Tori Amos Sells Out Something Other Than A Show

How is it possible that the woman who wrote 'Crucify' is parading a newly plasticized visage on a website where people spend thousands of dollars wallowing in the purchases of "discounted" luxury goods?

Every finger in the room
Is pointing at me
I wanna spit in their faces
Then I get afraid of what that could bring
I got a bowling ball in my stomach
I got a desert in my mouth
Figures that my courage would choose to sell our now
[...]
Why do we
Crucify ourselves
Every day
I crucify myself
Nothing I do is good enough for you
Crucify myself
Every day
And my heart is sick of being in chains

At the heart of 'Crucify' is, arguably, a rejection of the guilt we feel for wanting to resist any number of the forces of conformity. She wants to say "F you," but cowers, and then wonders why in the world she bowed to this, why she sacrifices and martyrs herself for a society that will never be pleased with her, that will continue to badger her unrelentingly, telling her exactly how and why she is inferior, until her final submission is rendered via her becoming the perfect doll society wants, with her still feeling imperfect even when the transformation is complete. (See also Pedro Almodóvar's 2011 film The Skin I Live In.)

How is it, then, that the woman who wrote about resisting ethically unfounded societal pressures is giving in to the consumerist machine? As if her doll-approximating new face weren't enough, our once-hero goes on to expound exactly how and why spending money on meaningless scraps is relevant in her life. 

Has Tori filed for bankruptcy? Is she trying to "reinvent" herself? (And if so, why?) Is she really in need of work that badly? Or is this the simple result of the pernicious and merciless assault on the vanity of women of all ages, particularly those in their 40s?

People buy overpriced goods to assert that they, too, exist and do meaningful things in a world that has distanced itself from (if it hasn't lost completely) any real meaning: we are distant from the production of our food, from the building of our dwellings, from the education of our children, from the connection with our families and communities. Ironically, material culture of some civilizations is the only proof of their existence.

The Tori Debacle has great implications for Naomi Wolf's Beauty Myth and Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique. To be continued.