DESCRIPTION:
One night after a show I watched the Nick Broomfield documentary 'Selling of a Serial Killer', which is about a 46 year old lady named Aileen Wuornos, who killed seven men between 1989 and 1990. She was convicted, sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection in 2002.The media dubbed her 'America's first female serial killer' but through much of her life, Aileen maintained that she killed these men in self defense as they raped or attempted to rape and murder her whilst she was working as a prostitute.
Whether Aileen was a serial killer or a feminist icon isn't for me to say but one thing I do know is that as someone who spent their entire life as an outsider and also a survivor, Aileen's story hit me very hard in a very personal way. I wanted to share both her story and mine through my music, but just did not feel ready to talk about it...until now.
We live in a world where women are silenced and blamed for being attacked. We live in a world where women are sent to prison for defending themselves against their attackers. We live in a world which simultaneously ignores allegations of rape made against powerful men in the public eye such as Donald Trump and Bill Cosby. This kind of hypocrisy, and violence against women (especially sex workers and LGBT people like Aileen Wuornos) is something that is still so common in today's society that it's barely even noticed. We should not have to live this way, and these men must be held accountable. This culture of normalised violence against women needs to be addressed time and time again until something changes. I feel that in order to do that we need to break the silence and stigma associated with our own experiences to show other survivors that they are not alone.
I carry that trauma around with me every single day. The memory is something that will never leave, but writing music,creating art, and using my platform to connect with others is something that I find a lot of comfort in, in the hope that somehow, somewhere, something will change for the better. On my last US tour I was lucky enough to meet two incredible artists and activists who changed my world forever. Vega and Sidney, alongside my producer Steve, inspired me to create 'Real Outlaw - A Commentary on Rape Culture and the Riot Grrrl Movement' - a DIY film that explores the lyrical content and story behind the new single 'Aileen'. Through sharing our stories we hope to amplify the voices of other survivors and empower people to be creative and start their own revolution. This film is dedicated to one billion women worldwide.

Thankyou for watching!

Video directed by Louise Distras.
Edited by Damian Hughes.