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“Feminism Didn’t Suit You”

Lauren

While blogging to some background music I caught this lyric in a song by Jens Lekman, one of my new favorite artists:

oh her highness, I heard you say in some interview
that feminism was something that didn’t suit you
a lack of interest perhaps
or maybe you’re just stupid and inbred

but I still remember when I saw you as a goddess

Something about this seems pro-feminist, and something seems condescending. I’m too lazy to figure it out for myself. Interpretations? Download “Silvia” here.

For more of the pleasantly ironic Jens Lekman, see his Department of Forgotten Songs at Secretly Canadian.

6 thoughts on “Feminism Didn’t Suit You”

  1. sounds both pro-feminist and condescending. “didn’t suit you” is ironically causal (the speaker doesn’t see feminism as casual or trivial, I assume; also, there’s the “suit” usage, i.e. “feminism doesn’t look good on me” or “feminism clashes with my shoes”).

    “A lack of interest” = both “you don’t care about it” and “you lack interest” i.e. “you are not interesting” i.e. “fuck you.”

    “Or maybe you’re just stupid…” = “it’s not interesting to you because you’re too stupid to get it or to see why it matters or should matter to you.”

    “…and inbred” = (I assume) you’re elitist (not, I imagine, you are Apalachian).

    “saw you as a goddess” i.e. I liked you until you opened your mouth.

  2. i think quisp has it. it reminds me of a lot of songs directed at a former love object who has turned out to be a shallow opportunist/social climber. songs like that always have some mean, cutting little lines and in this case, there’s a cutting little line about this woman being superficial and anti-intellectual. and “stupid” because women who aren’t feminists are not acting or thinking in their best interests.

    i like it. how often does a man say “fuck you” to a woman by pointing out that she lost her “goddess” status for him in part by not being a feminist?

  3. It made me think of a PJ Harvey interview in Bust magazine, where she said essentially the same thing as the first two lines.

  4. I see it like he thought of this girl as a smart goddess but when he heard her say feminism didn’t suit her he began thinking that maybe she isn’t so smart because what woman wouldn’t identify as a feminist? I’m looking at it with a sort of bright scope I suppose.

  6. I’ll third the PJ Harvey interview. I think everyone’ summed up what I would have said. So I’ll just say thanks for another great music clip!

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