That said, I've never thought the fact that I'm a woman was important to my work.

I was always inventing characters and making up stories.

Don't make a threat and then not do it.

My mother wanted me to understand that as a woman I could do pretty much whatever I wanted to, that I didn't have to use sex or sexuality to define myself.

I didn't go out looking for fights as a kid, but if it was necessary, I'd fight. Fighting was a daily thing where we lived.

To me, a feminist belong in the same category as a humanist or an advocate for human rights. I don't see why someone who's a feminist should be thought of differently.

But I never want to get to the point where I write a safe song or one that represents my sense of a subject in order to appear civilized.