May 31, 2007 10:29

Feminist icon praises NME's Beth Ditto cover

Germaine Greer applauds us and The Gossip singer's 'courage'

Photo Gallery: Gossip

NME’s cover of The Gossip’s Beth Ditto has been praised by feminist icon Germaine Greer.

Greer is perhaps most famous for her groundbreaking 1970 feminist tome ’The Female Eunuch’. More recently she surprised the world by appearing in the 2005 edition of the UK's ’Celebrity Big Brother’.

Writing in the The Guardian, Greer declared: "NME had enough courage to put the coolest woman on the planet on the cover, and Beth Ditto has given them the kind of picture that they can use: attention-getting but certainly not obscene."

Professor Greer then praised Ditto.

"Stripping has become part of her stage act; she is reputed to have exposed her hairy crotch to an adoring audience at the London venue KOKO last year," she explained. "Her intention is to force acceptance of her body type, 5ft tall and 15 stone, and by this strategy to challenge the conventional imagery of women."

To see all the photos from the session and the read the interview with Ditto, get this week's issue of NME, on UK newsstands now.