I'm Not Okay With Lily Allen's Racist New Video: When Satire Crosses The Line [UPDATED]

-

I'm.... conflicted about this video. 

Lily Allen has always been a bit of a socially progressive, feminist badass, and I do love her for that. In her new single "Hard Out Here", Allen discusses the state of the pop industry, and the impossible standards that women are held to in order to be allowed to progress. The lyrics are classic Lily Allen; she calls out sexism pretty blatantly, and points to the ways in which women are expected to conform in order to succeed:

If I told you about my sex life, you'd call me a slut/When boys be talking about their bitches no one's making a fuss/There's a glass ceiling to break/There's money to make/ And now it's time to speed it up because I can't move at this pace. [...] 
If you're not a size 6, then you're not good looking/Well you better be rich or be real good at cooking/You should probably lose some weight 'cause we can't see your bones/You should probably fix your face or you'll end up on your own/Don't you want to have somebody who objectifies you?/Have you thought about your butt, who's gonna tear it in two?/We've never had it so good, uh huh, we're out of the woods/And if you can't detect the sarcasm, you've misunderstood.

But the video....? It makes me very uncomfortable, and I'm not okay with it.

Continue Reading My Brilliance! >>>

Popular posts from this blog

Soundtrack Saturday: Girl Gone Wild by Madonna

-
Image
I cannot stress enough how obsessed I am with this video. Between Madge, all the sexy men in heels and Mert & Marcus, I can't get enough.  As expected it is now in my iTunes for accessible viewing. This is the best thing to happen to me in ages. It is a coming together of everything sacred in fashion, photography and music. YES please. Okay, so perhaps I'm being al ittle overzealous. But seriously, genius. So naturally, Girl Gone Wild is this week's Soundtrack Saturday installment. This is such a great catchy tune, and I loved putting together the polyvore set. I focused less on putting an actual outfit together this time, and more on the attitude and the feel of the song.  I don't think that there's anything really missing in terms of visuals from this song. M&M thought of everything (as usual) and this video is just a masterpiece.  In any case, I'm off to dance now.  *dance break!*
Read more

Bits & Bobs On Feminist Theory #13: On Inanimate Objects As Coded Female

-
Image
I've been thinking a lot about the objectification of women, and the way in which it is normalized in a misogynistic, patriarchal society. One of the things that struck me was the way in which inanimate objects are very often coded as female. Cars, boats, planes, countries; they're all afforded what I call "T he Royal She. " It seems innocuous, but labeling inanimate objects as female contributes to the idea of actual women  as objects; objects you can own. It plays into the idea of ownership of the female body, and the subsequent "rights" afforded to someone who "owns property." When we make the connection between objects as female, we also make the reverse connection of women as objects. And objects exist to be owned, dominated and conquered. The symbolism of conquering land that is "inherently" female is quite shocking when you think about it. Especially when you consider the attitudes of the people who do so. Early settlers colonized ...
Read more

On Joss Whedon, White Feminism And Intersectionality Failures

-
Image
Joss Whedon gave a speech the other day and had some things to say about feminism. A lot of it was problematic , but I won't go into it here because it's already been said , and the fact that he said it is only vaugely related to the point I want to make. See, Joss Whedon is free to say whatever he likes about feminism in a "freedom of speech" kind of way. That is his right. But the arrogance of suggesting that a movement centered on women and their efforts to advance their own causes should refocus itself based on the self-serving suggestion of a cishet white guy is, well.... astronomical. But truthfully, the bigger issue here is not what  he said, but the reaction to what he said. While I don't agree with the nitty gritty of his reasoning, there are legitimate complaints to be made about the word feminist, and the feminist movement. Women of Colour, and black women specifically, created womanism for this very reason; to address the issues that were unique to t...
Read more