Guest Post by Josie Friedman, a seventh grader from Boston, Massachusetts, submitted the essay below; a reaction to the summer hit, Blurred Lines, and a response to the song. Thank you for your submission, Josie. We’re delighted to share it with our readers:
If you haven’t heard the song Blurred Lines you should probably go and sit through it, but be prepared to experience extreme disgust. While called one of the “songs of the summer”, Robin Thicke’s hit song contains lyrics such as “not many women can refuse this pimpin” and “tried to domesticate you.” Besides being probably one of the most sexist songs ever in terms of lyrics, the women in the video gradually lose their clothing. At this point, you have probably gotten to the point of repulsion, but here is something even worse.
When the Auckland University women behind Law Revue posted their parody Defined Lines, it was taken down by You Tube for being too explicit. This irony-soaked move justified exactly why the video was made. One of the three women featured in the video, Olivia Lubbock said, “It’s funny that the response has been so negative when you flip it around and objectify males.”
Honestly, that just about sums up the moral of her video. In direct opposition to Robin Thicke’s deeply chauvinistic video the women sing, “What you see on TV/doesn’t speak equality/it’s straight up misogyny.”
In my opinion even the slightly more crude lyrics in Defined Lines, barely rival the reference to women as “b*tches” in Blurred Lines. The women of Defined Lines didn’t call the men their “boy toys or man whores” or anything approaching the disrespectful labels that Robin Thicke, T.I., and Pharell thought was clever.
What really is shocking is that one comment posted about Defined Lines talked about how feminism is a mental illness and how any form of it should be kept away from children. Do they mean to say that pornographic songs such as Blurred Lines are OK in comparison?
If you haven’t already, go and watch the video of Defined Lines. You won’t be disappointed. By far my favorite lyric is “We’re scholastic/smart and sarcastic.” It lightens the blow of the popularity of Blurred Lines, by a little at least.
(Image: carolinelovescoffee.com)
