Shon Faye v Ed Sheeran

[FordPrefect42]

Hello all,

Just wondering if anyone here has read Shon Faye’s recent Twitter post?

Basically within this post, which I will quote below, Faye is criticising Ed Sheeran for wearing casual clothing on stage whilst performing with Beyoncé who is wearing a rather unconventional dress:

“Ed Sheeran is a 27 year old man the fact we’ve enabled him to feel it’s ok to dress like this at all, let alone next to Beyoncé really boils my piss”

Please tell me I am not being unreasonable when I say that I think that this is a complete overreaction? I think people should be able to wear whatever they wish... also, I know this doesn’t have much to do with Feminism but Shon Faye is someone who is frequently discussed here and I can’t quite believe so many of my friends are in agreement with them on this statement (and also support them in general!)

I’m also inclined to believe this is their way of projecting their gender-related issues around clothing onto a man (which this individual still possesses the biological characteristics of...) but I may be leaping to conclusions!

So yeah - what does everyone think of this statement? I simply think this is their newest way of trying to get a few hundred likes and RTs by saying something controversial, personally.

P.S. I have used gender neutral pronouns to describe Shon Faye - please let me know if this goes against guidelines, I have tried to be as respectful as possible whilst acknowledging biological reality, if you understand what I mean. Thank you, and apologies in advance if this is unacceptable.

Why would our response to male pressure on us to be sexy for them be to pressure them to be sexy? The only healthy response is to withstand or ignore the pressure.

(And I will reiterate, even though it will ultimately all be rooted in patriarchy and gender expectations, in real life after age 15, I felt the pressure and obsession about looks way more intensely from girls and they had way higher standards about what counted as pretty/beautiful/cool/ugly than boys.)

There is no point in making a drama about artists dressing according to their own ‚brand‘ they embody

Yes, I really don't get what this fuss is about.

There is a very powerful internet culture around women needing to worship Beyoncé

Yes there is. I find it very odd and incomprehensible.

Wasn't there similar commentary when the actress from hunger games was pictured in a roof top in a haute couture gown in freezing conditions when the men wore chinos or something?

There is at least a some logic to this as people could have (it seems mistakenly) assumed that she had been forced to wear that dress because Jennifer Lawrence is an actress who plays a variety of roles and she was doing publicity, not performing.

However Beyonce's brand is glamour and spectacle and she is perfectly able to choose what she wears on stage, as is Ed Sheehan who always looks like he is busking. It's not clear why either should have changed their style.

So by 'we' Shon is referring to women? That went right over my head. This is quite spectacularly appropriative.

^Also Shon: "All boys school so I couldn't do this... but now I am the pretty girls so "
in connection with a high-school popular girls type meme.^

Shon is a pretty girl. Shon is a pretty girl. Shon is a pretty girl.

So girly and so very pretty.

Also, obviously Shon themselves identifies the dressing up ridiculously as some inner girl self need, not something forced upon them and their sister Beyoncé. As this is so, why should Sheeran be forced to dress in a certain way, just because ‚the girls’ feel like dressing up?

I disagree with the people who say Beyonce looked like a layer cake in that dress. I think she looked like a sea slug (that is not an insult - some sea slugs look amazing).

All boys school so I couldn't do this

Shon mentions the actual problem without recognising its significance. Boys should be able to dress in as 'feminine' a manner as they wish. A male person does not become a 'pretty girl' by doing this.

Adele dresses in a more conservative manner, and it doesn't seem to have hurt her career at all. Though it is probably true that there aren't any female stars who dress very casually on stage at the moment. I'm sure there will be a swing back eventually though, fashion trends are always recycling, and entertainers are always looking for something different.
No reason why either of these top tier entertainers should have adapted their style to suit the other, it's not as if they're a double act.

I couldn't care less what Shon thinks about Beyonce or Ed Sheeran or how they dress. Fuck off, Shon.

Shon is the type of person to put "yaassss Queen 👑👑👑👑👑 slay" under photos of Beyonce.
Im sure Ed isn't crying into his checked shirt, in his mansion, at your criticism Shon.

I just googled the dress

I couldn't care less what Shon thinks about Beyonce or Ed Sheeran or how they dress. Fuck off, Shon

That seemed to be the majority reaction on Twitter too.

So by 'we' Shon is referring to women? That went right over my head. This is quite spectacularly appropriative.

You got it.

I don't suppose Prince William and Lady Gaga are losing sleep either.

Sorry not sorry

When other artists from different genres collaborate, do they a) agree on a unified "look" for their performances or b) just rock up wearing whatever sort of garb they usually perform in?

If the answer is b) Shon which it invariably is, then you are literally seeing your arse about nothing, you vacuous twit.

So glad it's not just me, Bernard. "Follow my lead"? No, you smug little ginger prat, I will not.

BTW I've no idea what Faye said about Prince William and Lady Gaga. I'm just amused/ bemused at Faye thinking anyone would care what Shon Faye's opinion of them is.

The psychology of this really is sad though. Like, OK, so, Shon at the boys school didn't feel able to dress up like a diva because Shon was always a pretty girl on the inside (no comment) and therefore Ed Sheeran, who as far as we know has no genderfeels whatsoever, should dress up like a (more manly?) diva, so that younger Shon via time machine/people who are at boys schools now will feel like it's OK to dress up like divas.

I mean, it's a bit convoluted, no? I'd have though "yeah well I know people might not like it but I'm going to dress up anyway" would have been the more logical solution (and has in fact been the one taken by many generations of iconoclasts).

badtime she does look like a beautiful sea slug! Ed Sheehan looks like he sounds, utterly pedestrian.

I mean, it's a bit convoluted, no? I'd have though "yeah well I know people might not like it but I'm going to dress up anyway" would have been the more logical solution (and has in fact been the one taken by many generations of iconoclasts).

Agreed Angry but I've come to the conclusion that being of the genderist mindset means having an inability to look at things in any kind of logical rational way...everything seems so convoluted, complicated and self-involved - past the age of 30 I don't know how they can be arsed tbh!

I generally like the way Shon dresses and does their make up, I think they have a really cool look.

Obviously however I am fully aware of what sex Shon is.

I mean don't get me wrong, I miss the days of more flamboyant male musicians as the norm and would love to see them return, and Sheeran bores me to death, but he dresses like lots of lots of men do. This not an Ed Sheeran issue, and performers from different genres will tend to look different, and and and...

Beyoncé often wears outlandish stage costumes.

Ed Sheeran performs in casual man at C&A wear.

Neither was ‘making a political statement’. It is a non story. Whoever this Shon person is, they are clutching at non-existent straws.