Ditto says she loves shoes and big hair but isn't a fan of the fashion industry

Ditto has been recently voted by the music magazine NME as the 'coolest person on the planet', but doesn't fit the usual 'female singer superstar' stereotype.

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For a start she's gay -- perhaps not all that unusual -- but she also weighs over 200 pounds and she's a committed and outspoken feminist.

All this is a far cry from her background - in the Bible Belt of rural Arkansas.

"It can be a really intense place to grow up," she said, "It really boxes people in to one sort of lifestyle - really sort of fearful... You don't really realise that there's more out there apart from church, babies and maybe even drugs. Those are your three options."

Ditto described to Heather Payton the moment when she realised that she was gay.

"I remember when I was about five years old realising that I just loved women's voices," she said, "and I remember thinking that it wasn't normal how much I liked girls.

	The group broke through with the song Standing in the Way of Control which criticised the Bush government

"I remember overhearing my mother talking about gay people and I just realised 'that's who I am'.

But, living in a very religious part of America, she kept her sexuality to herself until she was in her teens.

"You heard other people say they (gay people) were going to go to hell," she said, "I remember being so scared. I grew up fearing demons."

Studying at university in Washington, she formed the band "the Gossip" and wrote the band's breakthrough hit "Standing in the Way of Control" as a response to the US government's decision to deny gays the right to marriage in the U.S.

Heather Payton also asked Ditto whether her size was a way of 'giving two fingers' to the music industry.

"My size has nothing to do with my talent," she said, "I understand that music and fashion go hand-in-hand but I also understand that fashion is a really female-hating place.

"It doesn't make sense that you have to look good to sing well."

What do you think? Do you have to be thin to succeed as a woman? Email us to let us know.

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