Wednesday 10 October 2012

Blowing the Whistle

This week my Wicked Wednesday post is taking a tangent away from straight up (fnar fnar) erotica, into social commentary. This is because this week I decided to try and follow the prompt. Rebels Notes always gives such fun and interesting prompts, I thought I would try to match it. This week was no different. The prompt is the hugely successful Number 1 song “Whistle” by the rapper Flo Rida. The lyrics are rather fun and jolly. The whole song is essentially a very thinly veiled reference to oral sex. Here are a sample of the lyrics:

Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby
Let me know
Girl I’m gonna show you how to do it
And we start real slow
You just put your lips together
And you come real close
Can you blow my whistle baby, whistle baby
Here we go


These lyrics totally kicked my brain into positive action. I thought of all kinds of delicious things to write about. But then I watched the video. And I sighed. And I moaned. And neither the sigh nor the moan were me having fun sexy times!

I find the video repellent. Whistle, gets exactly the type of video you’d expect: shot in sunny Acalpulco, the ... vid features boobs, babes, bikinis, and little else” (Becky Bain, Idolator). Here it is:

 
I like women. I like boobs. I like bikinis (not as much as swimsuits, but that is another story). I love sucking cock. I enjoy wanking off to porn. So why on earth would I have a problem with this video? I don’t. There is nothing wrong with the video at all. My problem is that this is the only representation of women the target audience of the video is likely to encounter. My problem is that this video and the countless others like it present unrealistic, unnatural, consumerist, views of sex and sexuality, often with elements of non-consent.

Why does the music industry insist on objectifying women en masse? I don’t need to write about the impact of sexual objectification of women in videos, because quite frankly it has been done elsewhere.

Besides, if I am honest, I don’t mind if people are objectified. This blog objectifies me. I am quite certain that at least one person has been “inspired” to pleasure himself because of it. If I didn’t want to be objectified I would not write this blog in the way I do. But I objectify myself for my own pleasure and if others receive pleasure as well that is a happy bonus, it is not my primary aim.

What saddens me is the lack of equality on display in music videos. Where are the older women? Where are the larger women? Where are the women in wheelchairs? I would wager none of the gyrating women in music videos are trans women. Most women are invisible, denied both a presence and sexual voice. The women in these videos are displayed to appeal to other people; they are almost certainly not projecting sexuality for their own sexual pleasure.

This is also the same for men and those who do not meet society’s gender binary expectations. The only people who do not meet societal norms of beauty and who are permitted to be sexual beings are the artists themselves.

Until we see people of all genders and all sexualities in erotically charged music videos, the privileges portrayed in videos like Flo Rida’s “Whistle” will continue to create the norms of our society. I hope the end of those days is nigh.

Until then, and in honor of the spirit of Wicked Wednesday, here is the incredibly hot Laura Jane Grace singing Transgender Dysphoria Blues.

 
For less rantier responses to the prompt pop over to the Wicked Wednesday page.




 

10 comments:

  1. It is funny you should write this as I pretty much had the same reaction to the video and so chose not to use the prompt this week. The lyrics are kind of fun and very suggestive but the video just made me sigh.... not for me, not for my generation but for my children's generation who are bombarded with these images over and over again. One of things I have tried very hard to do with my children is to make them see that these images they see are so very distorted but it is a tough task when on TV they get to see very little else.

    Mollyxxx

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  2. A great post and one that definitely makes me think! I must admit that I never look at the music videos, not even when I use them as prompts. I simply put the video there so people could listen to the song. But thinking about the videos that I have accidentally seen, I know exactly what you mean about objectifying women. It would be much better to portray ALL kinds of people and not only those that are seen as perfect by the glamour world. Thanks so much for using the prompt in a different way!

    Rebel xox

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  3. Hear, hear!! I am not a regular consumer of such visual media; the music videos I tend to go for are far more humourous than erotic. The whole "sex-for-sale" but just turns me off.

    ~Kazi xxx

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  4. Sometimes it is good to rant - get things off your chest, isn't it. And I, for one, stand right behind your rant!!! Well said indeed

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  5. You are so eloquent in your rant and have such 'relevant to society today' views, it's refreshing. But incredibly sad at the same time that really in our evolutionary state, we still haven't come too far in equality.

    I never watched the prompt video as I knew it would add nothing to my post this week. Instead just taking inspiration from the words and doing my usual naughty post.

    Brava to you for not flinching in your thoughts.

    Pea ~x~

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  6. We can't express enough how much we agree with your rant. I hate to sound defeated, but we've long since given up on seeing any sanity, much less equality, in the current popular culture. I watched the video before writing my post this week, in the hopes that it would inspire me. It didn't, but I still managed to tie my story vaguely into whistling.

    Thanks for the Laura Jane Grace video. It is much appreciated.

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  7. Thanks everyone! I will try to keep my rants to a minimum. I can be...er..."opinionated" so I'm deliberately trying to steer clear of politics. I'm glad you all thought it valuable to say, and nobody lynched me! Huzzah!

    I love our little community of bloggers. We are all so friendly and fluffy.

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  8. You are so right with your rant. I have a two year old son and I worry about the things he sees, the ideals of society that are projected everywhere. I didn't watch the video. I started but was immediately turned off. A friend has it on his iPod and played it for me. I also tried to follow in a creative writer way but couldn't get past my own issues the whistle brought up for me.

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  9. This is such a relevant rant and so very well put! Thank you for having the balls to so eloquently putting it into words.

    ~Mia~ xx

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