Rape Culture in Music

Blurred Lines- Robin Thicke

lyrics here

In this song, Robin Thicke sings about hating “those blurred lines” presumably a reference to consent when it comes to sex. Other parts of the song allude to this as well including “If you can’t hear what I’m trying to say, If you can’t read from the same page”, “Tried to domesticate you”, and “I know you want it”. This song encourages and normalizes rape culture.

 

Literally I Can’t (STFU)- Play N Skillz

lyrics here

The main idea of this song is that a girl doesn’t agree to do what a group of guys wants her to and their response is “Shut the fuck up.” They then proceed to try and force her and her friends into situations that clearly make them uncomfortable. Again, this is an encouragement of rape culture.

 

Animals- Adam Levine

lyrics here

In this song, Adam Levine stalks a girl he likes, sneaks into her room, and has sexual fantasies about her while touching huge slabs of meat. Although confusing, this song and video continues the idea that men are “animals” that can’t control their sexual feelings which leads to victim blaming of women who are sexually harassed.

 

The ideas of rape culture are dependent on ideas of male supremacy which show up in the curriculum in John Ruskin’s “On Queen’s Gardens” and in “Women’s Rights” on page 17. The ideas of rape culture are also based on the idea that men are unable to control their sexualities and therefore is continued using the “human instinct” (c, 34) idea.

Sexualization and Social Media

Instagram has a similar policy

Pinterest has a no nudity policy

Google+ allows female nipples only in cartoons

 

Before I start to analyze I want to clearly says that it is not gender that is the issue here but sex. This is because not all women have breasts that would be censored according to these policies (ex. some trans women).

 

That being established, I think the message here is clear. (Cis) women’s bodies are apparently inherently sexual and even if these images are shared in a non-sexual empowering context, they are still bad. This is interesting to look at in the context of all of the other examples in this section. The media is 100% fine with displaying (cis) women’s bodies to sell products such as dog food and make entire songs about how women’s butts “wiggle” but as soon as (cis) women want to take their sexuality back and display it on their own terms, it will be taken down and censored.

This can all be tied back to the overall statement of the John Ruskin reading and the poem on page 17 of the curriculum because it has everything to do with women and their roles. Their job in life is not to do things for themselves but for men.

Sexualization (that has nothing to do with the product) in Advertisement

After getting to the end of this sexual commercial, the viewer will see that it is advertising dog food. Let me repeat that. Dog food.

This ad is most likely using the idea of the “human instinct” (c, 34) of straight men to get their attention.

This is also supposed to be funny (rather than extremely objectifying and sexist) because the dogs seem to be attracted to this woman.

Miss Budweiser

Miss Budweiser Hot Body Contest 2015

The point of the contest as stated in the title is to judge which woman’s body is the hottest.

Each woman goes up on stage in two different (revealing) outfits showing off her butt cheeks and cleavage and her measurements are read to the audience.

After each round the contestants stand so the audience can see their rear ends and cheer very loudly.

 

This is another example of appealing to the “human instincts” of straight men in order to create excitement and love for a brand (in this case Budweiser).

Sexualization in Apparel and Fragrance Ads

These ad examples are similar to those in the food advertisement post. They appeal to the “human instinct” of sexual attraction in order to get viewers interested.

They can also be seen as “positive advertisements”. “Positive advertisements show the benefits direct or indirect, explicit or implicit that would come from purchasing the advertised product” (c, 40). The unreasonable but somewhat implied assumption is that by buying many of these products, the consumer will receive the sexual attractiveness along with it.

 

Sexualization in Food Ads

These three examples show how sexualized women can be in food ads. What happens here is that the product is made to look appealing by using women’s sexualities.

This reminds me of the idea of appealing to “human instinct” (c, 34) because sexual attraction can be seen as a human instinct. Therefore some people (mostly straight men) will be attracted to these women by nature, causing them to be more interested in the product.

Sexualization in Music

Wiggle- Jason Derulo

lyrics here

This song is entirely based off of the fetishization of butts in today’s society. That is literally the only focus of both the song and the video.

Like other examples in this section, this shows a lack of respect for women that can be traced back to ideas in the curriculum on page 17. This is also another example of consumers taking in messages because they are too caught up in the “fun” of the music much like the effect of fairs and malls in the early 1900s.

Sexualization in Magazines

Magazines like US daily consider women celebrities’ bodies as news. An example of this is the article title: “Khloe Kardashian’s Body Looks Insane in Sexy New Ensembles: See the Pics!” Another example comes from The Express, a website that actually reports serious news as well including political updates. The title is: “Kim Kardashian flaunts serious cleavage as she strips off for sexy swimwear shoot” The article has a photo slideshow at the bottom with 52 pictures of Kim Kardashian’s body. And these are only two examples, there are many many more all over the internet and newsstands.

What this fascination with women’s bodies reveals is a lack of respect for women. Women’s role is to please straight men according to society today and according to page 17 of the curriculum.

Gender Roles in Movies

When one searches “action movies” using Google, 51 examples show up right away. Of these only one has a woman on her own on the cover (The Hunger Games). One has one woman and two men, one has two women and two men, two have one woman among two men and some creatures (Star Wars), one has one woman and three men, two have one woman and four men and one has one woman and one man. All of the rest have only men on the cover.

What this reveals about our society is that we see bravery, violence, and action as inherently manly characteristics. What is upsetting though is that not only does this belief exist in the first place, it is continued by the lack of female roles in these types of movies. People all over watch these things and internalize the message.

 

This sexist belief is similar to those expressed in “On Queen’s Gardens” in which John Ruskin says that “The man, in his rough work in open world, must encounter all peril and trial: – to him, therefore, the failure, the offense, the inevitable error: often he must be wounded, or subdued, often misled, and always hardened” (c, 17). The use of the media to promote these ideas reminds me of using fairs and malls to stop consumers from thinking critically and allow them to take in messages more easily.