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Lily Allen talks feminism with ELLE

ELLE magazine catches up with Lily Allen about her return to music, family life and why it's important to be a feminist.

Lily Allen is definitely doing the rounds, isn’t she? After two magazine covers last month – Q and Esquire, she is the star of ELLE’s March issue.

Allen has never been one to conform – whether it’s music, opinions or the way she looks, however she says that the pressure is definitely still on for all women to look and behave a certain way.

“Of course I’d rather look like Kate Moss than look like myself,” she tells ELLE. “I wish I didn’t feel like that and I think the reason we feel like that is because of the imagery we’re fed all the time. Women are still expected, in some weird way, to kind of sit there and look pretty, and not talk.”

She adds: “So often, when women say things that are outspoken, or as I call it, just saying things, people jump on that and try to make us look stupid for having an opinion. That doesn’t happen with men. Come on, we’ve done feminism. People are aware of it. Can it just happen now?”

Despite her comeback single ‘Hard Out Here’ being hailed as a ‘feminist anthem’, Allen thinks some of the meaning behind it got lost by people getting caught up by other things – such as the dancers’ ‘twerking’.

“I understand people will have their point of view and will interpret things in the way they want to… But it was upsetting to get some of that feedback,” she says. “I felt like I was being brave doing the baggy p**** thing, and that got lost. That was meant to be the feminist moment. It was a brave thing to do – say that you have an enormous vagina!”

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Posted by Claire Sharp.

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