anonyvous asked: I am just in love with your music, but with the Andreja 4-Ever song I am at a loss. I still love the sound, but I know nothing of the politics behind this. It's some kind of women's rights thing I guess? I mean, I hate to be an ignorant guy here, but what I am basically wanting is some kind of primer I guess to understand the song a little better. I have no context for it.
it’s not meant to be a complex political statement in and of itself, i don’t think pop music is a good platform for that because it’s a form that works best when it’s simple, it contains references to andrea dworkin and lilja 4-ever for people who want to go deeper into the context but overall it’s just sort of about like
i mean like it refers specifically to feminism and it’s definitely like, a song about being committed to feminism even if it’s a cause or a worldview that’s socially unpopular or misunderstood
there’s sort of a thread in it that’s hard to articulate just in a tumblr post like this too that sort of deals with the idea that like, a lot of people take up causes because they’re motivated by social stuff and not necessarily ideological stuff - like not to suggest occupy wall street is ideologically invalid or anything but i always felt that part of what allowed it to become such a large movement was the fact that it was considered to be cool, it had social cachet, there were positive social rewards for becoming involved in it and taking part in it, people who normally would not have been drawn into it were drawn into it because it was an appealing social proposition
and “andreja 4-ever” is sort of about me not giving a shit whether or not something is an appealing social proposition - like, andrea dworkin herself was a hugely controversial and misunderstood figure who has only become more misunderstood and more radioactive in death, and feminism itself has never really been a super appealing social proposition especially for men - if you’re a man and you’re seen to be too feminine or too soft on women you’re conditioned to believe that it makes you less powerful and less desirable, if you’re a woman and you’re too political or you identify as a feminist, you’re conditioned to be afraid that people will think you hate sex or that you will be less desirable than someone who makes less of a fuss - like there are not really any positive social consequences for taking up that particular sword and there are a host of potential negative ones. and i mean that song, and in a lot of ways the entire elite gymnastics project is sort of about picking up that sword anyway
