‘Blurred Lines’: a rape chorus or a Feminist anthem?, by Toni Warr
Can you hear what Thicke is trying to say?
With the University of Bristol being the latest in a long line of UK universities to ban Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ from being played for fear it will penetrate the inner demons of young, impressionable students. But just how much Thicke is really saying about rape and try to display how many of these countless bans are caused by the hysteria of misinterpretation?
There are two features of ‘Blurred Lines’ that I have heard which suggest that ‘Blurred Lines’ is actually a Rape Chorus. The first is centred on the lyrics, and the second focuses on the half-naked girls dancing around in his video.
Firstly, there is more than one interpretation for this song; Thicke is not singing about luring some poor confused girl into his bedroom late at night. For me this song is a feminist anthem. Why you ask? Because Thicke is not singing about ‘the Blurred line’ between cheeky inebriated penetration and sordid rape, he is singing about how women are down trodden by sexual labels such as ‘slut’ and ‘whore’. His song is about a girl who wants to cave to her primal urges and ‘get nasty’- as she is completely within her rights to do. Afterall, many man would not give it a second though to give into their sexual urges. But instead she is being held to her image as a ‘good girl,’ the virginal pillar that society expects her to be. Thicke speaks of how she is an ‘animal’ and that it is in her ‘nature.’ It would seem that Thicke is treating her as a sexual equal and not as some object that will be tarnished with some appalling schoolyard nickname if she dare put out.
There are two features of ‘Blurred Lines’ that I have heard which suggest that ‘Blurred Lines’ is actually a Rape Chorus. The first is centred on the lyrics, and the second focuses on the half-naked girls dancing around in his video.
Firstly, there is more than one interpretation for this song; Thicke is not singing about luring some poor confused girl into his bedroom late at night. For me this song is a feminist anthem. Why you ask? Because Thicke is not singing about ‘the Blurred line’ between cheeky inebriated penetration and sordid rape, he is singing about how women are down trodden by sexual labels such as ‘slut’ and ‘whore’. His song is about a girl who wants to cave to her primal urges and ‘get nasty’- as she is completely within her rights to do. Afterall, many man would not give it a second though to give into their sexual urges. But instead she is being held to her image as a ‘good girl,’ the virginal pillar that society expects her to be. Thicke speaks of how she is an ‘animal’ and that it is in her ‘nature.’ It would seem that Thicke is treating her as a sexual equal and not as some object that will be tarnished with some appalling schoolyard nickname if she dare put out.
Thicke is not singing about ‘the Blurred line’ between cheeky inebriated penetration and sordid rape, he is singing about how women are down trodden by sexual labels such as ‘slut’ and ‘whore’
Yes the song is sexually graphic, but using this interpretation I see no point in the song where Thicke is suggesting that it is okay to rape anyone.
Now to the video: when I put this argument to my anti-Thicke friends their first argument usually stems around the partially naked women dancing around in the music video to ‘Blurred Lines.’ Yes, the women are partially naked. As far as I’m aware though, they are not being held against their will in a Thicke themed sex dungeon. They are dancing, naked, of their own free will. The response always goes ‘but those girls are being objectified, they’re gorgeous and partially naked!’
I don’t think it is any accident that this fits perfectly with the idea of sexual ‘liberation.’ If there were to be partially naked men in that video, no one would bat an eyelid. So the fact that Thicke is showing these women behaving in a way that would be perfectly socially acceptable had they been men is just the point. They are sexually liberated women, behaving as if they were sexually liberated men.
Robin Thicke has been demonized by the media for this song and while he wouldn’t be the first to get ripped apart for next to nothing by the daily blab, I am honestly deeply ashamed that our educational institutions are following suit. As a student I do not expect the place where I go for a full and rounded education to be sheltering me from something as menial as a silly song. And It is insulting that my institution should think that I, or any of the student body, might be influenced so dramatically by such a thing.
Now to the video: when I put this argument to my anti-Thicke friends their first argument usually stems around the partially naked women dancing around in the music video to ‘Blurred Lines.’ Yes, the women are partially naked. As far as I’m aware though, they are not being held against their will in a Thicke themed sex dungeon. They are dancing, naked, of their own free will. The response always goes ‘but those girls are being objectified, they’re gorgeous and partially naked!’
I don’t think it is any accident that this fits perfectly with the idea of sexual ‘liberation.’ If there were to be partially naked men in that video, no one would bat an eyelid. So the fact that Thicke is showing these women behaving in a way that would be perfectly socially acceptable had they been men is just the point. They are sexually liberated women, behaving as if they were sexually liberated men.
Robin Thicke has been demonized by the media for this song and while he wouldn’t be the first to get ripped apart for next to nothing by the daily blab, I am honestly deeply ashamed that our educational institutions are following suit. As a student I do not expect the place where I go for a full and rounded education to be sheltering me from something as menial as a silly song. And It is insulting that my institution should think that I, or any of the student body, might be influenced so dramatically by such a thing.
They are sexually liberated women, behaving as if they were sexually liberated men.
I hope that those reading this can at least see, that this interpretation fits and that if this interpretation fits, so could many others. The lyrics of this song are ambiguous and they should be treated as such. And if I’m wrong…. Maybe I’m going deaf, maybe I’m going blind, maybe I’m out of my mind.