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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To find the blurred lines song offensive

340 replies

Winter123 · 14/08/2013 23:37

Here's an extract of the lyrics if you are lucky enough to have not been subjected to them...

Baby, it's in your nature
Just let me liberate you
You don't need no papers
That man is not your maker
And that's why I'm gon' take a
Good girl
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it
You're a good girl

I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two

Nothin' like your last guy, he too square for you
He don't smack that ass and pull your hair like that
So I'm just watching and waitin'
For you to salute the true big pimpin'

Do it like it hurt, like it hurt
What you don't like work

I know it's a bit old now... But it still makes me so Angry

OP posts:
Buttercup4 · 15/08/2013 21:56

poorbuthappy that's exactly it isn't it. People just do not get why it is so offensive!

It's so infuriating when people say 'oh it's just a song' actually not just a song its also a vulgar video. It's their views that are polluting the minds of the younger generation into believing that this is 'the norm' and that this is an acceptable way to treat women.

Do they want their grandmas/mothers/sisters/daughters spoken about like that?! If they wouldn't be bothered I think that says a lot about their morals

needaholidaynow · 15/08/2013 21:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

poorbuthappy · 15/08/2013 22:02

Yes well with a mother and father like that its no surprise what he's gonna turn out like.

poorbuthappy · 15/08/2013 22:04

MNHQ - get Pharrell Williams on for a webchat. Would love to see how that would go.
I'll go first...

So Pharrell, how does writing songs about raping women fit in with Dispicable Me 1 and 2? Where do you think your target audience is?

timidviper · 15/08/2013 22:06

motownmover Madonna may have been in control but she cynically pushed and overstepped boundaries quite frequently and when artist after artist does this we end up with crap we all find tasteless. Whenever anyone complains they are told free speech, creativity, etc but letting those boundaries of taste and decency slip leads to the sexist, misogynist attitudes we see on MTV.

Alisvolatpropiis · 15/08/2013 22:09

poor

The song clearly is not about raping women. It's about rough sex. Which some women do like. I don't like the lyrics myself,they are unpleasant. But that doesn't make it about rape.

Pharrell Williams target audience is and always has been adults. The Despicable Me soundtracks etc are just something he has done on the side of his main career, as a rapper.

PrincessFlirtyPants · 15/08/2013 22:11

poorbuthappy target audience are maybe those currently on a register? Fans of Jimmy Saville? Would love love love to see him on a webchat... He would probably try to recruit a few of us for his next video...

Wasapea · 15/08/2013 22:14

Pharrell doesn't do the rap.

Alisvolatpropiis · 15/08/2013 22:19

Wasapea

I didn't say he does the rap. But he is a rapper by career and his target audience are adults.

Wasapea · 15/08/2013 22:24

Sorry Alis, that wasn't a reply to you. I agree with what you said. Someone up thread said he did.

Alisvolatpropiis · 15/08/2013 22:27

Ah I see! No worries Wasapea Smile

poorbuthappy · 15/08/2013 22:30

No but Pharrell puts his name to it, and then does a soundtrack for a kids film

Is that what they mean by blurred boundaries? You can write a song about ripping a woman's anus apart, and still write for kids' films?

poorbuthappy · 15/08/2013 22:31

Or you are a good girl, but really you want me to rip your arse apart... cos you don't know what you want, so its up to me to tell you.

PrincessFlirtyPants · 15/08/2013 22:31

There's nothing wrong with consensual rough sex, if that's what someone likes. The problem is the song is very suggestive, to most women on this thread it sounds like its suggesting rape. I understand if others don't see it that way.

The fact that there is confusion about whether it is or isn't about rape shows that the lyrics have crossed a line and that line is not 'blurred' (pardon the pun)

Alisvolatpropiis · 15/08/2013 22:42

I must admit before coming across this thread I had only heard the song in passing,never in full. Usually just the "you're a good girl..." bit. Which was enough to make me think "fuck off tosser".

Having seen the lyrics in full and listened to them I think it is about rough sex and a bit of cannabis smoking. I don't like the lyrics and think they are at best casually misoginistic.

Mayanbob · 15/08/2013 22:56

For those people who are saying "it's just a song, what's the problem?"

The problem is that it is not being presented as anything but normal. In fact I would say that the lilt of the song (excuse lack of technical music language) is particularly 'normal' and easy to listen to. Of course, the majority of people who listen to this/ watch the video, don't actually pay any attention to this and it goes on completely of no consequence, or do hear the lyrics and sing along and it doesn't affect them in any way.

The problem is with the people who listen to this who DO listen to the lyrics and thing "yes... this is what women are about, and this is how they should be treated " It makes rapey, misogynistic ideals okay, and can be enough to shush the voice inside some people who are struggling with their view of women and lead them to think that certain actions are okay and supported by the general population. Yes this is a minority of people, and this wouldn't be remotely as much of an issue if this song was a one off- but it isn't and its popular, the songs ideals are reinforced through rape 'jokes' and the sexual objectification of women in society at large.

So no, in my opinion YANBU Smile

winds neck in and gets down of soapbox

PrincessFlirtyPants · 15/08/2013 23:10

^ this ^ well said Mayanbob

SolidGoldBrass · 16/08/2013 00:46

I hate the title as much as the rest of it, as it seems like such a blatant defence of rape - all that oh, well, it's kind of a grey area, a blurred line between a woman being an enthusiastic, equal participant in a sexual act and one who is just having a dick shoved up her arse whether she likes it or not.

plannedshock · 16/08/2013 08:34

Jeez if you think that's bad listen to azelia banks 212 never EVER let your kids listen to her! Was in the charts everyone loved it, think she was "doing it for the women" no thanks.

UnknownGnome · 16/08/2013 08:40

I'm hoping this won't be played at my dc's primary school disco. They play all the 'in' songs - Gangnam Style, Sexy And Know it - I hope Blurred Lines doesn't appear next term.

UnknownGnome · 16/08/2013 08:41

What's wrong with just playing The Birdie Song and Agadoo?

SirChenjin · 16/08/2013 09:06

UnknownGnome - maybe you could write to the school about it? I'm willing to bet that the organisers and the teachers will be as ignorant of the lyrics as many of us on here were, seeing it as nothing more than a catchy pop song (I know I did Sad)

hackmum · 16/08/2013 09:27

Happy to say I have never heard the song or seen the video. The lyrics seem to be inciting violence against women. You'd have thought there was a law against that, wouldn't you? Apparently not.

curiousgeorgie · 16/08/2013 10:26

Why on earth does it matter that Pharrell was involved with the soundtrack for a child's movie???

That's like saying that actors should only be in one genre of film in case a child sees them playing a different character.

Robin Thicke has been with the same woman since he was a teenager. He seems like a genuinely nice person. Clearly the video was intended to be controversial and designed to get people up in arms... Which is clearly working.

And I detest the word 'rapey' by the way. Childish and trying to be funny about something that isn't...

Rooners · 16/08/2013 10:40

It just makes me think of being in labour frankly Blush

It is very nasty and wrong. I have never heard the actual song but those lyrics are inexcusable.