Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson has opened up about the effects of the patriarchy, recalling the time an A&R manager told her that he wanked over photos of her.
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Manson was asked about her song ‘Godhead’, where she explores whether people would treat her differently if she “had a dick.”
“I’m really proud of that song, because I think it’s talking about something really serious, and it’s really fun. It’s about addressing the patriarchy, and how omnipresent it is,” she replied.
She continued: “When I was young, I was so busy trying to make it, I didn’t see that there was a patriarchy in place. And it’s only as an adult, I start looking back going, “Oh, wow — when that A&R man told me to my face that he wanked over pictures of me, that was really uncool.” But at the time, you kind of laugh it off and just press on.”
Manson continued on to discuss the mistreatment of women in the music industry, saying that “so few men are willing to speak up about bro culture.”
“I was oblivious to it. In this song, I’m talking about how patriarchy bleeds into absolutely everything, specifically under organized religion. The “Godhead” is the male, and we are all under the godhead forever, and that’s unquestioned, and how crazy is that? Because a dude holds a higher position in society, because he’s got a dick and a pair of balls. Often, these balls are smaller than my own,” she said.
“It just gets silly after a while, when you watch other men protect other men just for the sake of protecting the patriarchy. So few men are willing to speak up about bro culture and call into question the behaviour of the men they are associated with. There’s just a reluctance by men to address this absolutely shocking, terrifying, depressing, pathetic assault by men of other people’s bodies,” she concluded.
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Check out ‘Godhead’ by Shirley Manson:
