Charlotte Church Joins Gloria Steinem, Sinead O'Connor in Denouncing 'Sexist' Music Industry
A notable Welsh singer who first broke through the international music scene while still in her early teens has joined others in denouncing the music industry as "sexist."
Charlotte Church, now 27, stated during the BBC 6 Music's John Peel Lecture that the music industry is a "culture of demeaning women."
"When I was 19 or 20 I found myself in this position, being pressurized into wearing more and more revealing outfits," said Church.
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"The lines that I had spun at me again and again – generally by middle-aged men – were: 'You look great, you've got a great body, why not show it off?'"
Church added that the whole experience made her feel "massively uncomfortable" and that the industry was in her opinion "a male dominated industry with a juvenile perspective on gender and sexuality."
Church's remarks come not long after feminist writer and activist Gloria Steinem offered similar words of condemnation when asked about pop singer Miley Cyrus' recent controversial performances.
Last week, Steinem remarked at the Women's Media Awards that people need to "change the culture" that produced performances like Cyrus' risqué act at the MTV Video Music Awards and her video for her song "Wrecking Ball."
"I wish we didn't have to be nude to be noticed ... But given the game as it exists, women make decisions," said Steinem.
"But that's the way the culture is. I think that we need to change the culture, not blame the people that are playing the only game that exists."
In August at the MTV Video Music Awards, former "Hannah Montana" child star Miley Cyrus performed a controversial song number.
During the performance, shocked spectators watched as she stripped down to a nude bikini while gyrating on married singer Robin Thicke, aged 36.
Later, Cyrus' music video for the song "Wrecking Ball" garnered millions of views. The video featured among other things the singer being nude save a pair of army boots and suggestively licking a sledgehammer.
Cyrus' performances prompted a widely circulated and profanity-laden open letter by Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, who warned Cyrus that she was being taken advantage of by the music industry.
"Nothing but harm will come in the long run, from allowing yourself to be exploited, and it is absolutely NOT in ANY way an empowerment of yourself or any other young women, for you to send across the message that you are to be valued (even by you) more for your sexual appeal than your obvious talent," wrote O'Connor.
"The music business…will prostitute you for all you are worth, and cleverly make you think its what YOU wanted…and when you end up in rehab as a result of being prostituted, 'they' will be sunning themselves on their yachts in Antigua, which they bought by selling your body and you will find yourself very alone."
