This is how it all started…

I silenced myself for a long time and did not tell the whole story about my experience of being a fan of the Australian rock band INXS because I did not want to be called a groupie. Because I was not a groupie. As I ventured out and told my story, I would get positive reactions about having kissed members of my favorite band and they meant well but they were missing the point. Or, I would be called a groupie in the negative sense of the word as a way to undermine my credibility and to try to silence me. I think there are a lot of women like me who have not been able to speak about what happened in the past and how they think and feel about it now in light of life experience, new knowledge, or the Me Too movement.

I don’t want to “cancel” INXS or Michael Hutchence. I want to talk about the culture and what women experience. And also what I personally experienced when I was a young woman in the 1980s and 1990s. I think I am in a good position to speak freely because I do not need the support of any INXS fans. I don’t need to make money and I am not selling anything. It is mostly men who are deciding which woman’s story counts and what to include in the history of INXS or the story of Michael Hutchence. This was something that struck me when I watched Richard Lowenstein’s documentary called “Mystify: Michael Hutchence.”

It’s possible that I am the only woman out of the thousands of women he interacted with in some form who had a problem with Michael Hutchence but I doubt it. I want those women to feel supported whether they speak or stay silent.