When examining American society, some would say that sexism is no longer an issue in The United States, that woman are equal to men, and that the fight is over. One quick look at this year’s song of the summer, “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, would immediately tell you otherwise.
In an interview with GQ, Thicke explained the writing process he took with T.I., saying that they “started acting like (we were) two old men on a porch hollering at girls like, ‘Hey, where you going, girl? Come over here!’” This sounds a lot more like sexual harassment than creative artistry. Talk to any girl and it will be almost guaranteed that she has experienced some form of street harassment in her life. Whether it be whistling, honking a car, or catcalling, street harassment is common and accepted, yet it leaves women feeling objectified and dehumanized. Women are no longer people when walking down a street, they are an item to be sized up and judged. However, the song dominates radio waves and unassumingly perpetuates rape culture into mainstream media.
The lyrics of the song don’t help much either. Thicke refers to a woman using terms used to describe an animal. He refers to a woman as something to be “domesticated” or “liberated.” The song progresses to a chorus where he repeats, “I know you want it”, something that is often said to victims by their rapists to justify their actions.
This year’s VMA’s was a further indicator of how offensive the song’s message is. Miley Cyrus’ provactive dancing with Thicke made headline news and people were outraged at her in the performance, particularly because of the fact that Robin Thicke is married with children. Yet no one seemed to comment that it was inappropriate for him to participate in the performance, and no one had anything to say about his family after his music video for Blurred Lines, featuring multiple naked women, was released. There is a serious issue with this picture, a 20-year old girl can make the front page news for dancing inappropriately with a married man, yet that same married man has no responsibility for what happened.
Blurred Lines was released 6 months ago and as of today it still remains #2 on iTunes, to the dismay of moral minded beings everywhere.
Thomas 92 • Oct 31, 2013 at 9:55 pm
I thought this article was very right, and the song is just kinda wrong. It is catchy tho, you gotta give him that credit.