Annie Lennox Defends Calling Beyoncé ‘Feminist Lite’: ‘Twerking is Not Feminism’

Annie Lennox has been very vocal about her opinions regarding Beyoncé’s status as a feminist, referring to Bey as ‘feminist lite.’

In an interview with NPR, Lennox was asked about female musicians being overly sexual in their performances and she took the opportunity to clarify her stance.

“The reason why I’ve commented is because I think that this overt sexuality thrust—literally—at particular audiences, when very often performers have a very, very young audience, like 7 years old, I find it disturbing and I think its exploitative. It’s troubling. I’m coming from a perspective of a woman that’s had children,” she said.

NPR’s Steve Inskeep asked Annie specifically about her criticism of Beyoncé.

“Well, I didn’t specifically criticize Beyoncé,” Lennox explained. “I was being asked about Beyoncé in the context of feminism, and I was thinking at the time about very impactful feminists that have dedicated their lives to the movement of liberating women and supporting women at the grass roots, and I was saying, ‘Well, that’s one end of the spectrum, and then you have the other end of the spectrum.'”

“Listen, twerking is not feminism,” Lennox added. “That’s what I’m referring to. It’s not—it’s not liberating, it’s not empowering. It’s a sexual thing that you’re doing on a stage; it doesn’t empower you. That’s my feeling about it…Maybe this is a good thing because it creates debate.”

Do you agree with Annie’s sentiments? Let us know your thoughts.