Janelle Mora
Vierra
Sociology 325
13th March 2013 Blurred Lines
Songs are more than just a piece of entertainment. Songs are also used to send messages. Some of these messages are positive, while others can be damaging. Blurred Lines is a song that sends a harmful message about women. It is a song that promotes degradation, oppression, objectification, and violence towards women.
Oppression is defined as “unjust or cruel exercise of authority or power,” in the Merriam Webster dictionary. You’re an animal, baby, it’s in your nature. Just let me liberate you, is a lyric from the song that sends an oppressive message to women with its reference to women as beings that need to be controlled and could only be liberated by men. The lyric is also degrading because it is saying that women are not human and therefore don’t deserve equal treatment.
The song also has a lyric that can be seen as promoting violence. I know you want it, is a lyric that is repeated several times throughout the song. This lyric reinforces the idea that women actually want sex when they say that they don’t want it. “The song is about a girl who wants crazy sex, but doesn’t say it. Which creates the problem where men think no actually means yes,” (Jones 2013). This sends the dangerous message that rape is okay.
Objectification is also present in the song in the form of this lyric ,What do they make dreams for when you got them jeans on what do we need steam for You the hottest bitch in this place I feel so lucky. The lyric here is implying that women are sexual objects that are there for the pleasure of men.
A song that promotes such misogyny of women does have an impact on the way that women are viewed by other peop...
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...t it if you get with me
[Bridge: Robin Thicke]
Shake the vibe, get down, get up
Do it like it hurt, like it hurt
What you don't like work?
[Pre-chorus: Robin Thicke]
Baby can you breathe? I got this from Jamaica
It always works for me, Dakota to Decatur, uh huh
No more pretending
Hey, hey, hey
Cause now you winning
Hey, hey, hey
Here's our beginning
[Chorus: Robin Thicke]
I always wanted a good girl
(Pharrell: Everybody get up)
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
You're a good girl
Can't let it get past me
You're far from plastic
Talk about getting blasted
I hate these blurred lines
(Pharrell: Everybody get up)
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
But you're a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me
[Outro: Pharrell]
Everybody get up
Everybody get up
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey
In his most recent album, Kanye West raps, “Now if I fuck this model/ And she just bleached her asshole/ And I get bleach on my T-shirt/ I 'mma feel like an asshole.” He suggests that it is the girl’s fault for getting bleach on his tee shirt, which she only did to make herself more sexually appealing. This misogyny in hip-hop culture is recognized to bring about problems. For instance, the women around these rappers believe they can only do well in life if they submit themselves to the men and allow themselves to be cared for in exchange for physical pleasure. In her essay, “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hoes”, Joan Morgan argues that the same rap music that dehumanizes women can be a powerful platform for gender equality if implemented correctly.
Trina’s intent was to create a song that liberated women from the double standards and stereotypical views placed upon them. Her song however can cause harm to young women that listen to take this song to heart. Instead of liberation, we are moved further down into the hole of degrading and devaluing women. Trina should’ve sent the message that these things were wrong. Instead she endorsed and encouraged them.
The song is set around Chief keef being on the phone and talking to a woman, he refers to the woman on the song as a bitch, hoe, and thottie. The word thottie is derived from the word thot, which is an acronym for “that hoe over there”. The song states “You wanna Glo up, baby, Keef got you/You's a gold bottle, these hoes pink Moscato/Baby I'm the owner, you can be my castle”. This line right here compares the woman to other women by saying she is a better bottle of liquor than other women and calls her his property when he says you can be my castle. Then he goes on to say in the song “ Baby cause I like you/Only reason I text you and why I Skype you/I just wanna fuck on you, I don't wanna wife you/But you gotta brush your teeth and do what I say though/(Hello?)/Bitch can you hear me?/Keep your pussy in park, no 360... I don't wanna smell you/Cause I'ma cut/you off, quicker than I met you/I'ma swipe your name up off my schedule/And if smoke this blunt, girl, I'm gon' forget you”. The lyrics basically says the women is just there for his sexual pressure and he does not plan on making her more than that; he also tells the women that he has to be the one in control if she wants to continue this relationship; then he tells her, he will completely stop communicating/seeing her, if she does not do what he wants her to do and she can be
Beginning the song, Williams starts by getting everyone’s attention prior to the first verse, hinting at the later egotistical content and demeanor of the song. The first verse of the song, sang by Robin Thicke, is where the song begins to establish its pathos and ethos. Thicke sings about someone not being able to hear or read what he’s clearly reading, then maybe he’s “out of [his] mind” (line 12). This verse appeals to listeners, as the speaker sings about relating to feeling crazy and being misunderstood, which a lot of the audience can relate to. The lines in this verse are also the only lines in which Thicke sings about how he feels. In the following bridge, it then becomes clear that the main audience Thicke is addressing is not radio listeners, but a particular person, presumably a woman, when he says, “Ok, now he was close/ tried to domesticate you/ but you’re an animal” (lines 14-16). Here, the artist begins to damage his ethos by dissing the idea of being in a relationship and referring to a woman as an animal that must be domesticated – as if she is a dog needing to be housetrained. By analyzing these lines, listeners can
There are many arguments surrounding the lyrics in hip-hop and how it may have an impact on today’s society. To begin with, the most debatable opinion is how the language may have an influence on youth. The images betrayed in the media and TV are often misconstrued and fabricated. For example, many rap lyrics are about drug use and in reality, some rappers are not drug users and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Similarly, women lyrics in hip-hop language can be two-fold. Lyrics of feminism and another of exploitation. This illustrates how the language in hip-hop takes away the dignity of women. The word “bitch” is considered profanity but often used frequently and acceptable for women in the hip-hop culture. More importantly, hip-hop is
This song represented the time in 1993 when women in the hip hop culture were not taken seriously as males, so Queen Latifah had to call the judgmental people out. U.N.I.T.Y has the significance impact of feminism, just like her first two albums as an artist. How every man, she states calls a women “ho” or “bitch” she defends by saying “Who you calling a bitch?”. Another song that has been recalled as an importance of women in hip hop is the song (9) “Give It To You” by Da Brat. “So let it go, Cause my shit is tight, Take it how I give it, And enjoy the night”, she is talking about the males, if they have something to say about the women in the rap industry they should let it go before things get out of hand. The importance of this song was that ladies in hip hop are able to fight back stronger. In the song (10) “Lost Ones” by Lauryn Hill is about her talking about a person she has a brutal honest message to. This song has an important impact on women who would want to be in the hip hop culture because it is the woman's choice to decide what she wants to do. In 1998, she releases this song to brings an influence to women, if feeling threatened by men, women should refuse to be treated in any type of way that is
While, other music genres such as rock and country are known to depict women in subordinate roles, rap is seen to do this in a more sexually explicit and graphic way. (Kurbin & Weitzen. Vol. 1. Pg. 3.) For instance, the rap song U.O.E.N.O, Rick Ross raps the lyrics “put molly all in her champagne/she ain’t even know it. /I took her home and I enjoyed that/ She ain’t even know it.” What’s startling in all these cases is that those involved refuse to see the problem or even the impact it might have on viewers. As Kate Harding perfectly sums up “The entertainment we consume both reflects and reifies the rape myths we cherish. We owe it to ourselves to take it seriously and expect better.” (179.) Unfortunately, there are those, opponents to rape culture, who seemingly do not take it seriously and see the claims of rape culture as exaggerated
Female artists in today’s music industry are often depicted in a sexualizing manner, because their managers know that sex sells. However, in the video for her song, “Hard Out Here”, it would seem that Lilly Allen is free to sing about whatever she wants, and dress however she pleases (Allen 2013). This song, allegedly a “feminist anthem” (O’Hagan 2013: 1), was meant to ridicule, and fight against, the blatant sexism against women in the music industry, a sexism that is made obvious through the sexualization of women. Allen had the opportunity to truly take a stance against the portrayal of women as sexual objects in this male-dominated industry. Instead, the music video shows degrading images of women dancing half-naked, which are
Domestic violence, the connotation of the two words immediately invokes images in everyone's mind. Two songs will be discussed in this paper, these songs relate directly to the issue. The first song is “A Child Called ‘it’” by Buckcherry, released in 2008 on the Black Butterfly album. The second song is “Im ok” by Christina Aguilera, released in 2002 on the Stripped album. Buckcherry’s song, is based on a true story of a child that was abused by his mother. Similarly, Christina Aguilera’s song talks about her women who is being abused, you can tell this from the beginning of the song when she sings, “my father's fist would put her in her place.” Both of these songs directly talk about domestic violence and
This is because during the 90’s, rappers such as Tupac Shakur helped ignite rap music into a mainstream genre. This, however, did not come without some controversy. In Carl S. Taylor’s article about hip-hop and youth culture he spoke about the initial outrage of Americans when songs such as “I get around” became popular. This song, and others like it, were scrutinized because they contained vulgar language and promoted immoral behavior. However, at the time of the article Taylor had no definitive evidence of the music actually impacting people’s behavior. Almost exactly 15 years after Carl Taylor’s article was published, a writer by the name of Gretchen Cundiff wrote a scholarly journal entitled, “The influence of rap/hip-hop music: Analysis on audience perceptions of misogynistic lyrics and the issue of domestic violence.” During her research, she analyzed the lyrics of 20 rap/hip-hop songs included in Billboard’s year-end “Hot 100” singles list ranging from 2000-2010. Of the 20 songs, 40 percent were coded for the use of some sort of physical violence in their lyrics, and another 15 percent were coded for referencing rape/sexual assault. This proves not only that the lyrics in hip-hop songs are vulgar, but also that people are still enjoying it anyways. These facts, however, do not provide proof that the music is actually affecting culture. Just because someone listens
In this same article, Gina M. Wingwood, assistant professor in the rollins schools of public health, found that teenage girls who listen to and watch rap videos frequently- more than 14 hours a week- were three times more likely to hit a teacher and more than 2.5 times as likely to have been arrested than girls who aren't such devoted rap fans. The 522 adolescent African American women followed in the year-long study also were twice as likely to have multiple sex partners and at least 1.5 times more likely to get a sexually transmitted disease, drink, and use drugs” Girl's who are listening to this kind of music, are more likely to do things like hit a teacher, and more likely to have multiple sex partners. In another article, “Degrading Songs Hurt Women” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette found that the Rand Corporation released a study in August 2006 which shows “that the more often teens listen to sexually degrading songs - marked by obscenities and stereotypes of women as sex objects and men as sexual predators - the likelier they are to have sex at an
Oppression is this and so much more than what Ben Harper wrote in his song. Oppression is an unjust or cruel exercise or action of power. Everyone experiences oppression at least once in his or her lives. We have only recently begun to fight the effects of oppression, to gain freedom in our world. Oppression divides us to keep us from maintaining our freedom, what little of it we have. Oppression is completely based on hatred and preys on you when you sleep, or when you are at your lowest point. It kicks you when you are down, and pushes you further down the rabbit’s hole. It forces you to fight when you are the weakest and will take your very last breath. It takes one problem and snowballs until you can not take it anymore. We can learn to fight oppression, if we only make ourselves aware.
Women have consistently been perceived as second-class citizens. Even now, in times when a social conscience is present in most individuals, in an era where an atmosphere of gender equality 'supposedly' exists, it is blatantly apparent that the objectification and marginalization of women is still a major social issue. In reality, progression in terms of reducing female exploitation has been stagnant at best. Not only is the degradation of women a major problem that to date has not been eradicated, but it is actually being endorsed by some music celebrities. There are a growing number of people who purchase rap albums that support the fallacy that women are mere objects and should be treated as such. As the popularity of rap continues to climb at unprecedented rates, so too does its influence on the perception of women. In the vast majority of hip-hop songs, the depiction of women as sexual objects, the extreme violence directed towards them and the overall negative influence these lyrics have on the average adolescent's perception of women make rap the absolute epitome of female exploitation.
In 1974 the Weyenberg Shoe Manufacturing Company released an advertisement that depicted a woman lying naked on the floor behind a shoe, with the words “Keep her where she belongs...” pasted across the top. In March of 2013 musical artist Robin Thicke released a song titled “Blurred Lines,” and, with its catchy beat, it took the nation by storm. However, upon listening to the lyrics several people began to complain about the message of the song, one that perpetuates rape culture. A few days later in March the situation became even worse, when Thicke, along with T.I. and Pharrell, who were originally featured on the track, posted the music video to Youtube. In it, women are shown topless in nude thongs, crawling around on the floor and dancing
The negative perception of women throughout popular culture in the form of music has greatly impacted the portrayal of women on today’s society. This study involves on examination of sexist ideologies in dancehall lyrics that portray women in stereotypical and negative manner. This particular king of music explored in the study is dancehall music, a popular genre in Jamaican culture today. The primarily focus is on the effect of popular songs have on women in society, as well as how song lyrics can cause objectification of women and how are the roles of men and women reflected.