Chrissie Hynde to NPR: If You Don’t Like My Rape Stance, Don’t Buy My ‘F**king Book’

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When pressed about taking partial responsibility for being sexually assaulted in her twenties, former Pretenders front woman Chrissie Hynde let loose on NPR’s David Greene on Tuesday.

Hynde spoke out against the idea of “rape culture,” back in August, while also stating she believes women who dress provocatively, and then get drunk should take some responsibility if they are then attacked and raped.

In her memoir, Reckless: My Life as a Pretender, the now 64-year-old recounted being sexually assaulted in the 1970s, and said she took “full responsibility” as she was on drugs at the time.

The comments, and Hynde’s unapologetic responses when promoting the book, have created controversy among those who say she is blaming victims of sexual assault, and not their attackers.

Greene pressed the rocker about the book excerpt during a Tuesday interview, which she clarified she is tired of talking about.

“There was one comment that you made in an interview about the book, in the Sunday Times of London: “If I’m walking around in my underwear and I’m drunk, who else’s fault can it be?” said Greene.

“So what are you getting at? Why are you asking me this?” Hynde responded.

She cut Greene off: “I don’t understand why there’s — You know what, I don’t care what a lot of people want. You know? I’d rather say, just don’t buy the f—king book, then, if I’ve offended someone. Don’t listen to my records. Cause I’m only telling you my story, I’m not here trying to advise anyone or tell anyone what to do or tell anyone what to think, and I’m not here as a spokesperson for anyone.”

“I’m just telling my story. So the fact that I’ve been — you know, it’s almost like a lynch mob,” said Hynde.

Of her band’s 1979 rock hit “Brass in Pocket,” which NPR referred to as “a song that empowers women,” the rocker said, ”It’s just a three-minute rock song. I don’t think it’s as loaded as that.”

“I’m not here to embolden anyone,” added Hynde.

Hynde has been taking on modern music’s feminist activists in recent months.

In Spetember, the singer said during an interview, “Maybe they’re [modern pop music icons] feminists on behalf of prostitutes — but they are no feminists on behalf of music, if they are selling their music by bumping and grinding and wearing their underwear in videos,” said Hynde.

“That’s a kind of feminism — but, you know, you’re a sex worker is what you are” she said. “I would say those women are responsible for a great deal of damage.”

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