Kathleen Hannah

Before Tuesday’s class I had never heard of Kathleen Hannah or her music before. After watching her documentary, I had nothing but respect and admiration for her. She was fearless, never afraid to share her thoughts through her music and also very dedicated to her music. She was not in the music industry for the money, and didn’t make much for a long time, and solely cared about spreading her messages. She had strong beliefs that she wanted as many people to hear as possible.

Overall, I think that Hannah had a difficult life. She was sexual abused by her father growing up. When she became popular, she received a tremendous amount of hate by men, women, and the press. As most artists wouldn’t be able to take it, she kept moving forward and making music. She did so for all the girls out there that loved her music, were motivated by it, or felt connected to it. She also later became sick with lime disease. Through her illness she recorded herself and what she was going through which couldn’t have been easy to share with the world. She decided to make a record during this difficult time. She hated the thought of something external holding her back from what she truly wanted to do. I think that she was incredibly strong for never giving up on making music despite all the adversity she faced.

Throughout her career she really tried to be a voice for people who felt ignored or that they were not heard. She talked about sexual abuse, emotional violence, women being treated as objects, and sexism in her songs. All topics many women didn’t speak openly about. When it comes to sexual abuse, women’s accusations aren’t always believed or taken seriously. It is hard for a lot of them to get the justice they deserve. Through her music she urged people to speak their truth about sexual abuse.

I found it interesting that Hannah expressed the pressure she felt taking on the title of a hardcore feminist. She explained that she didn’t want people to know that she was or had been a stripper because you “can’t be a feminist and stripper”. She also was worried what people would think of her relationship with her husband since as a musician he often sang about women in degrading ways. I never thought that by being classified as a feminist she would have to worry about so many different choices she made in her life.