Madonna has a lengthy new interview with Billboard, and the piece just reminded me of something that I had forgotten: Madonna actually CAN be interesting sometimes. When she gets out of her own way, when she stops trying to be one of the kidz, she actually is somewhat interesting. You can read the Billboard piece here – there’s actually too much to even excerpt all of the interesting stuff. She discusses her collaborators on her new album (Diplo, Kanye, etc), dancing in Ibiza with her daughter, sex, love, Fifty Shades and much more. Some highlights:
Her album collaborators: “I felt like a schoolmarm. Kanye, for instance, has excellent ideas, but it’s hard to get him to pay attention. So my job was to keep him focused. I was the mistress walking around with the clipboard going, ‘Guys, can you please — can you guys come back in the room? Let’s just finish the song. What do you mean you’re going to a photo shoot? What do you mean you have to go to a red carpet event? Get off your phone! Will you stop tweeting? Wait, we haven’t finished!’ ”
Whether the word “bitch” should be banned: “I think that’s bulls–t. The word police can f— off. I don’t want to be policed! I’m not interested in political correctness. The word “bitch” means a lot of different things. Everything is about context. When I first moved to England and heard the word “c–t,” I was horrified. People were calling each other c–ts! And then I realized that, in that culture, it was different — they slapped each other on the back and said, “Who’s the c–t, right, you’re my best mate!” The word “f—” doesn’t just mean sexual intercourse. I mean, “You’re a stupid f—,” “Are you going to f— with me?” “F– off!” (Laughs.) Sex has nothing to do with any of those expressions, and the same goes for “bitch.” If I say to you, “I’m a badass bitch,” I’m owning myself, I’m saying, “I’m strong, I’m tough, and don’t mess with me.” If I say, “Why are you being such a bitch to me?,” well, that means something else.
Whether that language affects a larger discourse about bullying, power, etc: “OK, but that’s another story. Language, and the use of language, is different than one human physically abusing somebody or bullying somebody, or killing somebody because of the color of their skin or their sexual preference or their religious beliefs. I don’t think the two should get mixed up.
Her thoughts on Fifty Shades of Grey: “It’s pulp fiction. It’s not very sexy, maybe for someone who has never had sex before. I kept waiting for something exciting and crazy to happen in that red room thing, and I was like, “Hmm, a lot of spanking.”
Whether she would be addicted to Instagram if she was 22: “I am addicted to Instagram. I don’t know what I would do if I was 22.”
Her favorite TV shows: “I watch Game of Thrones with my kids. That’s a good family bonding experience. My own personal obsession is True Detective, because Matthew McConaughey is so brilliant and the writing is genius. And an Irish series, The Fall. I mostly watch old movies, over and over again. All of Godard’s, and Visconti, Fellini, Pasolini. I love Alain Resnais.
She also has nice things to say about Miley Cyrus’s IDGAF attitude, whether pop stars are allowed to be dangerous today and how she wants to sit down with the groovy new Pope and talk about sex. And while I don’t 100% agree with her position on the word police and self-censorship of certain terminology, I think her point of view is valid enough.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Madonna’s Instagram.
I thought Madonna always said she doesn’t watch tv.
I remember her saying she didn’t let her kids watch tv, eat sugar or salt.
The fall is great, I have loved Gillian Anderson since the X Files days.
Words can definitely hurt, but I think in general people are really overly sensitive to language. Like, who really is offended by her calling HERSELF an unapologetic bitch?
I jokingly call my friends bitches all of the time. Context is a thing.
I loved her for saying this, ” It’s not very sexy, maybe for someone who has never had sex before.”
I feel conflicted, I agree with her, I’m no fan of 50 shades, but bullying is not okay, even when it’s bullying virgins. She shouldn’t shame the sexually repressed, she’s made bank on them her whole career.
I loved her interview.
“OK, but that’s another story. Language, and the use of language, is different than one human physically abusing somebody or bullying somebody,”
Kids are dying because words hurt. Bullying is a huge thing.
Kids are dying because other kids are mean and they have zero support at home, because they have an underlying mental illness, because of lots of reasons, but as RuPaul said, if your are blown away by a word you’ve got bigger problems than that word.
I’ve been called every word in my lifetime as I’m sure has everyone else, but I like myself, I have good friends and family and it’s just a word to me.
No kid kills himself or herself over a word. These kids have other problems and to try and ban WORDS instead of fix the very real problem of mental illness in this country is just silly.
A thousand and one up votes for you! While I have compassion for kids who have no support and are hurt by others’ words, those words have little to do with how a child reacts to them. Self esteem cannot be under estimated. Parents and role models who don’t work over time to instill self esteem in children close to them are lazy or ignorant people. Sadly it happens every day on every block in every city, suburbia, etc. Teach your kids to KNOW who they are, and not obsess over whether they’re whatever name they’re being called.
So when a kid kills themselves or faces depression due to others bullying them for being gay, being, bisexual, being transgender, or they’re being slut-shamed, that’s on them, their “mental illness”, and their parents, but not the ones doing the bullying? I disagree.
I’m not saying we should get words legally banned, and I definitely think that we should teach teens that just because someone says something about them doesn’t make it valid. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also as a culture take a stand against the bullying and harassment, take an honest look at the impact certain words and attitudes expressed have on the way people are and have been treated based on sexuality, gender, body type, race, etc., and emphasize that the problem is with the one doing the bullying, not the one being bullied. That kind of behavior needs to be discouraged and called out. And yes, even a kid with self-esteem and a healthy mind can respond negatively, be in distress and have a hard time with either being treated that way or seeing someone they’re close to being treated that way.
@Otaku Fairy
Please don’t put words in my mouth. First, people of good mental health don’t kill themselves over words. I was bullied in school by kids my freshman year. I was followed, shoved in a locker, and tripped down a flight of stairs. My parent’s reaction was to head to the school board and threaten a lawsuit. They also told me how wonderful I was and made sure I had other activities outside of school.
Without my parents, without positive reinforcement of who I am I might not have had the mental stability to deal with that type of cruel behavior.
So, yes, it is a mental health issue. Is it “on them”? Ultimately, yes, since we are the ones who choose self-harming behavior. Letting kids off the hook also reinforces this behavior, it adds to the drama that teens already love to feel. Like Romeo and Juliet, it makes death seem glamorous and poetic.
By saying that it does not remove the evil and ugly of children who want to hurt other kids with bad words, but ultimately we need to tell people that they need to resist and make a choice for life.
Someone who can justify taking their own life for a word will find some other reason to do it later.
Words definitely hurt. And the emotional wounds from verbal abuse don’t heal as readily as broken bones and skin. I may be 47 but when I remember my father telling me I was stupid and worthless, and I remember it vividly, I can still easily cry about it. Maybe I’m weak but I think I’m merely human. It’s important to be careful with words, they can cut more deeply than any dagger. There’s a reason the pen is mightier than the sword.
LOL Ooooh, she’s so edgy. Geez, Madj, give it a rest.
But Madge, the word police are the pc cops..and you’ve never strayed from the celeb pc path. CNN had a report that a brit station is dropping all her music, cuz she’s “irrelevant”..ouch.
Like radio plays artists over a certain age anyway. Not. In America artists over 40 can barely get played, but by 45 or so it’s almost impossible. American radio is ageist. Madonna has lasted longer than most did.
And most pop radio stations are all about the teens. It’s just the way it is. The same with aging rockers who still put out good music. It’s only played on certain stations and that’s it.
Radio is dead for adults anyway. Satellite radio has far more to offer.
She reminds me of old people who still use certain racist words because it’s what they grew up with, and they’re not going to change for ” political correctness.”
The fact is, as society evolves certain terms become less acceptable and that’s not always a bad thing. Some words are very damaging.
Madonna obviously isn’t very big on personal growth. I feel like she’s still stuck in the eighties and the world is passing her by because she won’t accept change, within herself or the world.
Bitch has never been a word that really feels offensive to me, even as a feminist. It’s only offensive to me when women are being described as a man’s ‘bitch’, or in that “Men, control your bitches” sort of way, you know? Because it implies that we’re supposed to be submissive to men, that we’re their property, and that they’re supposed to keep us in line. But other than that, I don’t have a problem with it, and definitely think it’s fine for women to reclaim the term in their own way if they want to. I’m not opposed to it being used to call someone out for disrespectful assh*le behavior either, as long as it’s true. Terms like ‘assh-le’, d*ck, and douchebag are also used to call out someone who’s being a jerk, whether they’re male or female.
“Language, and the use of language, is different than one human physically abusing somebody or bullying somebody, or killing somebody because of the color of their skin or their sexual preference or their religious beliefs. I don’t think the two should get mixed up.”
This is technically true, but while I’m not bothered by the word bitch, the truth is that certain words that target people based on gender, race, and sexuality ARE also directly tied to the suffering of, abuse of, and discrimination against certain groups of people. So I definitely think there’s some need for caution. The way people as groups and individuals are treated in a society and the way they’re spoken about are definitely related. That’s why there’s outrage bout racial slurs or terms like wh*re, f*g, sl*t, and gay being used as insults.
I really respect the fact that Madonna is truly tolerant when it comes to sexuality. She’s not doing that phony, hypocritical thing that some female artists do where they talk about feminism and sexual freedom just to defend themselves and what they approve of, but then turn around and spew a hole bunch of misogynistic and shaming things at other women for dressing ad being sexual as they see fit. She’s not one of those ladies who got sexual or revealing in her heyday only to turn and do a 180 years later and tell the young, relevant new female popstars that they’re sl*ts and wh*res for being sexually open and need to cover up (yes, this is shade). Her sex-positive message seems authentic and applies to others instead of just herself,, and not like it’s about cherry-picking what bodily choices and sexuality are acceptable and for whom. (I will be hugely dissapointed if Miley Cyrus, Rihanna, or Ariana Grande decide to start slut-shaming in the name of ‘feminism’ several years later after all that talk about how people should be able to do what they want their bodies without being abused or bullied for it! 🙁 ) I always respect it when female artists don’t jump on the opportunity to try to elevate themselves above over women based on sexual modesty, because that is unfortunately encouraged among women in our society and too many famous women have taken the bait.
Is anybody actually trying to ban the word b****? A pseudo rebel looking for a fake cause.
You know who else can f–k off?
Madonna.
‘I don’t want to be policed! I’m not interested in political correctness.’ I guess she forgot about the time she threw M.I.A. under the bus when she flipped off the cameras at the Superbowl