Lesbilicious - the web’s tastiest lesbian magazine

Two-thirds of cult feminist band Le Tigre have formed a new group. But what does it mean, asks Milly Shaw, now that they’re MEN?

MEN is the new DJ/remix/production project from former Le Tigre members JD Samson and Johanna Fateman. And considering that Le Tigre are as famous for their uncompromising feminism as they are for their killer electro beats, it’s clear that a name as provocative as MEN must have a carefully worked-out political angle to it, right? Uh, no.

JD and Jo gave an interview to the April/May edition of BUST magazine, and by golly what a depressing interview that was. The questions are intelligent but the responses are muddled and flippant, as beautifully demonstrated in the following excerpt:

What was the motivation for this project? Is there a political bent to it, or is it more about the experience?
JD: “It started off being just for fun, but I think that our name really became this whole other thing for us. When we decided to become MEN, we decided a lot of other things about how we were going to try to continue this project and the philosophy of continuing it in a certain way. And that’s the political aspect.”

So what led two members of the world’s foremost feminist outfit to call themselves men?
Jo: “In some ways, the most profoundly frustrating and sad thing about our careers is that we’ve been in this feminist band for nine years, we’ve done all these records and tours, [but] then as we embark on this new project, we entered into this landscape that is still completely male-dominated.”
JD: “That’s what it feels like – we’re going in a circle. We’re back at square one, with all these men again and the boys’ club. Are we trying to be part of the boy’s club, or are we trying to be separate? I mean, the reason we came up with the name in the first place was, we were in an airport and we were talking about Jo’s new philosophy of living, which was called “what would a man do?” Which is like, when someone cuts in front of you in line, [as a woman] you’re just like, “Oh, it’s OK.” But what would a man do? A man would be like, “”Excuse me, why did you just cut me in line?” I mean, not any man, a certain kind of man. Then we decided we wanted to live by that philosophy and we were like, “What should we call ourselves?” And we were like, “MEN. We’re going to be like men.” We think about it all the time. We don’t want to be the nice people anymore – we want to be like men.”

Do you think your definition of “men” is different from the mainstream culture’s definition?
Jo: “Well yes, because we’re not actually men, we’re women!” [laughs]

But what does it mean to be a “man” anyway?
JD: “Well, for us, it means we wear purple and yellow.”

Wow. Where to start. How about with a question: How can two people be at the forefront of feminism for so long and come out with such fluff?

After nine years in a feminist band, JD and Jo are disappointed that they haven’t eradicated sexism in the male-dominated music scene. So do they start up a fresh new feminist band to tackle that misogyny in a different way? Do they think about new ways to reach out to disenchanted women and disenfranchised men? Do they get together with other musicians and artists to start a new wave of gender equality? No. They give up, and choose to become part of the sexist male-dominated scene rather than challenge it.

And boy do they get sexist. According to the MEN worldview, men are assertive and stand up for inequalities such as queue jumping. Women just don’t make a stand against that sort of thing. In order to become assertive, therefore, women must reject all things womanly and become men in their minds, constantly looking to masculinity for guidance with the question “what would a man do?”

MEN are appallingly sexist, both to women and men. Women might be passive and pathetic, but men, according to JD, are just “not nice people.” Is this really as far as MEN’s thinking on gender go? Apparently so, as every opportunity to claw back some dignity given to them by the very generous interviewer Alison Feldmann is squandered with jokes.

It wouldn’t be so bad if MEN didn’t take themselves so seriously. They honestly believe they’ve created some serious political art, but it’s embarrassingly and thoughtlessly ill-conceived.

I’m all for queering up gender roles, and I would ordinarily love to see two strong feminists stand up and call themselves MEN, but I couldn’t be more disappointed by JD and Jo’s new project. They think they’re MEN, but they’re really just a couple of misogynistic frat boys.

Posted in: Exclusives, Music |