Feminism Friday: Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model

I have been following the Women With Something To Say series on the Tatty Devine blog with great interest, but today’s post really caught my attention. I have been aware of performance artist Bryony Kimmings and her songwriting talent since she performed her hilarious Fanny Song at a cabaret event I attended. After the success of recent projects entitled Sex Idiot and 7 Day Drunk, no one would have guessed where Kimmings would go next. She’s created something for kids.

Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model is an exciting project, devised by Bryony Kimmings and her niece, that addresses the need for a decent role model for young girls. Instead of complaining about the current crop of pop idols that are aimed at the tween audience, they have created a new one. A spectacle wearing palaeontologist who sings songs about animals, friendship and the future, Catherine Bennett is definitely a breath of fresh air. Kimmings’ website outlines the project:

In an audacious and provocative protest against the world’s flagrant attempts to sexualise and commodify childhood, award-winning performance artist Kimmings and her 9-year-old niece Taylor decided to take on the global tween machine at its own game. They invented Catherine Bennett; a dinosaur loving, bike riding, tuna-pasta-eating pop star and vowed to make her world-famous to prove that an alternative was possible! Bryony became Catherine Bennett and Taylor her manager. So far they’ve been invited to Parliament, become friends with Yoko Ono and featured on BBC Radio 4 Woman’s Hour.

Catherine Bennett has her own website and (so far) three fun songs: Apathy, Animal Kingdom and The Future. Not only do I want to learn the Animal Kingdom dance, I also want to help CB get as many YouTube views as possible, so share the videos with your daughters, nieces and any other young kids that you know. If you want to find out more, I’d suggest you watch this video from Southbank Centre where Taylor speaks very eloquently about the project she has been working on with her Aunt, and how they are planning on making Catherine Bennett world famous. Good luck to them!