So I was reading a post over at my beloved Jezebel today (and I realise that it's Poisson D'Avril Day, so maybe this post was the fish taped to my back, I don't know for sure yet). The post was about Amanda Palmer, who I wouldn't call "beloved" to me, exactly, but I do think she is kind of the shit. Unfortunately, I think she is doing something kind of shitty, and reacting to people's problems with it in a pretty shitty way.
I'm going to come straight out and admit my bias right off the get go. As previously mentioned, I respect her and think she is cool. I like her music, and she is something of a feminist role model for me. What I don't think she is, is perfect. No one is. We are all pretty shitty in one way or another. So there's that. This incident isn't turning me off AFP in any severe or lasting way, but there is certainly a project that I won't really be all over supporting.
I don't want to talk about her post about the Golden Globes and how everyone felt about that, because I think the "she's a snotty fame whore" reeks of "she should be seen and not heard, and only really seen in a way that I feel it is appropriate for her to be seen and she should be grateful she was invited in the first place etc etc yak yak".
What I want to talk about is pretty much what everyone else wants to talk about regarding Amanda Fucking Palmer currently. And that is Evelyn Evelyn. Now, I think that EE is pretty fucked up. I am not a person with any disabilities. But as a person who is part of a few other intersecting oppressed communities, I understand why people with disabilities are pissed. It's the same reason that blackface isn't cool, or why everyone hates hipsters. When you adopt anything from an oppressed community that you are not part of and use it IN ANY WAY, you're just foisting your privilege in a shitty way. Even if your intentions are good, it's bad news. And as far as EE goes, I can't even pretend to see how the intentions are particularly good beyond producing art. I don't know from art, but I know that when you do something in the name of Art-with-a-capital-A and you offend someone, the only thing you can do is OWN IT. This isn't like a stupid comment made to friends that you can just take back and learn from. This is going to be a CD and accompanying graphic novel that you are going to profit off of. So you need to own that.
I also think this situation is interesting in the light of the performance AFP did with Margaret Cho in which they both acted out a fake sexual assault on a Katy Perry impersonator. ALL OF THIS ANALYSIS IS BASED ON MY INFERENCE REGARDING THE PERFORMANCE, NOT ANTHING THAT EITHER PERFORMER SAID ABOUT IT. I inferred that they were pretty unhappy about the faux-lesbian business (I will probably make a different post about that, in relation to how I consider questioning an identity) and were expressing their anger and frustration about that in a typically (for these two performers) outrageous way. Now,it seems like they're going the Katy Perry route and adopting an identity that they are not living in a way that's pissing off people that DO live that reality, and they haven't handled it well.
When she wrote Oasis, it was a story that she had lived, and an experience that made her a group of a silenced minority. And she was telling the story in a way that probably connected with other sexual assault survivors and other women who'd had abortions. Evelyn Evelyn can't really claim to be doing anything good or helpful. It's really art for art's sake. And I support your right to do that, but if that's what you wanna do, you need to step up and accept your responsibility and accept that you are doing something pretty offensive and that you are offending INDIVIDUAL HUMAN BEINGS who live their lives every day with whatever situation you are making light of. So, you know. Make that choice.
If you want to read what some other people think about the situation, or how the artists are responding, here are some links:
Tiger Beatdown's analysis of the situation: http://tigerbeatdown.com/?p=889
Jason Webley's blog response in which he maligns everyone else's choice to have a blog while also making a blog: http://www.jasonwebley.com/weblog/
AFP's response: http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/396762227/evelyn-evelyn-drama-drama
The Jeze-dramz: http://jezebel.com/5507283/3-reasons-were-over-amanda-palmer
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