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U2 Feedback » Your Blue Room » It's A Musical Journey » Is Bono a feminist or not?

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AnCatDubh
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07-12-2000 07:23 AM - Is Bono a feminist or not?

I'm rather disturbed by the line in "trying to throw your arms around the world":

A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle when you're trying to throw your arms around the world."

He's quoting Gloria Steinem here, and the obvious conclusion would be that this is a slam against feminism. Only reinforced by "woman be still..."

So here's the conundrum... I believe U2 to be one of the most socially conscious bands around, but this just doesn't quite add up. Anyone have any thoughts?

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frank sinatra
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07-12-2000 05:13 PM -

i think what bono is saying is that by making such a statement ("a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle"), gloria steinem is "trying to throw her arms around the world." she's trying to simplify life into one statement.

i don't think that bono is a staunch conservative when it comes to women's rights or that he is anti-feminism. i think he is making the observation that the gloria steinem quote is a generalization that can't be made. women and men both need each other. they can't live healthy lives without each other (by healthy, i don't mean heterosexual or anything like that - i just mean that influences from the opposite sex in one's life produces a more well-rounded person).

[This message has been edited by frank sinatra (edited 07-12-2000).]

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Salome
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07-12-2000 05:37 PM -

I always thought Bono just liked the way that line sounded. I know I do.

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AnCatDubh
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07-13-2000 02:13 AM -

Yeah...okay...but I still think the quote is wrongfully taken out of context. At the time Gloria Steinem was making this statement it was more in reference to the idea that a woman's life is worthless if she does not have a husband, that a woman has to depend on a man for a livelihood etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like the song and I like what it has to say about intimacy. But it has a kind of "feminists-are-hardhearted-
b******es-and-don't-understand-what-love-is-
about" echo to it. I don't believe it was meant this way, but I don't think this line should have been used.

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Salome
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07-13-2000 06:00 PM -

"A woman needs a man needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle when you're trying to throw your arms around the world".
If you read the second part of this line like this "when she's trying to throw her arms around the world" it says the same thing Steinem said; A woman doesn't need a man to have a full life.

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bicyclingfish
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07-15-2000 05:39 PM -

This song exposes Bono's truest intentions- they are to expose to the listener that he doesn't know, that men don't understand- the females experience in this world. And we can't.

Through his songs Bono consistently reveals that he WANTS to know, that he's chasing after her, wanting to know her, but he CAN'T. That is one of the reasons why so many men like Bono (although at somewhat of a subconcious level): he can relay the passions, the desires, the dreams that so many of us have- but at the same time he shows the anxiety, the apprehension, and the frustration that many of us feel. We can't- and won't- ever be able to understand women.

That makes Bono an interperator of the MALE experience in a very real and tangible way- and for that he is more than a feminist (someone who believes that women are people too). His ability to translate our Masculine experience into an emotionally appealing lyric makes him a Humanist- because men are people too.

Yeah. Trying to throw his arms around the world.

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drowning man
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07-19-2000 04:30 PM -

I'm pretty sure that Bono is not a machist, though that doesn't mean that he isn't an anti-feminist... as for that line, I think it may very well be about Ali. Bono spends a lot of tome "tryin' to throw his arms around the world", and he knows that in those times ali needs him as much as "a woman needs a bycicle", but still she remains there for him. I think that line is about guilt!

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everything you know is wrong... if it wasn't Bono who said it!

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AnCatDubh
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07-20-2000 03:37 AM -

Thanks for the insight, bicyclingfish. I've always rather liked his use of this line, then one day it struck me as condescending. But I'm over it now. What you said made a lot of sense. Actually there are several meanings I can discern, guilt, confusion, etc. In fact I think Ill go listen again now...

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partygirl
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07-20-2000 04:47 PM -

I agree with Drowning Man. I think his interpretation is dead on.

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Achtung Bubba
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07-20-2000 05:58 PM -

Yeah, I agree with Drowning Man, too. I haven't really spoken out on this one, because I've been looking for deeper meaning in the lyrics (and busy with other things that are far less important than U2

).

In the end, I think the song is little more than a hangover song, where "trying to throw your arms around the world" is a nice little euphamism for getting dru-u-unk. Apparently, when Bono's a little tipsy, Ali needs him like a hole in the head.

But she still puts up with him.

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- Achtung Bubba

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My Blue Room
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07-21-2000 10:44 PM -

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AnCatDubh:
[B]I'm rather disturbed by the line in "trying to throw your arms around the world":

I think this line (From a woman's standpoint) is one of, if not my favorite; Bono is such an incredible writer; everyone INTO THE HEART BY Niall Stokes the song talks about the bands freedom and their restless desire to go back home as they have been out "TRYING TO THROW THEIR ARMS AROUND THE WORLD" GREAT SONG....NO SLAM AGAINST FEMINISM INTENDED..

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Ldybug33
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08-05-2000 02:04 AM -

Hey guys...I think you are looking at that line all wrong....you see, in this song, it is BONO who is trying to throw his arms around the world. This song was written before the Zoo TV tour, and during this tour Bono really felt he needed to explore the world and during this time U2 set out to accomplish something, make a statement with Zoo TV, become the biggest band, glorify the bullshit so it wouldn't beat them ect....so really this song is about Bono exploring the world...and he does leave Ali behind. So I think he is singing to her..that he will run to her when this is all over. BUT..while he is exploring the world the traveling and everything...that must be hard on her, she doesn't need that...."A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle when you're (Bono) trying to throw your arms around the world.
Any thoughts?

Dream out loud!
*~Julie~*

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modsavage
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08-05-2000 02:58 AM -

Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World is about a drunk guy trying to get home.
The Edge and Bono wrote it while in LA when they saw a drunk guy trying to get in his house.
Woman be still refers to the guy trying to keep him self up, not only does he want the woman to be still but he wants the whole world to be still.
Far from the women hating concept!
This is why Larry introduced it as an old "where ever they were" drinking song.
YAY
I love U2

)
me

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scappy
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08-05-2000 06:03 AM -

A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle (which is not at all) when he's tryin' to throw his arms around the world.

I would take that to mean that women don't need men who are out every night getting drunk, not even if they're trying to make it back home. I would say he's AGREEING with Gloria, not disagreeing.

And I'm sure there's quite a bit of Bono's personal life in that song, but many other people's lives, as well.

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Shelly Caplinger
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Dalton Brother
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08-07-2000 06:04 PM -

Bono is a humanist, nothing else.

Peace y'all

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