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Grimes' Sexism Tumblr Post: Canadian Musician Says 'I Refuse To Be Sexualized' In Powerful Blog

Montreal Musician Grimes Attacks Music Industry Sexism
Frank Yang, Chromewaves

After recently completing her touring commitments behind "Visions," which picked won best electronic album at last weekend's Juno Awards, Montreal musician Claire Boucher, better known as Grimes, posted a lengthy message on her Tumblr site Tuesday evening.

Titled "I don't want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living," Grimes writes she is "done with being passive about any kind of status quo that allows anyone to suffer or to be disrespected."

"i dont want my words to be taken out of context," Boucher says to open the letter which takes aim at some of the sexism she's seen while on the road. "i dont want to be infantiziled because i refuse to be sexualized."

Boucher continued by adding she didn't "want to be molested at shows or on the street by people who perceive me as an object that exists for their personal satisfaction" and didn't wish to live in a world where "im gonna have to start employing body guards because this kind of behavior is so commonplace and accepted and I'm pisses that when I express concern over my own safety it's often ignored until people see firsthand what happens and then they apologize for not taking me serious after the fact."

The musician continued saying she was tired of men who weren't "professional or even accomplished" musicians offering to assist her as if "the fact that I'm a woman makes me incapable of using technology" while having never seen similar offers "happen to any of my male peers."

The post — which also included definitions of the words "waif" and "cute," both phrases Boucher is tired of seeing linked to her — included references to "being considered vapid for liking pop music or caring about fashion" and tired of being praised for "being thin because I can more easily fit into sample sizes from the runway." She also said she was tired that speaking about environmental or human rights issues was "uncool or offensive" and "of creeps on message boards discussing whether or not they'd 'fuck' me."

She also said she was "sad" that her "desire to be treated as an equal and as a human being is interpreted as hatred of men, rather than a request to be included and respected..." She ended by announcing the world tour behind Visions was over and was "taking the time to overhaul everything and make it better."

Roughly 30 minutes later Boucher clarified a few additional points in another post, stating "meeting fans is actually incredibly rewarding for me" so if fans saw her on the street it was "totally fine to say hi" and she was going to start working on a new album. She also apologized for not hitting certain regions such as South and Central America, Brazil and Eastern Europe while touring behind "Visions."

The artist concluded that she was quite happy that the fact the response to her original post "has been almost entirely positive is amazing and really nice..." A third post had a simple screen grab from a Game Of Thrones Wikipedia page with the message "DONT GO ON INTERNET TIME FOR WORK" across the top.

Grimes' post made an immediate impact, with Fucked Up singer Damian Abraham praising Boucher for the statements.

"While it sucks that a statement like it needs to be made in 2013, this is awesome," he tweeted this morning.

I don't want to have to compromise my morals in order to make a living

i dont want my words to be taken out of context

i dont want to be infantilized because i refuse to be sexualized

i dont want to be molested at shows or on the street by people who perceive me as an object that exists for their personal satisfaction

i dont want to live in a world where im gonna have to start employing body guards because this kind of behavior is so commonplace and accepted and I'm pissed that when I express concern over my own safety it's often ignored until people see firsthand what happens and then they apologize for not taking me seriously after the fact...

I'm tired of men who aren't professional or even accomplished musicians continually offering to 'help me out' (without being asked), as if i did this by accident and i'm gonna flounder without them. or as if the fact that I'm a woman makes me incapable of using technology. I have never seen this kind of thing happen to any of my male peers

I'm tired of the weird insistence that i need a band or i need to work with outside producers (and I'm eternally grateful to the people who don't do this)

im tired of being considered vapid for liking pop music or caring about fashion as if these things inherently lack substance or as if the things i enjoy somehow make me a lesser person

im tired of being congratulated for being thin because i can more easily fit into sample sizes from the runway

im tired of people i love betraying me so they can get credit or money

I'm sad that it's uncool or offensive to talk about environmental or human rights issues

I'm tired of creeps on message boards discussing whether or not they'd "fuck" me

I'm tired of people harassing my dancers and treating them like they aren't human beings

I'm sad that my desire to be treated as an equal and as a human being is interpreted as hatred of men, rather than a request to be included and respected (I have four brothers and many male best friends and a dad and i promise i do not hate men at all, nor do i believe that all men are sexist or that all men behave in the ways described above)

im tired of being referred to as 'cute,' as a 'waif' etc., even when the author, fan, friend, family member etc. is being positive

(fyi)

waif |wāf|

noun

1 a homeless and helpless person, esp. a neglected or abandoned child: she is foster-mother to various waifs and strays.

• an abandoned pet animal.

cute |kyo͞ot|

adjective

1 attractive in a pretty or endearing way: a cute kitten.

• informal sexually attractive.

I'm tired of people assuming that just because something happens regularly it's ok

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i have so much love for everyone who has been cool and amazing. I have the best job in the world but I'm done with being passive about any kind of status quo that allows anyone to suffer or to be disrespected

Grimes world tour is officially over, the visions album cycle is officially over, and I'm now taking the time to overhaul everything and make it better

much love to every fan - stuff can be lame sometimes but its really cool to have this support

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