Do You Think 'Both Hands' by Ani DiFranco Is About Fingering… With Both Hands?

I disagree that “Both Hands” is necessarily sexually explicit. A “swan song” is mentioned as is “writing graffiti on your body” and “drawing the story of how hard we tried.” But in the chorus, when DiFranco urges, “Both hands, now use both hands,” this always seemed more to me like a general plea for effort as opposed to a sexual instruction. More “all hands on deck” than “…in my vag.” I have literally never considered this song, which DiFranco wrote in her teens and remains among her catalog’s best-known, sexual in nature… until now. (It wasn’t until years after the fact that my sister even told me about being Ani-shamed by her teacher.)

So now I’m thinking about “Both Hands.” Okay, brain, fair enough. I understand that as time goes on, fewer people have engaged with DiFranco’s music (myself included, even though the release of her memoir last year prompted met to binge on her catalog and it all came flooding back). But in the off chance that you do have some opinion on this, won’tcha please fill out the poll below so we can get to the bottom of this? DiFranco generally resists analyzing her music in interviews and a cursory Google for quotes on this matter came up fruitless. Sound off if you have “A Case of You” opinions as well. Say whatever you want, really. Now’s the time.

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