Best Coast’s Bethany Cosentino Pens Essay on Sexism and the Music Industry

Photo via Best Coast’s Instagram

Best Coast‘s Bethany Cosentino has penned an essay on sexism and the music industry for “Lenny Letter,” the newsletter from Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner. In it, Cosentino discusses her experiences with ignorant journalists, abusive crowds (including one time when a cheeseburger was thrown at her on stage), and the “vulgar, inappropriate heckling” of misogynist trolls online. She also discusses the series of sexual misconduct allegations leveled against publicist Heathcliff Berru last month.

Speaking about Dirty Projectors’ Amber Coffman’s initial tweets about Berru, Cosentino writes:

When I saw these tweets, I knew I had to speak up, because Heathcliff has sexually harassed me too. I had never shared my story publicly because I was afraid of the backlash that I might receive or that I would come across like some kind of wrathful bitch. After I read Amber’s tweets, I decided it was time to tweet in support of her. I wasn’t just one of his victims — I knew plenty of other women who had their own “Heathcliff stories.”

After I supported Amber, the floodgates opened. Women started writing how they had felt personally victimized by his actions. By the following morning, Heathcliff had stepped down as CEO of his PR company, which has since become defunct. As much as it pains me to see these stories from so many women, stories that go back as far as ten years and are as recent as only a few months ago, I am so glad that this situation was finally brought to light and that these victims now have a supportive bond and can provide strength to others who may want to come forward.

She adds:

People need to stop calling women “bitches” because they’re strong and empowered. People need to stop calling me a “slut” for my public support of Planned Parenthood, an organization that has saved my life as well as many other men’s and women’s lives. People need to stop calling me a “whiny baby” because I write songs about heartache and my feelings. Did anyone call The Beatles “whiny babies” for singing the lyrics “This boy wants you back again”? Did anyone call them “desperate” or “needy” for singing “Oh please say to me / You’ll let me be your man / And please say to me / You’ll let me hold your hand”?

Read Cosentino’s full essay by subscribing to Lenny Letter.

Watch Cosentino give teen girls advice for Rookie’s “Ask a Grown Woman” series:

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