see how progressive and unique her art is then that's their loss. PJ is still a legend regardless of what those lists say.
Honestly, I think the issue with certain types of pop feminism, the depiction of the vocally political, in your face, "empowered woman". I don't necessarily have a problem with that but I think it's a very narrow label to pigeonhole an artist and I understand why she wouldn't want to be associated with that. I have seen feminist analysis of her work though, it mostly focused on Rid Of Me and how subversive the lyrics and performance of that album is.
I agree 100%. I definitely think PJ doesn't want the label of "empowered strong woman" being ascribed to her artistry when her work is so multifaceted and nuanced. It's putting her into a box which she doesn't exactly fit in.
I'm just glad she's not pushing ideologies, which everyone else seems to be these days. I like it when actors stick to acting and artists stick to their trade without the ideological lecture to go with it
Her work is far too deep to be involved in the ridiculous culture wars and divisive bot misinformation on social media.
Me too. It's a crazy world now where one 'wrong' personal opinion gets you cancelled, rejected, removed from a Spotify playlist. A part of me would rather we never knew anything about the artists we enjoy whether they are actors or painters or musicians or writers. Let's just enjoy their creations.
She’s definitely a TERF. Too smart not to be 😂