--- title: Annie Lennox on Beyonce's Feminism: 'Twerking Is Not Feminism' description: Lennox clarified that her comment about "feminist light" figures weren't directed specifically towards Beyoncé. canonical: https://time.com/3529403/annie-lennox-twerking-feminism/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-21T20:35:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:13:57.156Z og:title: 'Twerking Is Not Feminism,' Declares Annie Lenox og:description: The artist explained why she doesn't subscribe to Beyoncé's brand of feminism og:url: https://time.com/3529403/annie-lennox-twerking-feminism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06e3a8c930e350a8/698762245f570f80bcb12dd3/177739633.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2013 MTV Video Music Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 'Twerking Is Not Feminism,' Declares Annie Lenox twitter:description: The artist explained why she doesn't subscribe to Beyoncé's brand of feminism twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06e3a8c930e350a8/698762245f570f80bcb12dd3/177739633.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Annie Lennox: 'Twerking Is Not Feminism' by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 21, 2014 8:35 PM UTC  Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus perform during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus perform during the 2013 MTV Video Music AwardsKevin Mazur—2013 Kevin Mazur by [Laura Stampler](https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Oct 21, 2014 8:35 PM UTC After making headlines for asserting that Beyoncé represents [feminism “light”](http://www.pridesource.com/article.html?article=68228) last month, singer Annie Lennox expanded on that during an [interview with NPR](http://www.npr.org/2014/10/20/357622310/you-cannot-go-back-annie-lennox-on-nostalgia) published Tuesday to promote her new album _Nostalgia_. “Listen,” Lennox told Steve Inskeep, “Twerking is not feminism. Thats what I’m referring to. It’s not, it’s not liberating, it’s not empowering. It’s a sexual thing that you’re doing on a stage; it doesn’t empower you. That’s my feeling about it.” Lennox clarified that her comment about “feminist light” figures weren’t directed specifically towards Beyoncé, but rather all sexualized female performers. “The reason why I’ve commented is because I think that this overt sexuality thrust, literally, at particular audiences, when very often performers have a very, very young audience, like seven years \[old\], I find it disturbing and I think its exploitative, and it’s troubling,” she said. “I’m coming from a perspective of a woman that’s had children.” You can listen to the whole interview below: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3529403/annie-lennox-twerking-feminism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3529403/annie-lennox-twerking-feminism/"},"headline":"Annie Lennox: 'Twerking Is Not Feminism'","datePublished":"2014-10-21T20:35:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:13:57.156Z","description":"The artist explained why she doesn't subscribe to Beyoncé's brand of feminism","url":"https://time.com/3529403/annie-lennox-twerking-feminism/","keywords":["Living","Newsfeed","feminism","society","Beyonce","entertainment","NPR"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06e3a8c930e350a8/698762245f570f80bcb12dd3/177739633.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt06e3a8c930e350a8/698762245f570f80bcb12dd3/177739633.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2013 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","caption":"2013 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","creditText":"Kevin Mazur—2013 Kevin Mazur","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3529403/annie-lennox-twerking-feminism/","name":"Annie Lennox: 'Twerking Is Not Feminism'"}}]}] ```