Ellen Willis on Patti Smith

(An earlier version of this was posted to my Tumblr.)

I’ve always wondered if she were afraid of her own considerable power. I’m also uncomfortable with her androgynous, one-of-the-guys image; its rebelliousness is seductive, but it plays into a kind of misogyny — endemic to bohemian circles, and, no doubt, to the punk-rock scene — that consents to distinguish women who act like one of the guys (and is also sexy and conspicuously “liberated”) from the general run of stupid girls. -- Ellen Wiilis

I know I've written a lot about the recently published Ellen Willis anthology, Out of the Vinyl Deeps, but this pretty much sums up my reluctance to call Patti Smith a “feminist icon,” although she’s often presented as such.

The “one of the guys” image isn’t necessarily bad by itself, but it’s usually accompanied by a certain degree of disdain for anything “feminine,” and more than a little internalized misogyny. I’ve heard stories about Patti Smith not being that nice to her female contemporaries.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Patti Smith as an artist and as a performer, but I think her status as a “feminist icon,” even a “stealth” one, needs to be reexamined.