Dua Lipa on Misogyny and #MeToo: “For a Female Artist, It Takes a Lot More to Be Taken Seriously”
Dua Lipa has added her name to the list of women speaking out in support of #MeToo.
Appearing on the May cover issue of British GQ, the "IDGAF" singer said that she thinks the movement is "so important," and that while she hasn't experienced sexual harassment in the music industry firsthand, she's certainly had to confront sexism.
"For a female artist, it takes a lot more to be taken seriously if you’re not sat down at a piano or with a guitar, you know?" she told the outlet. "For a male artist, people instantly assume they write their own music, but for women, they assume it’s all manufactured."
Lipa added that #MeToo is not only helping to combat abuse, but to address systemic attitudes toward sex and gender.
"It’s been ingrained in our heads that boys will be boys and its harmless fun and no big deal and to brush things off," she continued. "Like catcalling. To some it might not seem a lot, but it affects your mood, people get embarrassed about the way they dress. For lots of females, be it actresses, singers, models, no matter what it is, it’s not being able to have the right to dress and wear how and what you want and be taken seriously.”
Her comments come just days after she hit back at a male journalist who accused her of over-exaggerating the oral surgery that forced her to cancel tour dates earlier this month.
"I was pretty upset. I couldn’t perform, I couldn’t open my mouth. I could barely eat,” she said during an interview with KIIS FM’s Kyle and Jackie O Show. “And I was really upset because my fans were really upset and that’s the kind of thing that I think is so dangerous, to say stuff like that. I don’t ever want to let people down unless I really, really have to. It was a health thing that I had to take care of and it came at the worst possible time.”
The Dua Lipa issue of GQ hits newsstands Thursday, April 5.