Kick Ass Rebel Of The Week

FEATURED REBEL:

AMANDA PALMER

This week’s featured rebel is Amanda Palmer, the 33 year old pianist and vocalist for both The Dresden Dolls and a self-titled solo project. From lyrics to stage antics, Palmer is a true rebel. She challenges traditional female roles in songs like “The Perfect Fit”, tackles abortion with “Mandy Goes To Med School” and “Oasis”, and addresses relationship stereotypes in “Shores of California”. Her own sexual identity is often in question (she has identified as bisexual).

Palmer’s appearance is unconventional-- she draws her eyebrows on in an intricate pattern, often does her make-up like a porcelain doll, and wears clothes you won’t likely see featured in People’s StyleWatch. Beyond that, she has appeared in numerous music videos in lingerie, baring a body that is “imperfect” by society’s standards. After shooting a video for the song “Leeds United”, Palmer claimed on her blog that Roadrunner Records had wanted to pull certain shots from the video that exposed her stomach, because "they thought I looked fat." After fans read about this, they posted pictures of their stomachs online with messages to Roadrunner, lyrics, and defensive words about Palmer‘s physique. They then sent in their pictures to the record label, and started their own website. The movement is called the “ReBellyon”.

Amanda Plamer is a woman to look up to. She has forged her way into the difficult music industry (which is even more hard to break as a woman), and has again and again defended her lyrics, never shied away from speaking her mind, and never apologized. She is the anti-thesis of the dull, empty-headed pop singer. Those women encourage and follow society norms. Palmer tramples all over them.

Sources: Amanda Fucking Palmer Blog

Dresden Dolls Website

Listen Up

This is an excerpt from Maria Raha's excellent new book, "Hellions: Pop Culture's Rebel Women":

“A rebel girl today is someone who can remain down to earth in the midst of a culture that is injected with monumental doses of narcissism. Maybe, by eschewing beauty standards and designer fashion, she opts out of the stereotype of the greedy, vain, diamond-encrusted, starving woman. This rebel girl goes against the grain and she knows why-- she can articulate it in her own voice, tossing aside the tired clichés of sexual exhibitionism, addiction, and insanity as tactics for making herself known. The rebel girl defines “sexy” for herself. She does not carry $500 handbags. She will never invest her hard-earned money in stomach stapling or Botox.

"She eats carbs, throws away her scale, and honors women in other ways than those promoted by the rabid paparazzi. She doesn’t hesitate to travel alone, keenly understands that having children isn’t the only way to have a fulfilling experience as a woman, and will thoroughly assess marriage before entering into it. The rebel girl supports like-minded women and creates space for difference, rather than perpetuating the competitive female self-loathing brought only an endless parade of advertising. She recognizes that feminisms’ causes and concerns are hardly passé. She knows that there are rebels out there who are infinitely more interesting that Jack Kerouac, James Dean, or Neal Cassady.

"She understands that sometimes the rebel girl has not been born a girl or should have been a boy, and will protect others’ right to be their outcast selves without having to endure discrimination. Beyond the haze of her computer screen, she is her uncontrived, possibly contentious, honest and shameless self in reality. Her language may be sarcastic and biting, and is always open and delivered with a dash of joy. As is true of so many rebel girls, before her, her value will be acknowledged only when time has caught up with, or even surpassed her, but the real rebel girl does it anyway, out of love for living out loud.

" …The next rebel is you.”

Girls, I need you to be stronger. I need you to toss out your Seventeen. I need you to forget about beauty tips. I need you to stop dieting, stop judging, stop buying what the media is selling. Too many girls think that thin and pretty is the only way to be loved and it's not true. Too many girls are quieting their inner rebel, and conforming to what is expected of them. Fuck that. Be rebellious. Be loud, be honest, be alive.

I hope this blog inspires you to unleash your inner rebel.

Love, Lee