CHVRCHES lead singer Lauren Mayberry has opened up on the subtle sexism she's faced in the music industry.
The Stirling -born singer-songwriter talked about the experience of being the only women in the band on Love Island host Laura Whitmore's new podcast.
Lauren, 34, told Laura, 36, that she noticed how during interviews her bandmates, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, would be asked about song-writing and she'd be asked about hair products.
"I think at the very beginning of the band, because I worked a little bit in media before CHVRCHES started, I was not prepared for what was going to happen, but I think I could see the conversation around the band starting to happen," she told Laura.
"Then I got really panicked and paranoid that this kind of separation was going to happen to me, and even in early interviews, they would always ask Ian and Martin how they write everything and they would ask me about hair products.
"[I'd think] why do I spend all my time doing this if this is what it's going to be?
"So then I think in a way, maybe we went too far the other way where I was like, I want to shut down any kind of discussion or promo around anything to do with the fact that I am female.
"I want to be taken on equal level with the guys I do think in a way that made it harder for us to access a female fanbase, because we shut off those things, but I was so conscious that at that time I was like, I don't want to be in ASOS magazine while the guys get to be in NME.
"That's not how I want to do this."
Lauren continued: "I think that's the thing that I've tried to find a better balance with going forward because right at the very first CHVRCHES gigs, I would put on face paint, and I love Annie Lennox and Grace Jones and Karen O, and all those women who use those things as part of their art, like your physicality is part of your art.
"But then I became conscious that other people were saying, oh, well, your physical appearance...they're not taking it as part of your performance or your storytelling.
"It's because you're a woman.
"Then your body is a thing…
"I do think that's something that I've had to work on a lot because I don't know how to sit with certain parts of it.
"It's not like I get up in the morning and I'm like, oh, I'll just go out wearing whatever and do this gig. I don't really care because I do think about that stuff.
"But then I'm like, oh man, I think I read into it too much. I get stuck.
"At this point, I like the fact that when we do shows there's girls and guys that come to the show and they've done glittery face paint makeup that we do.
"I like the idea that it can be something expressive, that you can feel a part of something rather than excluded from it."
Listen to Laura Whitmore's brand new podcast Hear Her Voice - here.
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