2015 is rapidly becoming the year that pop overtakes indie in terms of political consciousness. From Welsh songbird Charlotte Church's blog post defending her right to protest against austerity and denouncing critics calling her a "champagne socialist," to Miley Cyrus setting up her own charity in support of America's homeless LGBT youth, to Ellie Goulding having a pop at [East London borough] Hackney council in response to their proposal to fine rough sleepers, we're seeing more and more massive pop stars speaking out on issues they could just as easily not address.Ariana Grande is the most recent pop star to speak out about gender inequality in the music industry. Following an interview with The Sun in which she shut down rumors about her dating Niall Horan of One Direction, last night she tweeted a lengthy response to the industry's tendency to focus on who she's dating rather than the music she's making, and the double standards men and women face when it comes to dating, relationships, and casual sex."If a woman has a lot of sex (or any sex for that matter)… she's a 'slut.' If a man has sex… HE'S. A. STUD. a BOSSSSSS. a KING," she writes, which closely echo's Nicki Minaj's rant about sexist hypocrisy in her MTV documentary: "When I'm assertive, I'm a bitch. When a man is assertive, he's a boss. He's bossed up."Five years ago a public rant of this magnitude from a Nickelodeon-endorsed popstar would have been inconceivable. Like you wouldn't have found Katy Perry or Rihanna waxing patriarchal about the press and quoting Gloria Steinem, but now we have Ariana Grande talking about how she comes from a “long bloodline of female activists” including an aunt who was the first Italian-American female president of the National Press Club and everyone from Taylor Swift to Scooter Braun (Grande's manager) cosigning it. It's fucking magical. Obviously issues that are the product of thousands of years of deeply engrained sexism aren't going to change any faster just because famous people are openly talking about them too, but as more stuff like this happens at least we can begin to envisage a future where everything is nails emoji and nothing hurt.Read the full thing below and warm your buns on the righteous flames of womanhood:
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Follow Emma on Twitter.— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) June 7, 2015