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Joan Jett laid the foundation for Time’s Up but insists a big change is required for genuine female equality – Metro US

Joan Jett laid the foundation for Time’s Up but insists a big change is required for genuine female equality

Joan Jett talks Bad Reputation

It’s interesting to look back at the reaction Joan Jett and the Runaways provoked when they originally burst onto the music scene. 

The male dominated media didn’t know what to do or how to react to the all-female teenage rock band’s confrontational and proudly sexual aesthetic and music.

It’s not that Cherie Currie, Lita Ford, Sandy West, Jackie Fox and Joan Jett were doing anything different to the likes of The Rolling Stones, Kiss or David Bowie, though. It’s that they were young women. 

The reaction looks particularly misogynistic in the current climate, where the Me Too and Time’s Up movements have shaken up the patriarchy. 

I recently had the chance to speak to Joan Jett about “Bad Reputation,” a documentary on her career, during which time I asked whether she saw a link between her groundbreaking start in the music industry and today. 

“I totally see a link. It is pervasive. I think pretty much every woman has some kind of experience in a Me Too situation. There are so many you can’t really go into it. Or remember them all.”

But while Jett sees a link, she doesn’t believe that enough has changed when it comes to female equality. 

“I don’t see a big shift since The Runaway days. Things have not changed that much. It might look different.”

“Women are in powerful positions, there are more women in more powerful positions. But it still to me is a lot of window dressing.”

“Until women are in real positions of power, where they yield the money and make decisions about where the money goes.”

“Then we will have a more equitable playing field. It is still difficult turf. But that’s life. What are you gonna do?”

But while Jett’s place in musical history has long been certain, what did she originally want to achieve when she founded the Runaways at the age of 17 back in 1975?

“We wanted to make it not strange for girls or women to play rock ’n’ roll. What we were really trying to say was that girls could do anything outside of the boundaries that they had been set.”

“We wanted to be the female Rolling Stones. We wanted to play rock ’n’ roll, and rock ’n’ roll is very sexual in its very nature. If women or girls are singing rock ’n’ roll it is sexual.”

“We don’t have to sing about sex for it to be sexual. I certainly see in America, America has problems with girls speaking about sex in general. Especially with teenage girls, then the conversation stops.”

“But teenage girls have these feelings. Teenage girls get horny. I’m sorry, but they do. So to obliterate that whole aspect of a woman when she is younger is really disrespectful.”

“I didn’t see this at the time, but reflecting on it it is a natural thing. It shouldn’t be so uncomfortable to talk about. But it was.”

“The media just wanted to hear outrageous stories. We were a rock ’n’ roll band so we had all of those things. But to focus on that aspect beyond the music was kind of juvenile.”

“If you opened that door you were screwed. I could tell at that young naive age, I was naive about everything especially how people go about tricking you to talking about that stuff.”

“I got that at the time. I knew that if I started talking about sex now in the context of our music then that is all we would ever get. Nothing would be about the music. Not that it was anyway.”

“Bad Reputation” is all about the music and the impact of Jett, and it will released for you to appreciate on September 28. 

You can also check out the rest of my interview with Joan Jett underneath the trailer below. 

How did the documentary get started?
It was actually the brainchild of Carrianne Brinkman, who runs our record company and happens to be Kenny Laguna’s daughter and my niece. I met her when she was 3-years-old, she has lived a very different upbringing. She was looking at how to get the story out. Beyond just my story and of The Runaways and perseverance. She was looking to turn this into a cohesive story that explained her life and mine and the journey we are on. 
 
Did you have any trepidations about making the film?
We really let her go. We said, ‘Do what you got to do.’ Because there are so many ways to tell this story. I’ve had responses that have said, ‘Why don’t you show the nightlife escapades in there?’ If that’s what you’re looking for, the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll aspect of it, then you’re not going to be too pleased. It is not the end up in the tabloids kind of story. It is more about perseverance, following your dreams, and fighting what society dictates. Not just for women or for me or for girls, but for everyone. The lot in life you’re assigned and what you’re supposed to do and say. That comes at everyone. This story is really for everyone. I was able to break through and have what I consider to be success. It is really a story for everyone to fight for your dreams and don’t let people, it sounds so corny and cliche. But it is true. 
 
What's the difference between English and American perceptions?
I think my whole music thing comes from English music. I was exposed to things that American kids didn't hear. The British glitter stuff of the early 70s. I just happened to be in a place where I did hear it. Things like Bowie. The thing most people heard here was Space Oddity or Changes. They didn't delve any deeper. Just by the nature of England, there seems to be a mash-up of music that everyone listens to. In America everything is very categorized. I thought in England the boundaries weren't so strident. I think they were exposed to a wider variety of performers so their attitude was different. We still got s*** in England. Don't get me wrong. But they took us more of musicians, I think. They got it, but they still gave us s***. It was just a different kind of vibe. Then in Japan and Scandanavia we were like The Beatles. And it was all girls. Which was completely different to what we were used to in America or Europe. To have all girls was striking and we didn't understand it. That was just being naive and not knowing those cultures. It was very interesting how people took it in differently around the world.