Hayley Williams Doesn't 'Dare' Play Guitar Onstage For This Reason

In a new interview, Hayley Williams admitted she doesn't "dare" play guitar onstage because of sexist comments. The Paramore singer unveiled this upsetting revelation while chatting with fellow female rockers Wet Leg, who've received the same kind of backlash for playing instruments.

“I think for us one of the hardest or most irritating things about being women is probably just the stupid comments on the internet like, ‘Oh she’s holding that guitar but she’s not actually playing it,’" Wet Leg's Rhian Teasdale lamented. “Like, for example, when I am just not using my guitar but then I need to play it in the chorus or something, there will always be a comment being like, ‘Girls shouldn’t play guitar, women shouldn’t play guitar,’ and it’s just like… it’s so dated but it’s still there! And I just hate it so much. It’s so frustrating.”

That's when Williams divulged it's comments like these that shy her away from playing guitar live herself. “I know those people so well, and I don’t even play guitar on stage. I don’t even dare, because I love to play guitar but I don’t know if I could handle… man. I feel you so hard."

“I just hate that people even need to point it out,” she continued. “I don’t even really think about my gender at all, when we play the music especially. It’s just not part of the picture. I’m trying to lean into femininity and empower that part of myself more in this era of my career, but do you ever get on stage and feel ‘other’? You feel like this alien thing that’s powerful and beautiful.”

“It’s a scary thing to be confronted with," Wet Leg’s Hester Chambers noted. "When it’s just us being ourselves in a room, I’m not thinking about it at all. But as soon as you have a gig and an audience, you become a bit hyper-aware.”

Williams plans to get back to touring, and all the frustrations that come with it, when Paramore hit the road for a massive tour next year in support of their upcoming album This Is Why.