Hayley Williams wrote an exclusive essay for an Australian Don’t Bore Us. She focuses on what the editors refer to as a problem with ‘toxic masculinity’ on the alternative music scene. The essay is pasted below.
It’s been a really tough year for men and women alike… trying to get through all of these stories and allegations. Questioning your idols. I don’t believe any human being is worthy of being worshipped because we all have the exact same capacity to hurt each other, hurt ourselves, and just generally make an absolute mess of the lives we’re given.
And narrowing it down to the issue of masculinity and gender is tough. Of course, boys need to begin to see examples of vulnerability and respect toward the opposite sex at a very young age. But it also shouldn’t solely have to do with gender and sexuality. It should have to do with humanness and co-existence.
Somehow, women and men (or girls and boys) have to learn how to talk about these issues in a way – together – that is vulnerable enough for people to learn something. I’m tired of seeing people speaking from regret and not from a place of actual intelligence on the matter. There has to be some educative, compassionate conversation so that we can get ahead of these problems before they turn into real pain.
– Hayley
Four hours after Don’t Bore Us published the article Hayley posted the following tweet: wait… i love yall but i didnt pen an essay. i answered one question in an email interview that all 3 of us participated in???. The editors tried to fix the situation saying:
You are so right – we misjudged the situation and amended the article. The full feature with the whole band will be out in the next few weeks, we just respected your view so much we thought it needed its own place to shine.
