Women can be astronauts and prime ministers but watch a music video and you could be convinced ladies are only capable of two things: gyrating and licking phallic objects, writes Zoe Arnold.
I’m one of those people who hears a song on the radio, knows half the words, but has no idea of the artist.
Ask me to name who is trending in the Top 100 now and I will draw a blank. Actually, 100 blanks. My music preferences are largely decades old, and my radio is generally controlled by my toddlers, who will choose The Wiggles over FM radio any day.
In the name of research, I recently you-tubed ‘Blurred Lines’ and ‘We Can’t Stop’ (by Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus respectively) to watch their music videos.
They are uncannily alike; much of the screen time is devoted to goddess-like women gyrating around the place in waist-high underpants while licking phallic objects.
When they aren’t gyrating, they dry hump whatever’s closest: a man, a woman, a bed … it doesn’t seem to matter.
They have both been slammed by feminists the world over for portraying women as (dumb) sex objects.
Turns out both music videos are shot by the same woman: Diane Martel.
It pains me that a woman is responsible for these videos. It seems so unnecessary to make nudity the focus of two songs whose lyrics could be just passed off as inane. Now they’re both inane, and offensive. Nice one, Diane.
Robin Thicke tells us that he is “nothing like your last guy, he too square for you, he don’t smack that ass and pull your hair like that” — so romantic! — while Miley Cyrus cleverly makes a rhyme about cocaine use “And everyone in line in the bathroom, Trying to get a line in the bathroom”. Actually wait, she didn’t even make a rhyme.
The truth is, these songs are really catchy. They both feature somewhere in the Top 10 pretty much wherever they are being played world over. And they are fun to dance to, at least in the privacy of my own home.
I’m no wowser, but both Thicke and Cyrus have a huge teenage and pre-teen fanbase. Young girls love these two stars — particularly Cyrus who once graced our screens as Hannah Montana.
While she’s busy shedding her Disney good-girl image, young impressionable women are looking at her with stars in their eyes.
I don’t know any parent that would want their daughter idolising a scantily clad woman licking various objects around her house. Or want their son to think it’s the norm for men to be fully-clothed, while naked women prance around them, riding stuffed animals.
While of course there is a disconnect between reality and the fantasy world of music videos, those lines become blurred (pardon the pun) when young people are the main consumers.
As adults, we can choose whether or not large plastic panties and a corny hook is what we want from our tunes. But let’s face it: kids listen to what other kids listen to. And they watch what other kids watch.
So, the old adage that sex sells is still boringly correct. The maker of both film clips said in a recent interview: “I want to make videos that sell records … that is my main focus right now.”
With that in mind, she ought to be congratulated. Both songs are selling millions on iTunes alone. Cha-ching!
Maybe music videos aren’t the place to find feminist inspiration. Maybe I need to get me a pair of those giant plastic panties. Or maybe it’s ok for women to wear clothes, and still be inspiring.
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