A precipitating event, a leader, a moral entrepreneur, and collective action = a recipe for resistance.
Amanda Palmer, a singer who came to fame with the Dresden Dolls, reports that she was chastized by her record label, Roadrunner, when she refused to allow them to digitally alter the appearance of her body in a music video.
You can see the offending belly in this video (fast forward to 3:50, 4:25, and 4:57 for the “worst” of it):
Did you see it? Were you offended?
Here is the interaction between Palmer and a representative of Roadrunner in her own words:
right before the european tour i went to the new york offices of roadrunner to say hi and check in.
my a&r guy (my main contact at the label) sat me down in his office and said he wanted to discuss the “leeds united” video.
he told me that there were certain shots that they wanted to either cut completely or digitally alter to “be more flattering”.my favorite quote from that meeting:
“i’m a guy, amanda. i understand what people like.”to which i reply: where have you been for the last five years?
do you have any idea who i am, what band i’ve been in, what kind of music i write, who my fans are….who didn’t send you the memo that i’m not britney spears? i’m not TRYING to look hungry. i’m trying to look HOT. there’s a difference.…
this video….i mean, look at it. there’s just NOTHING there that anybody could really object to, even by MAINSTREAM standards.
so i was really perplexed. and i told the label i wasn’t changing anything. they backed down.a few weeks later i had a meeting with the owner of the label. he said he thought it was a shame that someone as smart and talented as me could not make a commercial record that they could sell. and he thinks that someday i’ll see the light and write some better songs.
i told him i made exactly the record i wanted to make.
more than exactly. i think i’ve made an INCREDIBLE FUCKING record.
i really do.he shook his head and felt sorry for me.
Here’s where things get interesting. Palmer’s fans have started a Rebellyon and people are posting pictures of their bellies in order to say: “Our bellies are not offensive!”
As a heterosexual, I have really only seen men naked. I have no idea what women actually look like. I am bombarded, however, by a very specific kind of female body… one that looks very little like my own. However, in my 20s I remember seeing a video, it couldn’t have been more than three minutes long, that simply panned across the naked bodies of 30 or so women. It had a lasting and beneficial impact on me. I recognized at once that (1) bodies simply vary and (2) my body was completely normal. Seeing these bellies makes me feel the same way. It makes me feel… better.
More on this story from Shakesville, the f word, and Feministing.
