Germaine Greer criticises Beyoncé: ‘Why has she always got to be naked?’

Germaine Greer has criticised popstar Beyoncé for the "sexual display" in her stage outfits. Speaking in a BBC documentary that will be aired on Saturday, called Germaine Bloody Greer, the author and academic said: "Someone like Beyoncé – who I think is a fantastic musician, a beautiful voice as true as a bell – why has she always got to be f**king naked and have her tits hanging out? Why?

“I’m not saying you have to keep your clothes on, but why is sexual display part of the job? I might as well ask that question to a barmaid who says she doesn’t get any tips if she doesn’t show cleavage.”

Greer also criticises female athletes, saying: “Why do women athletes have to be naked? I watched bloody figure skating and the woman is virtually naked. She has got a few wisps of cloth and the man is in evening dress. You think nakedness is usually a sign of submission, it’s a sign of inequality.”

She describes her own nude photos, taken for Suck magazine in 1971, as “revolutionary” and a “disruptive gesture”.

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Accused of transphobia having repeatedly declared that people who have undergone gender reassignment surgery are not women, Greer caused further outrage recently when she said that "most rapes don't involve any injury whatsoever".

Speaking at the Hay literary festival, she said: “Most rape is just lazy, just careless, insensitive. Every time a man rolls over on his exhausted wife and insists on enjoying his conjugal rights he is raping her. It will never end up in a court of law. Instead of thinking of rape as a spectacularly violent crime, and some rapes are, think about it as non-consensual … that is bad sex. Sex where there is no communication, no tenderness, no mention of love.” She added that the sentencing for rape should be reduced, and reasoned: “A man can’t kill you with his penis.”

Her new book, On Rape, is published in September. – Guardian Service