As part of a series of features celebrating International Women's Week, I had the pleasure of interviewing =p-u-r-i-n.

Can you tell me a bit about how you first found deviantART?

Not a terribly exciting story to be told here. It was 2004 (I had an account before this one, don't worry it didn't get banned for posting porn or anything, I swear) and I was getting into drawing anime. A friend pointed me to deviantART, and I've been hooked ever since. It's been a pretty radical couple of years.



What do you think are the biggest issues for women in the world today?

Periods. If we didn't have to deal with periods, like if there was an immunisation for period pain at least, everything would be awesome.

On a more serious note now. I think that in general, women have sort of become apathetic when it comes to important women's rights issues. Unfortunately I think that feminist attitudes seem too have died a bit in society. Like if you tell someone that you're a feminist, they'll be all like "WTF? Bet you hate men you lesbian bitch". I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. So I'd say that the issue is that a lot women in Western society have started to not really care anymore. I hope you get what I'm meaning here. Basically I think that young women should take more of an interest in womens and human rights in general.

Can you tell me a bit about the background to your 2 favourite deviations from your own gallery?

Okay.


This one is something that always brings a bit of a smile to my face. Back in art class in grade 12, I basically slacked off all the time. I drew silly things, and joked around with classmates instead of working on my actual projects. One day, for some lulz, I was trying to draw a friend of mine with oil pastels. I quickly gave up on that and proceeded to turn it into a green alien. Which of course seemed like a perfectly normal thing to do at the time. I think I hurt her feelings though.



I'm afraid this isn't the best ever photo of it. But it is the iconic plz account . For any uninitiated cretins a plz account is the coolest thing ever. Its basically an avatar that one can place into discussions for lulz. At the moment I have it hanging up on my wall above a Monty Python poster. I just like the idea of plz account fanart. I do seriously have a life though.

You are very active in the forums, particularly the Music Forum. If you could participate in any historic music event, what would it be, and what role do you want to take?

Anyone who I have spoken to this year undoubtedly knows that I've become a huge Beatles fan. So, I would have to say I would like to go back in time and see their famous rooftop performance. (Here's a wiki link for those less in the grips of Beatlemania [link]) I would have a nice view from my time machine, which, of course to not change the course of history would be able to make me and it invisible. Just watching it would make me happy.

Can you tell me of any other women on deviantART who you find inspiring?

Oh dear. There sure are a lot. One of the first ladies that comes to mind is ~itainohime she's a pretty awesome writer, and also journals a lot about politics. Always quite interesting, makes me feel like maybe its worth caring about things.

And if I go on about absolutely everyone who inspires me I'll make this go on longer than it should and people will click away from this article. :B Also of course the ladies at *brisvegas the dA club for my city and also the forum whorettes. Well the whorettes either make me inspired or laugh, and both are fine with me.


What about outside deviantART, who do you think are good examples of role models for today's young women?

The only people worth being role models are on deviantART dammit.



How do you think deviantART has benefited you as an artist?

Well it's made me a lot more passionate about the arts. When I first joined, I was just another anime obsessed kid. I still love to draw anime, but I have become interested in other art forms as well.
The schools I went to never had very good art programs, so I never really got serious critique on my drawings. While the critiquing here on deviantART certainly isn't as hardcore as say, Conceptart.org I am lucky to have friends here who cheerfully point out any mistakes I have made.


If you were asked to make one emote which dA would automatically make official, what would it be?

Oh probably something incredibly inappropriate.
Or a giant (bigger than a plz avatar or llama) version of It would be glorious. It would destroy peoples internets, annoy everyone else and be really marvellous to show enthusiasm for something.



Do you have a message that you'd leave for the future generations of women?

I'm not terribly sure how the three laws of Robotics will work in real life, so best to arm yourself and learn to fight before the inevitable battle of man against machine.

Thank you for a very amusing interview!

You can find other wonderful women who have been interviewed in this series here.