Ariel Pink: The Men’s Activist White Men Have Been Waiting For

Ariel Pink has been around longer than most L.A. restaurants, and yet, it is only now with the release of his thirteenth–yes thirteenth (fourteen, if you count the reissue of Worn Copy)–that the mainstream has finally started to notice him. And now that they know who he is, they kind of love to hate him. With quotes like, “The white heterosexual male is the last minority” combined with a recent misogynist-tinged rant against Madonna that prompted Grimes to intervene, Ariel Pink has been causing quite the stir for someone so “indie.”

With a number of songs on pom pom co-written by one of the most maligned men (at least by women) in the music industry, Kim Fowley a.k.a. the “discoverer” of The Runaways, Ariel Pink has further solidified his reputation as a champion of male chauvinism. Whether he’s fully committed to the cause or even intentionally adhering to the basic tenets of misogyny is left to one’s discretion. But the point is, he’s the current face of male activism primarily because he’s the only man willing to make controversial statements that no one wants to hear.

Is it partly “accurate” that the white heterosexual male is the true minority of the twenty-first century? Yes. Does this mean they’ve lost their clout? Hardly (just look at the Ferguson verdict for up-to-the-moment proof of the carte blanche of the blanc homme). But perhaps what this “minority,” of which Ariel Pink is a part of, fears is not being taken seriously as artists–of their work being undermined simply because of what others see as a lack of minority status and therefore a lack of suffering and empathy.

In this respect, Ariel Pink presents an unprecedented dichotomy to the misogynist persona. In spite of making offhanded remarks seemingly designed to provoke, the Beverly Hills native is simply too blacked out and too nice to be deemed anything other than ultimately harmless. As Ariel Pink himself has expressed, “I will not be ashamed about being totally unlikeable, unloveable–I’m really, really into that kind of stuff. And I love people–I like everybody.” And so a peaceful, all-loving white male activist has been born.