Anna Calvi had an interview with the Sunday Independent in which she spoke about gender equality in music (or the lack of).”You’re so brought up in the patriarchal way we live, you don’t notice it, yet it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere”. She told the paper that music has highlighted gender differences and sexism which has changed her view on life.
“I felt I was being reminded constantly about my gender in a way you never usually are. ‘What’s it like as a woman playing guitar?’ ‘As a woman, how do you…?’ ‘What is it like to play such a phallic instrument?’ At first it surprised me, then it made me angry, and now it’s like my eyes are opened to seeing the world in a slightly different way”.
She went on to talk about gendered expectations when it comes to looks:
“It’s beyond perfection, the way a woman is supposed to look. And shapeless – like an 11-year-old boy. You look in the mirror and see that you have hips and you imagine they shouldn’t be there”.
She also added:
“I do shave my legs and my armpits but really, what are you being told, that you have to shave off parts of yourself? You’re not allowed to just be in the world. You’re always being told that your natural state is a bit disgusting”.
#Peace.Love.AnnaCalvi.
