This may seem somewhat vague in that it does not deal with culture in a sense of race, but I think it's important none-the-less. (Give our discussion on Miley Cyrus last Thursday)
Recently, a parody video of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" was taken off of YouTube because it violated their terms and conditions -- basically, it was deemed too sexual. Meanwhile, Thicke's video continues to air on the website, even though the uncensored version contains topless women being objectified like sexual toys.
The idea of objectifying women can be seen throughout the pop culture scene, but I don't believe I've been more offended by a single video than while watching this one. What is this kind of behavior teaching younger generations, in particular our own students? How will this shape or influence their behavior both in and out of school? How can we, as teachers, counter act this kind of gender representation in our classrooms? Not only the objectification of women, but that of men as well.
The girls reversed the roles, making a video (as a joke) that objectified men in return. Was their behavior appropriate? Do you think it was just or fair for them to create a video objectifying men? Was it right for YouTube to remove their video while keeping Thicke's up? Keep in mind YouTube is a public website that can be accessed by any age of viewer. It's fairly simple to lie about one's age on the internet.
A lot of the comments are very interesting as well, although not always well versed.
Check it all out below!
WARNING: Both of these videos may be found offensive to viewers. Watch upon your own judgement.
Parody Article with Link to Uncensored Original Video
Monday, September 2, 2013
3 comments:
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This is very interesting!! This will be a great example to discuss further when we begin discussing gender norms and masculinity further in our book. A reminder of the rigid boxes that that define all aspects of ourselves. What does it mean to be a woman? A man? Or better said, what does it mean to act out our women roles? How are women perceived in society?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with this. What the scary thing is, where does this lead to? Our grandparents and parents couldn't imagine seeing anything like this at our age. It just makes me wonder what is going to be the social norm 20 or 30 years from now. Not only am I worried about what my students can access in the near future, but what my kids will see in the distant future. The sad thing is that the entertainment business and the media got what they wanted, publicity.
ReplyDeletehttp://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/09/17/from-the-mouths-of-rapists-the-lyrics-of-robin-thickes-blurred-lines-and-real-life-rape/
ReplyDeletecontinuting the conversation.