Well, I just see a lot of people who are really terrified of the “f-word.” A lot of women these days, a lot of young women don’t want to call themselves feminists. You have this cheap, hideous “girl power” sort of fad, which I think is pretty benign at best, but at worst, I think it’s a way of taking the politics out of feminism and making it some kind of fashion. I see a lot of young female performers—and Joni is kind of an older guard—who do not call themselves feminist, but would certainly believe in their own right to self-determination, and wouldn’t want anybody to stop them from becoming themselves. They just refuse to recognize the relationship between their lives and those of other women, or feel any solidarity there. And that scares me, because I think if we can’t use the word feminist, if it’s some kind of taboo or dirty word, or means you’re ugly, or you’re angry, or you’re not dateable [laughs], then you’ve just reduced the language by a whole concept. I just don’t know any other word than “feminist” that describes a person who believes women are people.

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