Reader’s Choice/Tom’s Top Tunes: Song #34/250…I Touch Myself by The Divinyls

The Divinyls were an Australian band made up of singer Chrissy Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee, along with a revolving cast of bandmates who came and went over the years. The Divinyls were most popular in the 1980s and 90s and enjoyed their greatest successes at home in Australia. In conducting my research for this post, I was amazed/dismayed by the polarized viewpoints held by many toward this band and, in particular, singer Chrissy Amphlett. There are scores of fans who view Amphlett as some sort of feminist icon due to the confidence with which she presented herself to the world. Amphlett often wore “school girl attire” on stage and wrote songs about her own sexual desires and conquests. Not unlike Madonna, Amphlett was someone for whom personal pleasure and sexual happiness were something to be celebrated and embraced. The most important aspect of this was Amphlett’s ability to make sexual choices for herself on terms that worked for her. However, as many of you can imagine, we live in a world that is more prudish and judgemental about how women discuss and portray their bodies in public. To people who fall into this way of thinking, Amphlett was viewed as being dangerous and a myriad of other descriptive words that aren’t fit for me to print. Because Chrissy Amphlett and her bandmates were steadfast in their beliefs, the history of The Divinyls as a band is one littered with examples of intolerance and censorship. But, because the band stood their ground and never changed the core of who they were to satisfy the braying minority, The Divinyls have accrued an undying level of respect from their fans that can only be earned through endless battles to maintain what they view as the moral high ground. If you know nothing about The Divinyls other than what I am writing today, then please allow me to introduce you to their only song that charted in North America. That song is akin to a banner that flies over the band, announcing to the world who they are and what they stand for. That song is “I Touch Myself”. 

“I Touch Myself” is a song about masturbation. It is a song about self-pleasure that is sung with gusto by a woman. On the surface, singing about engaging in an activity that is bringing pleasure and happiness to oneself shouldn’t be a problem, especially when the act in question isn’t infringing on anyone else in any way. Self-pleasure is a private act and shouldn’t be anyone else’s business but that of the person engaged in the act. Unfortunately, we don’t seem to live in a world that can mind its own business when it comes to what goes on behind closed doors. This is especially true when it comes to women who advocate for themselves in this manner. “I Touch Myself” is a peppy Pop song. It is a catchy tune that many people enjoy singing, including my wife, who has been known to sing the chorus of this song aloud as she putters about the house. The song is a great tune, plain and simple, and yet it has caused an inordinate number of people to lose their collective minds over the years. The Divinyls have had the electricity to their microphones cut off mid-song while touring in the southern U.S. They, like Elvis before them, have been allowed to perform on TV shows, but only if the camera filmed Amphlett from the waist up. Not surprisingly, small groups of protesters would often show up wherever they played in North America. Many of their signs spoke of God and Jesus in ways that don’t correlate to my understanding of the Bible.  

Regardless of where you stand on the subject of a sexually-confident woman openly talking about matters of a sexual nature in public, the fact remains that male singers and male-dominated bands have made quite a comfortable living out of talking about sex in public for as long as Rock n’ Roll has existed. The proof of this is endless, but for the sake of this post, consider the cocksure strutting of Mick Jagger as he covers Howlin’ Wolf’s “Little Red Rooster” or Billy Idol’s take on masturbation, “Dancing With Myself”. As I said, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of songs by men that focus on sex, sexual conquests, sexual desires and/or the sexualization of women. If the vitriol aimed at the Madonnas and the Amphletts of the world was really just about sex, then I would expect the likes of Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, just to name a few, to be vilified, too. But that is not usually the case. It is different for women. Consequently, the utter refusal of Chrissy Amphlett to deny who she was as a woman because a certain segment of society demanded it, is what makes her such an important figure to so many people around the world. This is especially the case in her native Australia, where The Divinyls were far more successful than anywhere else in the world.

Unbeknownst to many of her fans, Chrissy Amphlett battled Multiple Sclerosis for the latter part of her adult life. This made it more difficult for her to be as flamboyant on stage as she once had been, but it did not stop her from performing. However, what eventually did stop her from performing was the discovery of a lump in her breast. The lump turned out to be cancerous. In 2013, at the young age of 53, Chrissy Amphlett passed away from the combined effects of MS and breast cancer. In passing, Amphlett left Australia and the world without a champion for the rights of women. The sudden silence became deafening for many. As often happens, we take our leaders and warriors for granted until the time comes when we are forced to go on without them. In the case of Chrissy Amphlett, her death touched many, just as her life had for years prior. When you stand for something as important as a woman’s right to dictate the terms of her own sexual pleasure and to be able to control what happens to her body, your legacy shines a bright light. In death, a great void was created. That void was felt by many other women. Not long after her passing, a number of Australian women from the world of the Arts stepped forward to honour Chrissy Amphlett’s life and her legacy. Led by folks like Olivia Newton John, a campaign was started called the I Touch Myself Project. This project was aimed at encouraging women to engage in frequent breast self-examinations in order to detect breast cancer in its earliest and, hopefully, most curable stages. Money raised from the I Touch Myself Project was aimed at funding breast cancer treatment and research but also at raising funds to help with the design of affordable bras for women undergoing breast cancer treatment, as well as special undergarments for women who have had mastectomies.  The original Aussie fundraising song can be viewed here. U.S. tennis star Serena Williams did her own version of the song for the project on her Instagram account. You can see that here. It is so powerful. I will link to the official website for this important project below.

For many musicians, the allure behind getting into the music business has a lot to do with the sex, drugs and rock n’ roll lifestyle. To those who are successful and are able to fully indulge their hedonistic desires, good for them. But there are other musicians and bands for whom the ability to command a stage in front of hundreds and maybe even thousands of people means that they have a platform from which to make a difference in the world. We sometimes tend to mock the idealism behind those who shout their politics into a microphone, backed by a pounding bassline. But think about where Australia’s aboriginal peoples would be today if not for a band like Midnight Oil rocking out to “The Dead Heart” or the Indigenous in Canada if not for Gord Downie and all that he has done so well on their behalf. As you rock out to the political messages of “Biko” by Peter Gabriel or Ultravox’s “Dancing With Tears in My Eyes” or even songs like “YMCA” by The Village People or “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper….all great tunes that possessed an important message, think of a song like “I Touch Myself” by The Divinyls as well. There are times when the boppiest of Pop songs contain the most important pearls of wisdom. So please feel free to dance and groove with this terrific song by The Divinyls. But as you do, heed the hidden call that exists within the lyrics of this song. “I Touch Myself” is a song that is about masturbation but, in reality, is about something far more fundamentally important and that is a woman’s right to control what happens to her body. In 2023, that right should not even need to be discussed, but as we all are becoming far too aware, in many parts of the world in which we live, including many parts of North America, women are having those rights stripped away by right-wing governments at the state and provincial levels. The battle for self-determination for women remains a fight that is ongoing. If anyone requires a battle cry, you would be well served by listening to Chrissy Amphlett and The Divinyls sing “I Touch Myself”. 

The link to the video for the song “I Touch Myself” by The Divinyls can be found here. Lyrics version can be found here.

The link to the official website for The Divinyls can be found here.

The link to the official website for the I Touch Myself Project can be found here.

It is Breast Cancer Awareness Month in Canada as I type these words. The link to the official website for the Canadian Cancer Society can be found here.

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