Chvrches’ Lauren Mayberry Stands Up Against Misogyny
Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry has taken a defiant stance against internet misogyny in a new blog post for The Guardian. The singer for the Scottish trio wrote about having to deal with hostile and sexist messages sent to the band through social media sites. One specific incident occured last week, when Mayberry posted a screengrab of a sexually charged e-mail (directed toward “the cute singer”) on her band’s Facebook page.
The responses to the post were equally disturbing: “I have your address and I will come round to your house and give u anal and you will love it you twat lol,” wrote one Facebook user, while another responded, “It’s just one of those things you’ll need to learn to deal with. If you’re easily offended, then maybe the music industry isn’t for you.”
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In her Guardian piece, Mayberry takes issue with the notion that misogyny is something people “should have to ‘just deal with.'”
“I am incredibly lucky to be doing the job I am doing at the moment – and painfully aware of the fact that I would not be able to make music for a living without people on the internet caring about our band,” she wrote, noting that Chvrches’ success can be largely traced back to early praise from blogs. “But does that mean that I need to accept that it’s OK for people to make comments like this, because that’s how women in my position are spoken to?”
Mayberry admits that the constant bombardment of these “aggressive, intrustive” messages has caused her emotional stress and anxiety.
“During this past tour, I am embarrassed to admit that I have had more than one prolonged toilet cry and a ‘Come on, get a hold of yourself, you got this’ conversation with myself in a bathroom mirror when particularly exasperated and tired out,” she says. “But then, after all the sniffling had ceased, I asked myself: why should I cry about this? Why should I feel violated, uncomfortable and demeaned? Why should we all keep quiet?”
Sadly, this type of sexism and misogyny is relatively common for female artists. Back in April, Grimes penned a passionate Tumblr post about the double standards she’s faced in the industry.