Bethany Consentino has shared her thought on misogyny in the music industry
In her essay ‘Burgers, Bitches, and Bullshit’ the Best Coast singer and guitarist voices the opinion that people discredit her talents because she is "a female musician who is not apologising".
What troubles Consentino in particular is the ‘gendered critique’ of her onstage presence. To demonstrate her point she uses an example of a reviewer who dubbed her as ‘sexy’ but lamented her lack of smiling. The singer said it revealed to her how he thought a woman who he saw as “sexy” should behave and in turn this made it all too clear to her how the sexualisation of women is constantly reinforced in the music industry.
The musician also writes candidly about her support of Amber Coffman from The Dirty Projectors, who recently accused Heathcliff Beru, a well-known music publicist, of sexual misconduct. Consentino tweeted that she too had been sexually assaulted by the publicist but was "too freaked out to say anything". Consentino asserts that it was her and Amber’s revelations that triggered the landslide of stories from women who shared tales similar to theirs. Heathcliff Beru has since stepped down as CEO of the PR company.
The Californian musician joins the impressive list of those to contribute to Lenny Letter, the feminist newsletter co-founded by GIRLS star Lena Dunham and TV producer Jenni Konner, which has seen celebs such as Jennifer Lawrence put pen to paper for the cause. You can read the full essay here.