It was surely only a matter of time. Feminist punk protest collective Pussy Riot has consistently used its notoriety (and signature colorful balaclavas) to address important social issues since being locked up for the anti-Putin “Punk Prayer” in 2012. The group has now dropped a very timely video titled “Straight Outta Vagina,” a celebration of female sexuality doubling as an anti-Trump tirade reminding the Republican presidential candidate where he’s really from. It was helmed by Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova, who has rounded up an impressive group of musicians to stand in for her co-founder Masha Alekhina, who is currently touring her feminist punk play with the Belarus Free Theatre. The new video stars Tolokonnikova alongside fellow musicians/mask enthusiasts Leikeli47, Desi Mo, and Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio. The catchy anthem’s title is rater prophetic: According to The Guardian, Tolokonnikova recorded the song with Sitek back in February, before all the most recent sexual assault allegations against Trump that stemmed from the leak of that vulgar 2005 “grab them by the pussy” tape.
Tolokonnikova equated the spread of “patriarchal and misogynist ideas” to a sexually transmitted disease. “Politicians are praising ‘strong leadership’,” she said. “Trump openly supports the authoritarian methods of Vladimir Putin. And it’s scary. It’s not the world in which I want to live.” Posting the video to YouTube, she stressed the message that vagina is bigger than any megalomaniac man. “Female power and female sexuality are yet need to be discovered. Discussed. Performed. Lived up,” she wrote. “Women were slaves of the world for centuries. Women got their right to vote less than 100 years ago. Russia (1917), US (1919), Switzerland (1971). We’re still just about to build other roles, norms, ethics for vaginas owners. And the owner of vagina is not some narcissistic stupid orange ape who’d claim that he could easily grab women by their pussies.” Amen.
Credits
Text Hannah Ongley
Image via YouTube