Madonna slammed for 'trivializing' sexual abuse after comparing NYT profile on her to rape

Pop singer Madonna is under social media fire for a questionable metaphor she used to attack a New York Times profile of herself. She compared the time she spent with the author to being "raped."

Madonna, who has styled herself as a feminist icon throughout her decades-long music career, is being castigated by rape survivors and even some of her own fans for using the word 'rape' to vent her frustration at the NYT author, as well as a leak of her album. In an angry Instagram post on Thursday, the pop legend ranted against Vanessa Grigoriadis, the author of a lengthy profile recently published in the run-up to the release of Madonna's 14th studio album, Madame X.

"To say that I was disappointed in the article would be an understatement," the singer wrote, accusing the journalist of focusing on "trivial and superficial matters such as the ethnicity of my stand in or the fabric of my curtains and never ending comments about my age."

She went on to say things would have been different if she were a man, and lamented letting Grigoriadis close.

I'm sorry I spent 5 minutes with her. It makes me feel raped

Apparently predicting the trigger potential of her metaphor in the #MeToo era, she then said her own experience gives her a pass.

And yes I'm allowed to use that analogy having been raped at the age of 19

She then attempted to further insulate herself from criticism by branding NYT "one of the founding fathers of patriarchy" and concluding her tirade with a rallying cry: "And I say—-DEATH TO THE PATRIARCHY woven deep into the fabric of Society."

Commenters didn't buy it, quickly telling Madonna that being a rape victim doesn't give her "a license" to trivialize the matter.

"Madonna you're disgusting. Thanks for downplaying ACTUAL rape. Aren't you supposed to be a feminist?" one woman wrote.

While some of the pop legend's fans did express support for the singer, others joined in the criticism.

The NYT piece, titled 'Madonna at Sixty', hails the pop star for almost single-handedly revolutionizing the perception of women in entertainment, with Grigoriadis actually lamenting that Madonna is not given all the credit she is due. True to the title, it does seem to revolve around her age.

Madonna's indignant Instagram post is the second time she has invoked the risky analogy of rape. She did the same in the actual interview with Grigoriadis when speaking about her outrage at the leak of her previous album, 'Rebel Heart', in 2015.

"It took me a while to recover, and put such a bad taste in my mouth I wasn't really interested in making music. I felt raped," she said. The comparison apparently rattled Grigoriadis, but she chose not to confront the singer.

"It didn't feel right to explain that women these days were trying not to use that word metaphorically," she wrote, leaving the explanation to the angered social media crowd.

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