The World According To Beth

The fierceness that is Beth Ditto is featured in the new issue of Spin in an interview that’s too juicy for words.

Here are some HIGHlights:

– BETH DITTO of the Gossip has outspoken opinions about whether she finds it marginalizing being on a label for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender artists…
“No, I love being on a queer label. You’re sitting in a room with a group of people who have all the same reference points as you, you don’t have to explain anything about your identity to them, and people aren’t
like, “What’s a tranny?”

– About her band, the Gossip, being much more popular in the U.K. than in the U.S…
“Sometimes I think of America as this imperial child of England that doesn’t know what to do until England tells it. But I’m ready for the backlash over there. It’s coming!”

– About stripping during her live shows…
“I don’t think the rules are the same for me as they were for Courtney Love or [Bikini Kill/Le Tigre frontwoman] Kathleen Hanna, because I don’t think my body was accepted in the same way. In the beginning, people were really uncomfortable with a big girl, so it was a radical political statement; and it’s even more radical to not be objectified with your clothes off. Also, onstage, it’s so hot we’re dying. It just feels nice sometimes.”

– About Keira Knightley calling her “sexy” and saying that she had “the most amazing body”, and this coming from someone who looks like she might have an eating disorder…
“The way I feel about Keira Knightley is that even if she has an eating disorder, it’s good for people to hear her say something like that, because people listen to people like her.”

– About being friends with Perez Hilton…
“Let me tell you how I stay friends with Perez: I don’t look at his blog. I don’t agree with what Perez says a lot of the time, and I think he knows that, but we really appreciate each other.”

– About how she thinks Britney Spears is rad and should never have had her kids taken away…
“People fail to see that regional culture is a massive part of a person’s experience. She is just trash. And when I say trash, I mean that in the most positive way, as in, I was trash, too.”