You Know You Want It

"If you think a woman in a tan vinyl bra and underwear, grabbing her crotch and grinding up on a dance partner is raunchy, trashy, and offensive but you don’t think her dance partner is raunchy, trashy, or offensive as he sings a song about 'blurred' lines of consent and propagating rape culture, then you may want to reevaluate your acceptance of double standards and your belief in stereotypes about how men vs. women 'should' and are 'allowed' to behave." 
-Dr. Jill McDevitt

This quote is something that has actually been really, really concerning to me.  I am very tired of talking about Miley Cyrus.  I can't make up my mind on what exactly I think about all the madness that went down on that stage, but the one thing I know for sure is that Robin Thicke hasn't really been called out on anything.  And that is infuriating.  The fact that he has been completely neglected reflects society's tendency to vilify a woman for displaying sexuality while ignoring, or worse, condoning a man's bad sexual behavior.  Yes, I know that Miley was much more in your face with all the inappropriateness - he wasn't really involved in any of the foam finger mania - but is nobody going to address all of the things that he was saying on that stage? 

"People say, 'Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?' I’m like, '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.' So we just wanted to turn it over on its head and make people go, 'Women and their bodies are beautiful. Men are always gonna want to follow them around.'”   

-Robin Thicke (in an interview) 

Blurred Lines is a disturbing song that basically validates - even encourages - rapists.  To quote Lisa Huyne (fellow blogger, Feminist in L.A.), "Basically, the majority of the song (creepily named 'Blurred Lines') has the R&B singer murmuring 'I know you want it' over and over into a girl's ear.  Call me a cynic, but that phrase does not exactly encompass the notion of consent in sexual activity. Seriously, this song is disgusting." On top of that, the song refers to "domesticating" women, along with mentioning "smacking your ass and pulling your hair" and "giving you something big enough to tear your ass in two," along with a chorus that continually repeats "I hate those blurred lines."  Having this kind of message playing on the radio all of the time is harmful.  As Eric Clapp said on his site, "viewing images of objectified women gives men greater tolerance for sexual harassment and greater rape myth acceptance and helps them view women as less competent and less human.  Certainly singing about blurred lines will at the very least reinforce a culture that already trivializes the importance of consent."

Horrifying message of the song aside, their performance is bound to live in infamy.  But, it seems, only for Cyrus.  Nearly every article I've seen has only mentioned her, and comments even on sites such as the Huffington Post are all about Cyrus, calling her "slutty," saying she "messed his song up," and that it was "embarrassing."  While I agree that the performance was very hard to watch, he was being just as inappropriate as she was, even if it was less direct.  Thicke's mother, however, seems to not understand this, even saying on the Today Show: "I was not expecting her to be putting her butt that close to my son...now I can never unsee it."  Yes, I hope that you can eventually recover from the 20 year old grinding against your fully clothed son as he sings about date rape.  

"We started acting like we were two old men on a porch hollering at girls like, 'Hey, where are you going, girl? Come over here!' ... It was great."   

-Thicke (on writing the song lyrics)

At the performance Thicke got to play the part of the dirty old man with 20 year old Miley Cyrus.  While some of her poor judgement can be blamed on the fact that she's young and was a child star, the same definitely cannot be said for Thicke, who is 36 and married with a child. Thicke plays the part well, always surrounding himself with young nearly or completely naked models, while he himself stays fully clothed.

Since the VMAs, Thicke has noted disappointment in including Cyrus (according to one of his managers) because "he thought it would be fun to include Miley, but didn't realize how much she would overshadow him. This was his big night and his big performance...he wouldn't have done it knowing what it ended up like." 

Poor Robin Thicke. If it were up to me, your striped suit would be a real prison suit. 

You know you want it.




More links to read:
http://blog.pigtailpals.com/?p=4433
Some studies:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/11/objectification-suppresses-womens-desire-to-engage-in-social-activism-study-finds/
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103108001005
http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/16/11/1103.short
A parody version where the genders are swapped:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tKfwCjgiodg#t=80
And other random things:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/what-miley-cyrus-was-trying-to-do-at-the-vmas-vs-what-miley
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2013/08/27/deep-thoughts-about-miley-cyruss-vma-performance/
http://whatrhymeswithhug.me/