After being introduced to Sarah Haskin's hilarious videos "Target Women", I have become obsessed with the idea of creating my own web videos. While Haskins focuses on gender stereotypes in all different kinds of media (see link at bottom of post), my interest (well, my interest at the moment) lies in song lyrics.
I drive to and from work and it is roughly a 30-40 minute commute. At times I pop in a cd but more often than not I listen to the radio. The stations that my car radio are auto set to are: Q107, 102.1 The Edge, 103.3, 97.7, 104.5 Chum FM and 99.9 Virgin Radio. So, I hear a variety of music played on these stations ranging from classic rock to punk, alternative to pop, grunge to r&b and hip hop - you name it.
Since becoming a feminist and reading and learning more about gender stereotypes and how women are portrayed in the media, I am more aware than ever - even listening to the radio. It is insane how I never REALLY listened to what songs were saying before. If I liked the beat or enjoyed an artist's voice, I would blast the tune and sing along (even if I did look like a crazy person driving down the street). But my new found feminist radar has kicked into full gear and I cannot believe some of the lyrics in songs that air these days. What gets me is that if I didn't realize what these songs were actually saying - how are the kids and teens listening going to take them?
Therefore, I want to start blogging about music and song lyrics. I want to analyze what they are REALLY saying and how this, in turn, creates gender stereotypes and degrades women.
Thus, I will begin with what I think is one of the most obvious (and awful) examples of this: Katy Perry.
Katy Perry's "song of the summer" 'California Girls' was one that, when I first heard it on the radio, I bopped along to. And then I actually listened to what she was saying:
[Snoop Dogg]
Greetings loved ones
Let's take a journey
[Katy Perry - Verse 1]
I know a place
Where the grass is really greener
Warm, wet and wild
There must be somethin' in the water
Sippin' gin and juice
Layin' underneath the palm trees (Undone)
The boys
Break their necks
Try'na creep a little sneak peek (At us)
You could travel the world
But nothing comes close
To the Golden Coast
Once you party with us
You'll be falling in love
Oooooh oh oooooh
[Katy Perry - Chorus]
California girls
We're unforgettable
Daisy Dukes
Bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your Popsicle
Oooooh oh oooooh
California girls
We're undeniable
Fine, fresh, fierce
We got it on lock
Westcoast represent
Now put your hands up
Oooooh oh oooooh
[Katy Perry - Verse 2]
Sex on the beach
We don't mind sand in our Stilettos
We freak
In my Jeep
Snoop Doggy Dogg on the stereo (Oh oh)
You could travel the world
But nothing comes close
To the Golden Coast
Once you party with us
You'll be falling in love
Oooooh oh oooooh
[Katy Perry - Chorus]
California girls
We're unforgettable
Daisy Dukes
Bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your Popsicle
Oooooh oh oooooh
California gurls
We're undeniable
Fine, fresh, fierce
We got it on lock
Westcoast represent
Now put your hands up
Oooooh oh oooooh
[Snoop Dogg - Verse 3]
Toned, tanned
Fit and ready
Turn it up 'cause it's gettin' heavy
Wild, wild Westcoast
These are the girls I love the most
I mean the ones
I mean like she's the one
Kiss her
Touch her
Squeeze her buns (huh!)
The girl's a freak
She drives a Jeep
and lives on the beach
I'm okay
I won't play
I love the Bay
Just like I love L.A.
Venice Beach
And Palm Springs
Summertime is everything
All the boys
Bangin' out
All that ass
Hangin' out
Bikinis, zucchinis, martinis
No weenies
Just the king
And the queen-ie
Katy my lady
(Yeah)
You're lookin'here baby
(Uh huh)
I'm all up on you
Cause you representin California
(Ohhh yeahh)
[Katy Perry - Chorus]
California gurls
We're unforgettable
Daisy Dukes
Bikinis on top
Sun-kissed skin
So hot
We'll melt your Popsicle
Oooooh oh oooooh
California gurls
We're undeniable
Fine, fresh, fierce
We got it on lock
Westcoast represent
(Westcoast, Westcoast)
Now put your hands up
Oooooh oh oooooh
Snoop Dogg:
(Californiaaa, Californiaaa)
California girls man
I wish they all could be
California girls
(Californiaaa)
I really wish
You all could be
California girls
(Californiaaa, girls)
So I think I am right to assume that Perry is attempting to point out how great girls from Cali are. Well, they wear daisy dukes with bikini tops. They are really tan. So tan, in fact, that they will melt your popsicle - which is CLEARLY an innuendo for penis. I don't know about you, but I don't know any guy who would want some chick to melt their dick. Give 'em a boner maybe but melt the thing entirely? That's some serious fucked up S&M shit Katy.
According to Katy, it seems that all California girls do is party ("sippin gin and juice") and fuck on the beach wearing stilettos. Oh nope, wait I'm wrong. They fuck in their jeeps too. Doggie style right up on the dashboard. MAN I wanna be a California girl! No fair!!
Don't forget about Snoop Dog. He likes his Cali girls "Toned, tanned, fit and ready." Ready for what, you may ask? Ready for them to melt his dick off? Perhaps. Or maybe he is ready to "kiss her, touch her, squeeze her buns". Katy obviously likes it - you can hear her let out some sort of orgasmic moan in the background. (Wait a minute, isn't she engaged to Russel Brand? What will Russel think?!). I dunno about you, but if Snoop Dog came up to me on a beach and started kissing me and squeezing my buns - I would not think it was orgasmic. That fucker would have a lawsuit on his hands. But it's okay, cuz Snoop is totally justified in his actions: "I'm all up on you cause you representin California". OHHH okay. So if some guy jumps out of the bushes and rapes me, it's alright because I'm representin the GTA. Gotcha.
Snoop sums up his input into the matter by saying "I really wish you all could be California girls". So, you wish all girls, all females, could be toned, tanned, fit, and "ready" to be groped and have their ass smacked or squeezed at the drop of a hat? "Ready" to fuck on the beach wearing high heels and bend over for you in your car? Ready to be sexual objects for men? I guess that explains Katy Perry's cupcake breasts in the music video. We are food for men to devour.
I always wonder....are these female artists who make this kind of music aware of the message they are sending to women or, more importantly, young girls? Or are they themselves buying into this garbage? Honestly, I don't know which one is worse.
Katy is saying (very bluntly, in fact) that girls from California are so amazingly awesome because of what they look like, the clothes that they wear, how much sex they have, and how much they party. Why is it these kinds of things that define a woman?
Snoop Dog just adds to the bullshit confirming that yes, this is indeed what men look for in a woman and that he wishes ALL women could be like this. He also sends the message that sexual harassment is okay and that girls like it! No wonder so many men hoot and holler at women on the streets and think it's funny to grab an ass or two at a bar.
It is songs like these (and the music videos that accompany them) that make prepubescent teen girls run out and buy push up bras, go to a tanning salon, develop eating disorders and the like and, in turn, make guys think it is okay, that it is their right, to objectify and harass women.
Sadly, this isn't the only Katy Perry song that exemplifies these kinds of messages.
But that's for another post.
http://current.com/shows/infomania/target-women/
"Ready for what, you may ask? Ready for them to melt his dick off? Perhaps."
ReplyDeleteThis was a brilliant post - you're hilarious and you make such a good point.
It's this idea of the female body as currency - that you sing about boobs or make a video about cupcake tits because in the shit culture we live in it's understood that that's what will make money. I've been hearing stories the last few days about men who negotiate things like record contracts with the assumption that part of the deal includes sleeping with female artists... also that male managers will set out with the intention of turning female artists into sex 'symbols' (read: objects) and will suggest highly sexualized performances and campaigns in order to do so... and to benefit whom?
It translates into a culture where it's ok to talk about women as objects in the work place or in casual conversation because the media is so saturated with it. We become nothing more than dollars and cents to be traded. I'm thinking of a post in the next few days that likens this to human trafficking.