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Female Country Star Comments on Gender Inequality in the Genre, Says Men “Can Do No Wrong”

Dasha is speaking about how the country music world treats men and women differently. During an appearance on Rolling Stone‘s Nashville Now podcast, the singer discussed gender norms in country music.

“Especially in the country world, men, for the most part, can do no wrong,” she said. “The more theyโ€™re outspoken and the more they express their opinions and go outside the lines, the more someoneโ€™s like, โ€˜Oh, heโ€™s so cool.’”

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Women, on the other hand, “are so cutthroat,” the โ€œAustin (Boots Stop Workinโ€™)” singer said.

“If I saw a woman breaking the rules online a bit, in the country world, wearing some shorts that her cheeks are out, Iโ€™d be like, โ€˜Go queen!โ€™” she said.

Commenters, however, aren’t so kind. They’d instead say something along the lines of, “You stupid b**ch.”

Dasha Addresses Online Hate

The comments Dasha recieves online aren’t shy about weighing in, writing things like “youโ€™re trashy, you have no class, youโ€™re slutty, youโ€™re a whore, your outfits suck, youโ€™re ugly and you try so hard. And you suck at singingโ€ฆ You should go to hell.”

Those social media users have a way of pinpointing things that already make Dasha insecure, she said.

โ€œIt digs in on things I have said about myself in my moments of weakness and I think thatโ€™s why it cuts so deep,” she said. “‘Cause I would look in the mirror and thinkโ€ฆ โ€˜Get your s**t together.’ I know thatโ€™s not true, but everyone talks about themselves like that sometimesโ€ฆ. It cuts deep.”

Dasha said she strives to view the negative social media comments differently, though.

“Now, when I see those comments. Iโ€™m like, โ€˜Thanks, Karen from Minnesota, youโ€™re feeding my algorithm. Appreciate you, girl,’” she said. “People call me โ€˜Trailer Swiftโ€™ online, and guess what Iโ€™m doing? Making merch out of it.โ€

The interview came ahead of the Oct. 10 release of her latest EP, Anna. The project got its title from Dasha’s given name, Anna Dasha Novotny. The latest track from the EP, “Train,” is out now.

Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images