"I've been very, very dedicated to pushing boundaries".
Peaches, NYDaily News
Over a decade after the groundbreaking release of (2000), Canadian punk-electro provocateur Peaches (Merrill Nisker) is still pushing the boundaries with her unapologetically frank, fearless and brazen take on sexual and gender politics in the Western world. Her body of work - which features her most recent album (2015) - serves as an excellent example of how thorny issues like gender identity and expression, queer sex and queer sexual identites and leftist politics can be fun, accessible and radical via lyrical precision and a minimalist synth-punk sonic packaging.
"Dick in the Air", for example, sees Peaches getting bored with the typical objectification that modern women have to endure ('We've been shaking our tits for years') and casually presenting a pansexual vision befitting every power-hungry radical feminist's wet dream, scored by hip hop trap beats. (The music video, which also features Margaret Cho, is probably the most literal and comical representation of penis envy/female desire for male sexual privilege). In Peaches' role-swapped lyrics, it's the men who have to take orders in the bedroom and offer their 'goods' up for display:
'I know it's not subtleI know you think I'm troubleBut I see you standing there with a moose knuckleAlthough it makes me chuckleLoosen your buckle, on the double
Face down, dick up, that's my commandTake it like a real woman not Ayn Rand (trickle down)Drop, give me eight inches a popStop, you've gone numb, you need a liftUse a thumb, or take a fist'
Lyrics: Genius
"Vaginoplasty" has a different sex organ as its subject, and a similarly absurdist approach argument for the ever-elusive ideal of gender equality. She could have just as easily sung about breast or facial surgery, but there's something about the invasiveness and the private nature of genital modification that makes vaginoplasty more problematic: “It’s mostly about women who feel like they have to pander to a certain way that they’re supposed to be – virginal or tight. I’m not disputing that some people may need it, but if you don’t I’m just saying keep it nasty. Be you" (Peaches, Now Toronto):
'Pussy’s big and I'm proud of itYou can dig, dig, dig in and out of itMake a crowd of itBow down to itWon't be long till you drown in itWith an extra tongueIt’s extra funHe’s extra hungBring an extra sonWanna join in tooGot room for you in my Lucy Liu ooh'
Lyrics: Genius
Peaches' contributions are all the more valuable when you consider that many mainstream female pop hits are structured around the idea of a female willingly providing sexual gratification to a male lover. Mainstream sexism can be so ingrained that one's apparent consent to the status quo can actually be the result of systematic coercion. Peaches' script-flipping shock tracks may not get across to everyone, but it seems vital that her alternative messages exists nonetheless, lying in wait for those who are ready for some serious gender trouble.
