So, as I wrote yesterday, 'California Girls' isn't the only shit-filled oppressing song that Katy Perry has spat out.
Today's post will focus on her other recent track: 'Teenage Dream'. It should actually be called 'Teenage Wet Dream' because that's exactly what the lyrics imply:
You think I'm pretty
Without any makeup on
You think I'm funny
When I tell the punchline wrong
I know you get me
So I let my walls come down, down
Before you met me
I was a wreck but things
Were kinda heavy
You brought me to life
Now every February
You'll be my Valentine, Valentine
Let's go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance, until we die
You and I, will be young forever
You make me feel
Like I'm livin' a
Teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's run away and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back
My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back
We drove to Cali
And got drunk on the beach
Got a motel and
Built a fort out of sheets
I finally found you
My missing puzzle piece
I'm complete
Let's go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance, until we die
You and I, will be young forever
You make me feel
Like I'm livin' a
Teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's run away and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back
My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back
I'mma get your heart racing
In my skin tights jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Let you put your hands on me
In my skin tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Yoooouuu
You make me feel
Like I'm livin' a
Teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can't sleep
Let's run away and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back
No
My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now baby I believe
This is real
So take a chance and
Don't ever look back,
Don't ever look back
I'mma get your heart racing
In my skin tights jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Let you put your hands on me
In my skin tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
(Tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight)
Firstly, just because a dude says you look good without makeup and tells you you're funny even when you're a blithering idiot does not necessarily mean he loves you and that you should throw your virginity, vagina (or dignity) at him. I feel like young women (well, a lot of women) have such a false impression of what love is and that is why they are having sex younger and younger. They think that love = sex and the media plays a large role in this. Now, don't get me wrong, if an individual feels like they want to have sex or explore their sexuality then they are free to do so without judgment. But girls should make a conscious decision to do so out of their own desires/curiosity - not because they think that guys will like them more, or even love them, if they have sex.
The second verse sets up the idea that Katy Perry, or the "girl" in this "love" story, was in an awful place before she met this guy. And that's fine. Some people go through dark times and meet people along the way that help them out of these woes. But then Katy suddenly breaks into "Let's go all the way tonight". Um, wait a second…weren’t you just depressed and all “boo hoo – I’m a wreck and things are heavy” like 2 seconds ago? Oh right, I forgot: this isn’t REAL life – it’s Katy Perry’s life. So I guess sex makes you forget about your problems and a guy wanting to bang your brains out makes you feel good about yourself. Yeaaaah….that feeling will last for all of 5 minutes or until he climbs off of you, cleans up his splooge, and bounces. That is, until next time he sees you are down and vulnerable – he’ll know just what to say and do to make you feel good again and look what’s in it for him! Some vagine. And isn’t this kind of hinting that if a guy ever gets you through a hard point in your life, you owe him something for the favour? Sex it is, I guess! Yep, sure, I'll let you stick your dick in me for being a good friend. It's the least I can do. It’s what society has taught me to do. It is really the only thing of value that I have; the female body acts as currency. I could just return the favour by being there for you and being your shoulder to cry on when the time comes but obviously my job as a woman is to be their for your sexual satisfaction. This makes me think of guys who put on the act of “the nice guy” to get women to fall for them or to get them into bed. And I’m not making it up - it happens. I know someone personally who came up with a plan to be super sweet, nice and charming to his ex-girlfriend – sending her nice texts, taking her out to the movies, holding her hand, bringing her coffee – just so that she will “see how great he is” and, in turn, will want him back. And when this happens, he plans on rubbing it in her face that she broke up with him and she won’t find anyone as great as he is. Isn’t that FUCKED UP? He doesn’t want to BE a good person – he wants to fake it to make someone feel regret. Disgusting.
"You make me feel like I'm livin a teenage dream the way you turn me on. I can't sleep". I didn't know that all teenagers were that horny ALL the time. I mean, yeah puberty can mess with your hormones, but as far as I remember - I wasn't sitting in ninth grade science class fantasizing about all the dry humping I would be doing as soon as the bell rang. In fact, I remember being terrified of the idea of a penis and what it would do to me. I remember hearing about the girls who did choose to lose their virginity and thinking "Oh my Lord, weren't they scared?!". Then again, Katy Perry hadn't appeared in pop culture then so, maybe that explains my fear of the “holy” penis. I just read an article today that discusses the struggles women encounter with sex and orgasms (see link at bottom of post). It says that “our culture puts a tremendous amount of pressure on women to be sexy and sexually responsive” and “societies that don’t value female satisfaction restrict sex to what men enjoy”. It’s not easy for women to enjoy sex and focus on their own pleasure when “genuine female sexuality is culturally invisible and what is visible is a pornified facsimile of female desire”. And how true it is! These lyrics create an unrealistic representation of female sexuality. It makes guys treat you like porn stars and makes you act like one to pleasure and satisfy them.
Katy goes on to sing about how her heart stops when this guy looks at her and how "now baby" she believes "this is real". Real what, Katy? Real love? The media already sets an unrealistic, romanticized idea of what a loving relationship is, which, in turn, sends the message that this is what young girls need to, and should, strive for the moment they hit puberty and what they should expect. Now sex is thrown into the mix. Way to further society’s already twisted concept of love! Bravo.
Wouldn’t be a Katy Perry song if she wasn’t singing about California, beaches, booze and sex in skuzzy places! Looks like getting drunk on a beach and getting some ass in a dirty motel room (forgive me, I have a phobia of motel rooms) is the thing to do these days. Well it is if you want to feel complete, according to Katy. I’ll keep that in mind: if I want to feel better about myself I need to let some guy fuck me in some unwashed motel sheets. *shudders*
You can clearly get the gist of this deeply moving track (note the sarcasm) in the lines “I’mma get your heart racing in my skin tight jeans”. Yet again, Katy makes it clear that a woman’s ability to attract a guy lies in her physical appearance. I had better race to the mall and buy myself some skin tight pants (camel toe anyone?) if I ever want a guy to find me attractive.
It’s songs like these, and other forms of media, that have desensitized the youth of today. Sex is everywhere – in television and film, in music videos, advertisements, commercials, etc. We are being slapped across the face with sexual images of women and over time we have become numb to it. We no longer tense up preparing for it and we no longer feel the sting when it happens.
http://community.feministing.com/2010/08/12/taking-female-sexuality-out-of-the-male-box/#more-11419
No comments:
Post a Comment