Beth Ditto er forsanger i det amerikanske band The Gossip, der kan opleves på dette års Roskilde Festival. I 2006 udnævnte musik bladet NME Magazine hende til the coolest person in rock. I 2007 nominerede det selv samme blad hende i kategorien sexiest woman of the year. En titel, Kate Moss dog rendte af med.
Selv kalder Beth Ditto sig a fat, feminist lesbian from Arkansas. Hun blev født i 1982 og voksede op i den lille, amerikanske by Searcy i det såkaldte bibelbælte i Arkansas. Her kom hun dog aldrig til at føle sig helt tilpas. Borgerne i Searcy var af den mening, at homoseksuelle ville brænde op i helvede, så da det for alvor gik op for Ditto, at hun var lesbisk, var der ikke meget støtte at hente fra omgivelserne. Det var der til gengæld i musikken, og i 1999 startede hun bandet The Gossip, der gav hende en mulighed for at synge om de ting, der lå hende på sinde; kvinders rettigheder og en større accept af seksuelle minoriteter og fede mennesker.
I dag er Beth Ditto et stil-ikon. Men hun er ikke, som stil-ikoner er flest; selv om hun ikke går på kompromis med sin påklædning, sit hår og sin make up, så nægter hun samtidig at barbere sig under armene, og hun går aldrig med deodorant. Hun følger heller ikke de gængse regler for, hvad fede kvinder må gå i af tøj, men klæder sig i alt fra storblomstrede kjoler til korte nederdele – eller det rene ingenting. Beth Ditto griber med andre ord enhver chance for at udfordre vores indgroede fedt-, lugt- og hårforskrækkede ideer om, hvad skønhed er. Og det er mere end tiltrængt.
Her følger en lille Beth Ditto-kavalkade.
Guldkorn fra Beth Ditto:
”I just like food too much, and I don’t want to change … I don’t want to look like Britney Spears, she’s hideous.”
“She’s just a total tool. She thought: This is how women get attention: be thin and have opinions only about clothes and men. That’s bullshit and if I met her, I would tell her.”
( Beth Ditto om Victoria Beckham.)
“Sexism is so ingrained in our brains that sometimes it’s hard to articulate what makes something sexist. You just know it’s there.”
"I hope that bodies can just be bodies and there's not any kind of fascism involved."
"It's incredible how many people are surprised to find a woman playing drums or somebody so big being sexual."
“I really believe that if you don't tell yourself, no one is going to tell you, so you might as well start telling yourself that you are amazing."
"People bitch about fat people who are quote unquote overweight, which is a term that I hate, because it sets a standard for people to be, but it's really funny to me that we are the majority in this country right now. It's treated like no one in the world is like this, and it's the most shameful thing, but really most of us are fat asses, you know.”
"Being feminist and being queer came out of my pores. As a kid, I was always mad -- just noticing the women at Thanksgiving, running around the kitchen, while the men were watching football. For one, I don't want to cook, and for two, I hate football. I was stuck in the middle."
"It was kind of a radical thing to do. I got my period just 10 minutes before we got there, and I was totally bleeding. I was doing it with my tranny boyfriend, who I’m in love with, and I was totally bleeding — how radical is that? — and I’m a fat person, and I’m a femme. It felt really good.”
(Beth Ditto om en foto-session, hvor hun poserede nøgen.)
The Gossip kan opleves den 3. juli, klokken 21.30 på Roskilde Festivalens Odeon-scene.
Citaterne er fra:
http://www.beautyandthedirt.co.uk/show.asp?ID=1275
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beth_Ditto
http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/11/24/tbr.ditto/index.html
http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,1961100,00.html#article_continue#article_continue
Af Line Henriksen
Klik her for at læse hele indlægget.
