GERMAINE GREER - GREER HAILS 'CHALLENGING' DITTO

Feminist icon GERMAINE GREER has lavished praise on heavyweight rocker BETH DITTO for having the courage to challenge conventions. The Gossip frontwoman recently appeared topless on the cover of British music magazine NME and has stunned countless audiences in the past by disrobing to her underwear and urinating on stage. But Greer insists the raunchy routines should be encouraged, because they send a positive message to her female fans. She says, "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. "Her intention is to force acceptance of her body type, five feet (1.52 metres) tall and 15 stone (95 kilogrammes), and by this strategy to challenge the conventional imagery of women." Greer is best known for her 1970 feminist work The Female Eunuch.