Disco icon Gloria Gaynor has revealed in a recent interview that she doesn’t identify as a feminist.
“The biggest misconception about me? Hmm,” she told Metro. “It may be dangerous to say this, but… that I’m a feminist.”
Get Gloria Gaynor Tickets Here
In the interview, Gaynor explained that her relationships with the men in her life inform her rejection of the feminist label. “People say it to me, ‘And since you’re a feminist…’ Erm, no. Not really. I love men… I grew up with five brothers, and I love men.”
Related Video
She continued, “I love men who know who they are and are strong enough to take their place, but also strong enough to recognize a woman’s strengths and who are able to allow her to exercise those strengths and realize that we are to be partners and not opponents.”
The 81-year-old singer’s explanation suggests she may have a “misconception” of her own about feminism, which is broadly defined by an end goal of achieving social, economic, and political equality among all genders. Her comments appear to be associated with negative stereotypes, rather than the wider aim of feminists to achieve equal rights and a harmonious coexistence.
This stance is particularly confounding given that Gaynor’s biggest hit, “I Will Survive,” is about regaining self-respect following heartbreak, and further refusing to let the man who wronged her back into her life.
“You’re the one who tried to hurt me with goodbye/ Think I’d crumble?/ You think I’d lay down and die?/ No, not I, I will survive,” she sings on the 1978 disco track. The song was also hailed as a queer anthem of resistance and liberation during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.
Gaynor is playing a handful of shows throughout 2025, mostly in Europe (get tickets here). Her last album, Testimony, was released in 2019 and won a Grammy for Best Roots Gospel Album.
Content shared from consequence.net.