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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

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Original poster

Diamonds are a girl's best friend.. Are they???

125 replies

sakura · 08/02/2011 06:03

I'd like to start at thread about dodgy song lyrics, because songs are everywhere: in shops, on the radio, on TV, on old films; they're the background noise to life, which gives me the sense that they might be a form of brainwashing.

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend"
[No they're not, My best friend-a funny, warm, clever woman- is my best friend]

"ah, brown sugar how come you taste so good? ah, brown sugar just like a young girl should" (Rolling Stones) [Should I? Should girls taste of brown sugar?]

And that's before you get to all the songs about women pining for men who've jilted them, and men trying to get rid of clingy women who can't take the message....

Shows again how those in power get to define current popular ideology by only allowing the worldviews that they like/support/identify with to become public. ANd then everyone belives the patriarchal definition of women, even women themselves..

OP posts:
Original poster
sakura · 09/02/2011 00:55

or if there is a hidden meaning in Hit me Baby one more time, how many people are going to find it?

OP posts:
ReturnOfTheBoomBap · 09/02/2011 13:35

Pop music reflects mass culture, so it is obviously going to be hideously sexist (and increasingly sexual). I despise the videos more than the lyrics. Lady Gaga and all the little copycats prancing around in bondage gear talking about 'lurve'. It's horrible.

Personally, I'm a big fan of hip hop. now there is a genre of music full of casual misogyny (the stuff I like isn't, obv).

The thing is, I find the sugary, Barbie-view of female sexuality (Beyonce, Britney) just as disturbing as the hardcore 'I got 99 problems, but a bitch aint one' style lyrics of Jay Z. It says one thing to me: women don't have any power whatsoever in the music industry. It is run by men, and the artists who get signed and the songs we hear and the images that are beamed at are us are conceived by men, for men. That makes me feel quite depressed.

TeiTetua · 09/02/2011 14:07

It's a golden oldie, but unforgettable. "Under My Thumb" by the Rolling Stones.

www.keno.org/stones_lyrics/under_my_thumb.htm

"Siamese cat of a girl". Love it.

TeiTetua · 09/02/2011 14:18

Speaking of "Stand by Your Man"--for sheer awfulness of lyrics and hair and presentation generally:

HerBeX · 09/02/2011 14:23

Oh fuck I couldn't get past the first 2 lines of that, it's actually quite painful to watch - women as martyrs.

What's that appalling song from Oliver, which Nancy sings? "Whenever heeeeee neeeeeeeeds meeeeee...." I'll be around for him to batter and murder me, because that's what good women do.
Or some crap along those lines...

HerBeX · 09/02/2011 14:24

Actually have just watched the last clip of that stand by your man she looks like she's in some mogodon induced semi-coma. She'd fucking need to be, singing shit like that.

margaretisland · 09/02/2011 14:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PurveyorOfWoo · 09/02/2011 14:38

I detest that Kelis (had to look that up) Milkshake song:

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard,
And their like
It's better than yours,
Damn right it's better than yours,
I can teach you,
But I have to charge

I've heard preschoolers singing this (or attempting to)

nikki1978 · 09/02/2011 14:45

Ooh weird! I was just reading the post about the Cee Lo Green song and it came on the radio!

HerBeX · 09/02/2011 14:47

Margaret, to be fair to the appalling Sting (and oh how that sticks in the craw), he has always said he cannot understand why people sing it as a love song, when it is supposed to be a dark, demented rant of an obsessed stalker.

margaretisland · 09/02/2011 19:58

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HerBeX · 09/02/2011 20:06

ha ha you're busted

margaretisland · 09/02/2011 21:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

belledechocchipcookie · 09/02/2011 21:12

Hey, dogs are a man's best friend, diamonds are a girls best friend so which one's stupid? Wink

marantha · 09/02/2011 21:19

I can see that all of them could be perceived as offensive but I have to say the Chris Rea 'Driving Home For Christmas' is totally inoffensive- it's only about a man driving home to see his family, what's wrong with that? For all we know, his wife has a career, too.

Nothing offensive about this song, everything else? Yes, I can see that the other songs could give offence.

EngelbertFustianMcSlinkydog · 09/02/2011 21:20

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

LynetteScavo · 09/02/2011 21:22

Sheena Easton; "My baby takes the morning train, he works form 9-5 and then he takes the train back home again to find me waiting for him"

I was about 8 and my sister 18 when this was in the charts. I remember my sister saying "How fucking boring your life must be"

marantha · 09/02/2011 21:23

I don't understand why 'I drove all night' is creepy- it's non-gender specific (think it was sung by Roy Orbison and Cindy Lauper) and just about a person's desire for another.
Why is it creepy?

belledechocchipcookie · 09/02/2011 21:24

It's about an obsessive stalker marantha.

BestLaidPlans · 09/02/2011 21:24

PurveyorofWoo I'm tempted by this t-shirt for the same reason. Note irony of hideous women-in-pants type advertising next to it though.

marantha · 09/02/2011 21:24

No it's not.

marantha · 09/02/2011 21:27

The stalking one is 'Every breath You take'. Now THAT is a stalking song.

PurveyorOfWoo · 09/02/2011 21:29

BLP, I'm liking youre style Grin

(and Oh the irony)

LynetteScavo · 09/02/2011 21:31

marantha, didn't sting write that when he was stalked by a school girl when he was a teacher?

marantha · 09/02/2011 21:34

I think you are thinking of 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'.