Chrissie Hynde calls female pop stars 'sex workers'

In a new memoir Chrissie Hynde reveals she was sexually assaulted by a motorcycle gang in Ohio in the early 1970s. Photo / Getty Images

Rocker Chrissie Hynde has taken aim at many of today's top female pop stars, calling them "sex workers" for dressing in skimpy outfits for music videos.

Just days after the Brass In Pocket hitmaker sparked a storm of controversy by suggesting she was to blame for a sexual assault she suffered at the age of 21, and urging young women to be more responsible and dress modestly to avoid a similar fate, The Pretenders star has provocative singers such as Miley Cyrus and Rihanna in her sights.

Without naming names, she told BBC's Woman's Hour that sexy young stars were provoking a "pornography culture".

Hynde said: "(They) call themselves feminists. Maybe they're feminists on behalf of prostitutes, but they are not feminists on behalf of music, if they are selling their music by bumping and grinding and wearing their underwear in videos."

That's a kind of feminism, but you know you're a sex worker is what you are. I think it's provocative in a way that has nothing to do with music. I would say those women are responsible for a great deal of damage."

Hynde also continued to refuse to apologise for comments she made about her own rape ordeal at the hands of a biker gang leader, insisting she has taken "full responsibility" for becoming the victim of a sex attack while on drugs, drunk and walking around "in my underwear".

She told the BBC, "If you are in a park and someone drags you in a bush and rapes you, clearly... you are a victim. If you're provoking someone... you know you need to be very careful who you are provoking.

"I was only talking about my own situation, saying I was being a bit reckless to be there, but I was too off my head to take responsibility."

- Bang! Showbiz