M.I.A. provided a new reason as to why she stuck up her middle finger at cameras during her 2012 Super Bowl halftime performance. She previously released a video addressing the NFL's $1.5 million lawsuit against her where she spoke about how it's acceptable for the cheerleaders to be very sexually charged, while it's frowned upon to show female empowerment.
"They're basically [saying] it's OK for me to promote being sexually exploited as a female, than to display female empowerment through being punk rock. That's what it boils down to, and I'm being sued for it."
However, during a recent interview with NPR, M.I.A. took her defense a step further when she explained the meaning behind Matangi, a Hindu goddess whose symbol is represented by the middle finger.
"Well, you know gang signs — in America you have gang signs, and people throw up initials and stuff like that. Well, 5,000 years ago, there was thing called a mudra, which is your sitting position when you do yoga or you're meditating or praying or whatever. And you have different ones based on what you're meditating over. There's not a lot of them that are named after gods and goddesses, but the middle finger is specifically named Matangi — the Matangi mudra."
Matangi happens to also be the name of her new album which was released Tuesday, November 4th.
Do you believe that is the real reason behind her decision to stick up the middle finger during the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show?
Source: huffingtonpost.com
