The Thicke dilemma

I'm definitely a little behind in terms of pop culture. I keep up with the headlines but that's about it. I'm of course heard of Robin Thicke, I know about his racy performance with Miley Cyrus, I've read blog articles about the controversy around his song "Blurred Lines" and accompanying video. But turns out, I had never actually heard the song before this weekend.

As I'm getting ready for my next haircut this weekend I watched the cute video Garance made after she decided to chop it all off. Along with admiring her cut I was really digging the song she used. In an attempt to find the name of the song I searched the comments on the video which led me to discover that this was in fact the infamous "Blurred Lines"! What?! This song was so pop-y and catch-y, how could it be the "rape-y" song I've heard so much about. This led me to also watch the video (both versions). So now I had a dilemma. The song was stuck in my head, but do i download it?

The videos I didn't have a problem with. Yes there are mostly naked women strutting around clothed men. But that doesn't offend me. I have no problem with nudity, and nothing was sexually explicit. Seemed fairly mild or at least on par with other music videos, and I was actually much more put-off by Kanye and Kim's motorcycle antics. but, while the videos were ok, the looked up the lyrics to the song and there was my problem. The words of the song are sung from the male perspective and basically, it's a guy dancing or getting close to a girl and deciding that he knows she wants it. That, based on how she's touching him, she must want sex. There is no indication that she actually wants it, it's all his assumptions. That is kind of creepy and yes "rape-y". But the song still has a good beat!

I asked D is I should buy the song because it's catchy, or I should take a stand and choose to not financially support something that has that sort of message. He asked me how I feel to have the Pepper hear those lyrics. Thinking of her evolving mind absorbing that kind of message helped me decide not to make the purchase. Plus, if I have a longing for the song I can always go and listed to Marvin Gaye :)

Image from the "Blurred Lines" video via.