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Misogynism and the song of the summer (or is it just sexism?)

Fragile Bird

By Fragile Bird,
in General Chatter

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KiDisaster Council Member

KiDisaster

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I must have missed your point, mine is if your worried about mysogism/sexism look towards rap, leave thicke alone!

Because hip-hop is the only genre that's ever been guilty/capable of sexism in its lyrics?

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Castel Council Member

Castel

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Because hip-hop is the only genre that's ever been guilty/capable of sexism in its lyrics?

Nope,it's just that he gets to prioritize what you focus on.

Hells yeah! :cheers:

Yeah, I thought of it as soon as I saw this thread.
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Commodore Council Member

Commodore

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Top 10 Interesting Things About Robin Thicke and Blurred Lines

Although I don't think that this guy deliberately wrote a pro-date-rape song, there is definitely a case to be made that the way the words read -- and the way they'll be interpreted -- kind of makes date-rape seem like a part of the male-female dynamic.

Here's the case against the song: Every lyric in it is a hard-charging pick-up line for a girl. "You wanna hug me/Hm, what rhymes with 'hug me'?" He keeps noting she's a good girl, but he's gonna break that down.

He will have you tonight. That's not in question.

Later he offers her some "Jamaican" in order to make her more... well, I guess the world I'm looking for is rapable.

And then there's the title: Blurred Lines. Some take this to mean a blurry line between consent and non-consent.

Here's Cyndi Lauper saying the song "glorifies" date-rape:

Now, Thicke of course disputes this, and says "Blurred Lines" simply refers to the pick-up artist's goal of blurring the line between what a girl should do (not have sex with aggressive players like the one Thicke is depicting) and what she often ends up doing (which of course is having sex with him). And he thinks this is just a playful, maybe cynical, and kind of funny exaggeration of the male-female pick-up ritual.

Besides, he has a great defense against the charge of the song being "rapey."

The song isn't about rape at all, he says. That's silly.

It's about degrading women.

Oh well, I guess he was trying to sort of be funny. And I guess he's right, if he (and Pharrel and TI, the cowriters/coperformers on the song) are all happily married, then there is a certain safety in having married men, faithful to their wives, have a bit of fun lampooning their younger, single days.

In fact that's a pretty cute marketing technique, isn't it? Women want the bad boy, so he's the bad boy in the video. But women also of course want the good boy, the one who's faithful to his wife and devoted to her. His "I'm happily married, but here's my depiction of what I would do if I were a Bad Boy" is the perfect commercial exploitation of this dual desire of women: Dangerous, yes, and sexual, but yet safe and loving.

And as Robin Thicke is married to the beautiful actress Paula Patton (last seen in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol), I guess his wife shouldn't be worried...

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All-for-Joffrey Council Member

All-for-Joffrey

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A group of law students at my university did a feminist parody of the song all about emasculating men and empowering women, which was fucking hilarious. It got removed from Youtube, sadly. That's a damn shame. Here's a short teaser for anybody interested.

Why the fuck did youtube take it down when they have the uncensored version of Thicke's song up which contains completely naked women to sexually explicit lyrics where as this...contains men in underwear. God I fucking hate Youtube.

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Francis Buck Council Member

Francis Buck

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Just wanna say I have to agree with pretty much every post Castel has made in this thread. It honestly surprised me that people were surprised by this song. Which is in no way me trying to defend it, by the way (though, I think the rapey-vibe people get from it...I don't know, my instinct is that people are looking more deeply into this in an attempt to find greater faults, rather than what's genuinely there; it's just typical hip-hop bullshit, but it happens to be popular).

That being said, I'm someone who used to love rap/hip-hop as a teen, and then somewhat more recently (the last four years or so) I find it mostly unbearable. This is due to a combination of most modern rap being just plain shit musically-speaking, but more relevantly my distaste for the image perpetuated by it (I'm thankful that gangster rap seems to be on the decline, considering the sheer idiocy of the associated mentality and lifestyle).

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jarl the climber Council Member

jarl the climber

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I usually regret commenting on these kinds of topics. I've heard this song and to be honest with you that I can not understand what the fuck the guy is saying half the time, the actual words that is, he could be singing about baking apple pies for all I know, but it is a catchy tune. Having heard the buzz about Miley Cyrus performance, I did check it out and had a response similar to Robin Thickes Mother. I'd check out this feminist parody but I've suffered enough trauma for the week. I do not see how anyone is empowered by humilating the opposite gender in a sexual manner.

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Arch-MaesterPhilip Council Member

Arch-MaesterPhilip

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I usually regret commenting on these kinds of topics. I've heard this song and to be honest with you that I can not understand what the fuck the guy is saying half the time, the actual words that is, he could be singing about baking apple pies for all I know, but it is a catchy tune. Having heard the buzz about Miley Cyrus performance, I did check it out and had a response similar to Robin Thickes Mother. I'd check out this feminist parody but I've suffered enough trauma for the week. I do not see how anyone is empowered by humilating the opposite gender in a sexual manner.

It's a so so parody of a so so song, nothing spectacular.

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Castel Council Member

Castel

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Annoys me how much vitriol I see aimed at Miley for that live performance and not towards Thicke, wtf?

And some of the comments are really bad too. I mean, I get that Miley Cyrus was known to your daughter and Thicke isn't but basically declaring her broken? Well, I suppose it's the only reasonable explanation. Certainly a teenager pushing (incompetently) for a new image after being the safe entertainment for your kid for years is just insane.

Intellectually I can appreciate the value of a good, below-the-belt punch but damn.

Just wanna say I have to agree with pretty much every post Castel has made in this thread.
:cheers:

Well, at least her innovative dancing inspired an exercise routine. The twerkout.

Surely you jest?

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straits Council Member

straits

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And some of the comments are really bad too. I mean, I get that Miley Cyrus was known to your daughter and Thicke isn't but basically declaring her broken? Well, I suppose it's the only reasonable explanation. Certainly a teenager pushing (incompetently) for a new image after being the safe entertainment for your kid for years is just insane.

Intellectually I can appreciate the value of a good, below-the-belt punch but damn.

The South Park

on Britney Spears ends with Miley named the next sacrificial virgin for the media altar. It's a bit surreal that the writers got it right.
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