Random Susan Powter Moment

So do you remember Susan Powter? Susan Powter of the "STOP THE INSANITY" craze? Susan Powter who scared the living crap outta everybody by getting in their faces back in the '90's with her crazy platinum blond butch-cut, wirey-assed body, and big-mouth? Shouting about weight-loss? THIS woman:

Well, she's reinvented herself again:

And, after about ten years or so, she's baaaaaack, shouting out to the vaginas of the world!

...And STILL scaring the crap outta everybody...

What the hell am I talking about?!?

Well, this past Friday, I went to a concert by the kick-ass duo Bitch and Animal. It's their farewell tour, and they played it up at the Beachland Ballroom in Cleveland. Despite a bit o' crabbiness on both their parts, they were on fire and a helluva lot of fun as usual. Where does Susan Powter fit in?
Well, I noticed last week on Bitch and Animal's website that their opening act for this final tour was Susan Powter. I giggled to myself when I saw it, immediately drawing up visions of the wirey woman shouting me down as I cowered in fear. But when I got to the concert, to my surprise (and despite her complete about-face in appearance), I actually RECOGNIZED this new version of the late Susan Powter! I'd noticed her prancing about at MichFest at least a handful of times while I was there. She is difficult NOT to notice, seeing as she has massive pink locks now (which she incessantly fluffs and plays with like some high school cheerleader), a rock-hard body, and a set of double-take breasts. (Pardon my objectifying, but for 46 years old, she is one good-looking woman, plastic-y though she may appear to be.) And she exudes the self-confidence of about 1,300 drag queens in one. I mean, it is near impossible for her to walk into the room without every single eye being immediately drawn to her. And I suppose there's something to be said about possessing that kind of power.

That being said, she scares me.

Not in a "I cower in your presence" kinda way, but more like "Wow, you hold some PRETTY damn loony views there, girlfriend." Now, let me preface this by saying not all her views are loony. She considers herself a radical feminist, and she is consistent with this image. But radical feminists scare me a little bit too, so maybe that's the problem. I immediately shut my ears to anyone who believes that all white men are the devil. And it scares me to think that there are those who DON'T.

During her opening act, her motivational-speaker roots came spewing forth. She shouted at the crowd. She pointed at individuals. She pushed on some folks' foreheads in that "you are HEA-ALED, my child" kinda way that preachers do. She ranted. She raved. She spoke ten million miles a minute. She had everyone's mouth hanging open.

She was scary but also impressive.

You see, I don't agree with a lot of her viewpoints. I agree that there needs to be change in the world, but I DON'T think all white men are the devil. And I was bothered by the fact that she fired forth her opinions in such gun-fire succession that it was impossible to really sit back and examine each of her points. By the time you started to grasp onto one point, it was already gone and you were trying to grapple with her next bit of rage. That's the way that motivational speaking works--inundate you with shouted-out ideas without giving you the time to think about them and get you worked up in a foaming frenzy of rage/happiness/empowerment so that you'll immediately shout out "Hell yeah!" and wanna follow her into the Second Coming. And that's scary but amazing power.

Yet, it is surprisingly easy to see through. She can shout all she wants, but when her shouting is unfocused and her points are never backed up, why are we to believe her? And yet, people did. The audience shouted and cheered at every outrageous thing she said. But is this really that surprising? All anyone (Ani Difranco, Bitch & Animal, etc.) has to do is say ANYTHING political, ANYTHING outrageous about the government, and people start cheering before the opinion has really been processed by their brains. It's just the reflex of the masses.

And it's a weird and scary thing.

I got into an argument with a certain individual afterwards about Ms. Powter. He stated that 1) she did feminism an injustice in her representation of it and insulted both the intelligence of those who shared her viewpoint as well as those who didn't, and 2) he compared her (very loosely, yes, but nonetheless) to Hitler and his ability to move the masses. Now, I agree with some of the first point. She may have insulted the intelligence of many of us who were listening, many of us who were easily able to see through her loosely-defended points and see that it rested on a foundation of straw. But I don't think SHE is the only one responsible for those who see her as representative of ALL of feminism, those who take her viewpoints and agree with them without giving them a second thought. She may state outright that she is a feminist, that she is the Jesus of feminism, but it ain't gonna make no difference unless WE believe her. We hold just as much responsibility for whether or not she becomes the "spokesperson for feminism" as she does. She could shout 'til she was blue in the face, but if there weren't any easily bamboozled, slack-jawed, unthinking folks out there ready to jump on the bandwagon without even thinking about it, she wouldn't make an ounce of difference.

And yet, I agree with Eleven. She IS a threat of sorts. She inadvertently gives feminism a bad name, just the way those vegetarian crazies who go around throwing red paint on fur jackets do the same for animal rights individuals. But that is not necessarily THEIR fault, or at least not SOLELY. The media laps this right up--the media jumps at anything shocking and so these radicals, these (sometimes) crazies become spokespeople for the whole of a movement. But WE essentially are responsible for this. We are the ones who ALLOW the media (and the individual) to become representative of a whole movement. We, the unthinking masses. We who allow one person to stand in for the whole and then shake our heads and say, "Ahhh, god, those feminists/dykes/vegetarians/gays are crazy. Why the hell should I believe them?" These individuals are not a threat to themselves but yeah, maybe just maybe they are a threat to the movements they inadvertently come to respresent.

But then again, we are the fools that allow them to.

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