In which: Katy Perry tells a roomful of the top female (and plenty of male) music industry executives that she is not a feminist.
On Friday November 30, Billboard hosted its eighth annual Women in Music event. The luncheon was held in lower Manhattan, and honored the top 40 women executives in the music business, along with two top artists -- Rising Star Carly Rae Jepsen and Woman of the Year Katy Perry.
The event is absolutely my favorite that we do each year, for a few reasons. One is that the music business, like so many businesses, is rampantly male-dominated in the C-suites. As my boss, Prometheus Global Media CEO Dottie Mattison told the room in her opening remarks:
... over half of the college graduates are female but less than one-fifth of the executives in businesses of the Fortune 500 and above are female... We are losing the potential and promise of young women's careers, who are leaving for a variety of reasons. Many of us in this room are old enough to remember a time when it was much worse for young women but are young enough to know that we can... create something better than what we found.
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Bill WerdeEditorial director, Billboard
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Katy Perry and Feminism
Posted: 12/05/2012 4:24 pm
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In which: Katy Perry tells a roomful of the top female (and plenty of male) music industry executives that she is not a feminist.
On Friday November 30, Billboard hosted its eighth annual Women in Music event. The luncheon was held in lower Manhattan, and honored the top 40 women executives in the music business, along with two top artists -- Rising Star Carly Rae Jepsen and Woman of the Year Katy Perry.
The event is absolutely my favorite that we do each year, for a few reasons. One is that the music business, like so many businesses, is rampantly male-dominated in the C-suites. As my boss, Prometheus Global Media CEO Dottie Mattison told the room in her opening remarks:
... over half of the college graduates are female but less than one-fifth of the executives in businesses of the Fortune 500 and above are female... We are losing the potential and promise of young women's careers, who are leaving for a variety of reasons. Many of us in this room are old enough to remember a time when it was much worse for young women but are young enough to know that we can... create something better than what we found.
So it feels good to take a day, have everyone in the music biz set aside competitive differences, and celebrate the accomplishments of the top female executive talent. WIM is also my favorite because every year we get amazing artists to come and accept their awards, and grace the stage for a dialogue that tends to be more intimate and honest than their typical public discourse. This year Jon Stewart led a short conversation with Katy Perry and NBC's Natalie Morales chatted with Carly Rae Jepsen. In the last three or four years we've shared these moments with Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Blondie, Fergie... I could go on.
So it raised an eyebrow or two in the room when Katy came to the stage to accept her Woman of the Year award, and "I am not a feminist" were among the first words from her mouth.
To be clear, the very next words were "but I do believe in the strength of women." You can see the full, unedited acceptance speech here.
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Now I didn't get the chance to speak with Katy after she made these remarks, so I am not speaking for her, now. (I will ask her management if she'd like to engage in this discourse with me or perhaps one of the women I've already mentioned in this post.) But it's clear that feminism in the context of pop culture -- and, specifically, pop music -- is complicated and subjective. I'm on a learning mission here, so please, share your thoughts in response to mine. But if you find yourself wanting to yell that I'm wrong, know that I'm starting from a place where I am not sure what is right.
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I also think that there are plenty in Gen Y who prefer to keep their politics to themselves; I was reminded of an October Taylor Swift interview on Letterman where the host and audience applaud her for saying (at about the 1:00 mark) that, at age 22, it's not her place to tell anyone how to vote.
Katy is a strong, smart woman. Personally, having watched her at work at both the Billboard Music Awards earlier this year and at this Women in Music event, she's very much in control of her career, very assertive, wickedly funny when she wants to be, and smart as a whip. Most in the room at Women in Music will tell you that some of her quips were too quick for Jon Stewart, who interviewed her on stage. And that's saying something.
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Is Madonna a feminist? Is Lady Gaga? What about -- dare I ask -- Rihanna? If feminism is simply defined (as Webster's would have it) as an interest in equality between the sexes, does anyone who lives their life consistent with that belief become a feminist? Or does one have to embrace the term? And while we're at it, where do you draw the line between the power of owning your own sexual identity, and exploiting your sexuality and/or objectifying yourself?
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One P.S.: I'm genuinely really interested to see where Katy goes with her third album in this context. In the package we put together on her for the issue of the weekly mag that goes to the Women in Music event, she talked about her musical inspirations and they were Fiona Apple, Bonnie Raitt and Alanis Morissette. Onstage at WIM she spoke about being early in the process of thinking about her next recording and wanting to head in new directions. She's still so young. Whatever you think of her music today, she has the talent and intelligence to be a very important artist for a long time to come.
The countdown is on. With only a few episodes remaining in the final season of Gossip Girl, the series tries to bring it this week. Let’s discuss "Save the Last Chance."
Is Derena Back On? Things looked promising when the hour started off with Dan and Serena still in bed together. The two decided they need to make amends with their friends before they even think about getting back together and letting people know about it. Mission accomplished.
So these two are back together. Good idea? Doubtful. Looks like Good Guy Dan really is long gone, proving so when Georgina made a quick appearance to find out that S will be the next chapter. Sorry, Serena, your luck hasn’t improved yet.
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At least there were some interesting new relationships. Bart became Nate’s partner so he can own him. This won’t last long. If there is one thing that Man Bangs is good for, it is standing up to the elder Bass. Gorgeous and tough. Thank you, CW, for putting Chase Crawford on our screen every week. Now just get him to take his shirt off. It’s been a few weeks...
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Anyone else think that Ivy with William is creepier than being with Rufus?
Speaking of Rufus: what are you thinking about returning the evidence to Lily? Girl dropped you when her dead husband showed up. You can not possibly be that nice!
Queen B Returns. Blair’s pop up show was a success, even with the scheming of Sage and the other high school minions. Best part about it? B brought back the headband! Worst part about it? Her success highlighted Chuck’s failure, as he now thinks they can’t be together anymore. Make a decision, you two.
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With only three episodes left, what is going to happen to our favorite Upper East Siders? Sound off below and check out next week's Gossip Girl promo. Until next time, GG fans. XOXO.
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