Posted by Irresponsibility
Melissa Auf der Maur
So, Guardian interview with Melissa Auf der Maur, the truly incredible (and needless to say totally underrated, under-appreciated and under-publicised) ex-Hole and Smashing Pumpkins bassist turned rock solo artist.
The headline? “Melissa Auf der Maur: ‘I hope Courtney Love finds happiness’”. Make me want to holler. First, because it wrongly suggests that Auf der Maur is mostly interesting because she used to be in Hole, which is nonsense. Second, because it goes out of its way to reinforce the media stereotype of mad, bad, miserable Courtney Love. Which is precisely not what Auf der Maur intended. She in fact said
Courtney is an incredibly strong and intelligent woman with a lot of stuff to offer, and she should be releasing records and performing because she is magical at that.
Worst, this is from the UK’s most self-consciously right-on broadsheet. Apparently no-one even noticed the bias, because the Guardian would never be deliberately sexist. Unfortunately, hidden prejudice does not equal non-existent prejudice. When even well-intentioned liberals fuel jaded stereotypes there is clearly a long way to go.
