I pretty much love Christina Aguilera for (i think) some pretty obvious reasons, namely her song Beautiful. However, her song Still Dirty is a little perturbing.
On the one side I like it because she asks, "Why is a woman's sexuality always under so much scrutiny? Why can't she do exactly as she please without being called a million things?" YES! THANK YOU! I love this line because she's so right! There are so many more words for promiscuous women than there are for men and we get called each one of them a million times a day. To our faces, behind our backs, just everywhere!
But her line "If I want to wear lingere outside of my clothes, if I want to be erotic in my own videos, if i want to be provocative, well, that aint a sin. Maybe you're not comfortable in your own skin." Um, girl please.
I touched on this subject in the Katy Perry post but music videos are the most main stream form of pornography there is. Just look at any top 40 music video where the artist is a woman. She is always half naked and drawing attention to her ass and tits. And often there's no mention of sex in the song, but the directors throw it in there just for funsies. There are so many social ramifications on this. We learn that women are always up for sex, we learn that women typically lounge about their bedrooms in just our bras and panties, we learn that men have to constantly turn down women and we learn that heterosexual sex is the only kind of sex. (seriously, tell me the last time your saw gay sex in a music video)
So by asserting her right to "do exactly as she please," she is indeed taking a step forward as a person. But by saying she really wants to do this, she's insinuating that all women really want to be treated the way they are portrayed in main stream music videos. It's like a woman who crys to get out of a ticket. Yes she has an individual benefit by not having to pay the fine, but she's pushing a negative stereotype about all women.
So good for your ms Aguilera for standing up for your right to do what you want. I just wish you'd realize what a detriment to womenhood your music videos are.
You know, this is exactly what feminists said about flappers in the 1920s. However, instead of finding fault with a negative role model, perhaps we should seek out positive ones?
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