Why I’m not Offended by ‘Blurred Lines’ and I’m Getting Really Tired of Hearing About It.

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Why I’m not Offended by ‘Blurred Lines’ and I’m Getting Really Tired of Hearing About It.

There has been a crazy amount of backlash against Blurred Lines, mainly because the video is ‘explicit’ and ‘degrades women’. I’m not arguing about the video here, although I find the concept that people are still surprised that women are sauntering around half naked in music videos surprising. Blurred Lines in nowhere near as explicit as any 50 Cent video, or rap or hip hop videos in general.

There is, in fact, perhaps because the music is pop, we’re judging it more for not conforming to the norms of ‘pop videos’. The industry is about shock value. If anything, surely the response to Miley Cyrus’ dance moves and provocative clothing this week has shown that. So what are we saying here? Miley’s a slut and the girls in the video are degraded? Is there no room here for women to be half naked in a music video and for it to be their choice?

Oh, I know the response here, because Robin Thicke has clothes in the video, it sends the message that women aren’t worthy of clothes but men are. I think you’re looking into this a little too deeply. It’s a music video for a song that is a drop in the ocean, and possibly a one hit wonder. It’s not trying to set a precedent for male empowerment.

I’m going to get a lot of feminists on my back on this one, and I know that the song can definitely be interpreted in an aggressively forward way, but I consider myself a feminist. The only point I’m making is that if we’re spending all our time accusing average songs of ‘attacking’ women, then we’re not really focusing on the bigger issues, like women’s rights, female castration, abortion choices or hundreds of other bigger issues.

If you’re the type of feminist who thinks men are going to be swayed to rape just because Robin Thicke sings ‘I know you want it’ then you are severely underestimating the male population, and frankly, becoming an offensive feminist cliche.

The Song:

Thicke sings about ‘Blurred Lines’, the difficulty of telling if someone wants you or not. The game that everyone plays, instead of being upfront about what they want. He tells the girl ‘that man is not your maker’ suggesting her boyfriend has been in control of her, and as such, she’s not used to making decisions based on her own desires, but rather, considering what is the correct behaviour.

‘Tried to domesticate you/ But you’re an animal/Baby it’s in your nature’ reinforces this, the fact that desire is a human emotion we’re all capable of and isn’t shameful. If anything, this part of the song is actually positive, encouraging the destruction of the Madonna/Whore idea. We are allowed to own our sexuality and be proud of it. If you meet someone you want to sleep with and do so, there is no shame in that.

‘I know you want it’ -Ok, so this is where everyone gets on their high horse about ‘no means no.’ And no DOES mean no. Because we don’t want to set a precedent for rape. But that certainly doesn’t mean that acting coy doesn’t exist. If anything, we are taught as young women that to take what you want is wrong or selfish. In terms of sex, if we do not act coyly we are eager sluts. If we wait it out, we are playing hard to get. I’m not surprised Robin Thicke is confused, because I certainly am. It’s not like women can’t actually relate to this issue- ‘I do want him, but I don’t want him to think I’m easy’.

So if someone is giving you all the signs that they want you (‘the way you grab me/must wanna get nasty’) but is not actually admitting it because they consider themselves ‘a good girl’ then yes, you’re gonna damn well hate those blurred lines because it’s a stupid game defined by societal norms.

The Rap Bit- Yes, here we get to the bit where T.I says he’ll ‘give you something big enough to tear your ass in two’. I kind of get that people get upset about this, but as with rap, everything is about self image, as opposed to the destruction of others. This isn’t ‘Oh, I really want to hurt women, I want to destroy her’, it’s about proclaiming he has a big dick. Plain and simple. Now, if you want to go into certain sexual acts as dominance over women, go ahead, I’m not going near that one at all.

Commercial rap, at it’s core is about ‘having’ things, I have money, I have cars, I have lots of things. And psychologically, what is that probably all a representation of? Yep, ‘I have a big dick.’ Or not.

So that’s my thoughts on this. Maybe I’m a silly little girl who can’t see the blatantly obvious anti-feminist themes in the song, but I did a feminist language and culture course, and the thing is, if we decide to hear or see something in a certain context, we will. If I wanted to write an article on how Blurred Lines was offensive to horses, I probably could.

I was just hoping that instead of a continued rant about a fairly average song, we could get back to the real issues, which are more about political agendas and equal pay. If a man raped a woman, and the excuse in court was that he’d been influenced by this song, it wouldn’t stand. So please stop thinking men are stupid. If they rape someone, it’s because they’re an arsehole, not because of a song. If you’re offended by naked women in a video, start lobbying MTV, not attacking individual artists/artistic directors for following a norm.

Actually, screw it, I’m not a feminist, I’m an egalitarian. So let the bashing commence.