Sinéad O’Connor refused to play by society’s rules for women

– Rebel song. Sinéad O’Connor became a star in her 20s, rising to the top of the charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s with “Nothing Compares 2 U.” Pop stars were—and are—expected to look and act a certain way. But O’Connor chafed at the constraints of mainstream success, shaving her head and protesting sexual abuse in the Catholic Church by tearing up a photo of the pope on Saturday Night Live.

The 1992 incident became a defining moment in the Irish star’s career—and her life. “I feel that having a No. 1 record derailed my career,” she wrote in her 2021 memoir, “and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track.”

O’Connor has died at 56, her family confirmed yesterday. Beyond her music, she leaves another legacy: her refusal to play by society’s rules for women.

As early as her first album, she declined to buy into cultural expectations. Her record label asked that she appear more “girly” before her album’s release, the Washington Post writes in her obituary. She responded by shaving off her hair. (For more on this, I recommend Vanessa Friedman’s New York Times piece about the significance of O’Connor’s baldness as a refusal to cater to the male gaze and a determination of selfhood and identity.)

Andrew Chin/Getty Images

In her life and in her music, she was unafraid to display female anger. After that first buzz cut, O’Connor found mainstream success, dealt with international backlash, and retreated from the spotlight. The power of the forces she railed against has only become clearer since then—just look at the #FreeBritney movement.

“It seems to me that being a pop star is almost like being in a type of prison,” O’Connor told the New York Times in 2021. “You have to be a good girl.”

In recent years, O’Connor (who also went by Shuhada Sadaqat after converting to Islam) dealt with serious mental health challenges and the loss of her 17-year-old son last year.

Today, her legacy is all around. Women wear their baldness with pride. Celebrities become activists, without risking as much as O’Connor did when she took the SNL stage. “I wasn’t acting like a pop star was supposed to act,” O’Connor reflected in 2021. She showed the artists who followed her a different path.

Emma Hinchliffe
[email protected]
@_emmahinchliffe

The Broadsheet is Coins2Day’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

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- System overhaul. Melinda French Gates is pushing for parity in politics through her company, Pivotal Ventures. French Gates is backing research initiatives, groups supporting diverse candidates, and systemic shifts, like allowing candidates to use campaign funds for childcare. "We need to stop sending women to a broken system and we need to change the system," she says. NPR

- Disclosure down under. More Australian venture capitalists are committing to publicly disclosing their investments (or lack thereof) into women-led startups as the country grapples with a massive gender gap in VC investments. Blackbird Ventures—a major investor in Melanie Perkins's graphic design platform Canva—and AirTree Ventures will now regularly disclose how many women-led businesses received initial meetings at their firms and how many were eventually offered funding. Australian Financial Review

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Coins2Day alum Leigh Gallagher joins Teneo as senior managing director with the firm's U.S. Strategy & Communications business. Adrianna Samaniego has been promoted to partner at Female Founders Fund. Sofia Guerra has been promoted to vice president of Bessemer Venture Partners. 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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- How the crisis crumbles. Vegan superfood startup Daily Harvest is in trouble, facing over 70 lawsuits and an FDA investigation after the company’s French Lentil + Leek Crumbles sent 130 customers to the hospital. The company led by CEO Rachel Drori was valued at $1.1 billion in 2021 and was expected to make waves in the food industry. Bloomberg

- Barbie backlash. Greta Gerwig is responding to conservative backlash over Barbie with an invitation to connect. After Matt Gaetz publicly criticized the film’s lack of “faith or family” and Ben Shapiro videotaped himself burning two Barbie dolls, Gerwig told the New York Times that “my hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everyone to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men.” Guardian

- EY exit. Ann Cook, U.S. General counsel of Big Four accounting firm EY, has resigned amid an investigation into the way the firm’s “senior attorneys” handled a company cheating scandal. As general counsel, Cook oversaw a settlement between EY US and the SEC last year over widespread cheating charges on training exams and EY’s failure to disclose whistleblower evidence. Financial Times

ON MY RADAR

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Goldman Sachs VP Galey Alix wants to be an HGTV star. Will the spotlight crush her—or set her free? Business Insider

The very private life of Melania Trump New York Times

PARTING WORDS

"There are a lot of women out there who are interested. With proper resources and given a chance, they can absolutely deliver."

—Issa Rae on her reboot of the rookie filmmaker tryout show Project Greenlight: A New Generation