We weren’t idiots, but I didn’t have that access to academic feminism. I had to realize, on my own, that feminism is not just about how far ahead you can get in a job and it isn’t about not wearing makeup. It isn’t about not watching your waistline. I had to recreate the world entirely.
BETH DITTOI’m constantly thinking about what I’ll do next. I never count on music being a career of longevity. I mean, longevity is key, and I hope that it lasts, but you just don’t know, because it’s not in your hands, you don’t make the decision.
More Beth Ditto Quotes
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I worshipped Ethel Merman and I worshipped Ethel Merman a lot. It’s incredible – Ethel Merman was a conventional singer. Her naming her child Ethel Merman, Jr., was, to me, one of the coolest feminist things.
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I thought to be feminine was to give in to straight culture, or the beauty standard, but in my heart I had a flair for fashion and style. They were passions I kept secret because I didn’t understand I could love clothes and hair and makeup and still like girls.
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There is no rule in the pink-triangle guide to coming out that you must wear a rainbow flag cap and organise a full band parade.
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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.
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The thing about being on the majors, from the beginning, going into this, I was like, “I’m not going to be treated like a factory,” because that’s never the way it was done before.
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I love sad songs. They say so much. I love country music but even the happy songs sound really sad.
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When I moved out of my mom’s house at 18 I was almost as sad to leave her sewing machine behind as anything else.
BETH DITTO -
I’m constantly thinking about what I’ll do next. I never count on music being a career of longevity. I mean, longevity is key, and I hope that it lasts, but you just don’t know, because it’s not in your hands, you don’t make the decision.
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I have no control over what people think of me but I have 100% control of what I think of myself.
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I think if the world were a fair and just place, there wouldn’t even need to be a gay label.
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I mean, if I was living to please people, I’d have never been in a band at all. I wouldn’t have anything awesome around. I’d just be bored.
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I’m a great believer in karma and the vengeance that it serves up to those who are deliberately mean is generally enough for me.
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I’ve belched a lot more since I had gall bladder surgery. I don’t know why.
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Starting out really punk came from not knowing any better and listening to music like that, not knowing how to play music – well, still not knowing how to play music.
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I grew up with the motto of “they can’t kill you and eat you,” and I still think that’s right. You sure as hell can’t! When it comes to speaking about my body makes other people uncomfortable but it doesn’t make me uncomfortable.
BETH DITTO