Rants Rants Rants

I couldn’t really think of anything relating to the class to write about, so I’ve decided to just rant about what’s been on my mind lately.  Not that long ago, a few weeks maybe, Robin Thicke’s song “Blurred Lines” was named the “song of the summer” by Billboard. Not only is this disappointing because the song itself lacks creativity and meaning, but the lyrics and the artist behind it are themselves repulsive. If title itself doesn’t immediately set off some kind of warning in your mind (when I hear “blurred lines” I immediately think of the “yes means no” rape mentality), then maybe the song lyrics will illuminate for you what a truly vile song it is. Throughout the song/video, the phrase “I know you want it” is repeated over and over while topless models prance around being harassed and dominated by three well-dressed men. When asked if his song was degrading to women in an interview, Thicke replied with “Of course it is,what a pleasure it is to degrade a woman, I've never gotten to do that before, I've always respected women”, going along to defend him and his collaborators by saying that they are indeed gentlemen, as they all have wives and children, so by default they are incapable of being misogynistic pigs. As if being married automatically gives you the right to harass and be sexually imposing to women who do NOT want your attention. It angers me that this song has become so popular for all of the wrong reasons, and that millions of teenage girls are dancing and listening to this song and not realizing that by doing so they are perpetuating rape culture and patriarchy, things of which they should be fighting.

Dear Robin Thicke,

There are no “blurred lines”, only yes and no.

And the latter of which your mother should have said 36 years ago.