This Is Not Enough

In my earlier posts I spoke about the depiction of women in music videos (https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/39) and then there was Sabrina (https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/fivemilesout.home.blog/65). 

Now at least Sabrina was in the 80s – to me that seems like yesterday, but society has changed a hell of a lot.  Yet you still get videos like Call On Me, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qetW6R9Jxs4 , Studio B’s I See Girls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UCupN4wSoc or maybe the worst ever – Blurred Lines, a song about rape featuring three topless women in the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT6DZCQi9k .  In many ways the casual disregard of the songs rape lyrics is worse than the video.  People sing it – a group of charity workers were singing it outside my local Sainsburys.  I am not in favour of censorship – but some people do not seem to engage their brains when listening to music.

Rap videos have a bad reputation, even Katherine Ryan, a noted feminist, said misogyny is built into the genre – plenty of examples here – https://www.xxlmag.com/eye-candy/2015/08/16-memorable-bet-uncut-music-videos/ .

Of course, while less explicit than these videos, female artists acting provocatively in videos when they have an audience of young women does not help (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-u5WLJ9Yk4  or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My2FRPA3Gf8  or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtIRArhVD4)  I am not saying that women should not be allowed to make videos like this.  The argument for them is that they are female empowerment – I suspect that is female empowerment as seen by middle age males.

I’m a Hetero CIS male.  When I was younger I would not have through twice about any of this.  Age changes that and having daughters makes you think too.

My response to a lot of these things, when people say it is harmless, is to say would you watch it the other way round with men in the women’s positions?

It is really hard when there is a creator (music or anything else) that you like but includes dubious imagery of women in that work.  Much like a lot of people still make excuses to listen to Michael Jackson despite the posthumous allegations against him (though remember Jarvis Cocker at the Brits?  His pay off in the 90s?  Some of us suspected then).

I cannot claim innocence.  One of my favourite comic creators is Howard Chaykin.  He wrote the seminal American Flagg comic in the 1980s.  It was about a distinctly dystopian future, elements of which look prescient.  Chaykin appears to be unable to draw any comic book without featuring in her underwear, particularly stockings and suspenders.  Despite this I still like reading his stuff (and let’s not even talk about Black Kiss – google it if you want).  I just read Satellite Sam, which Chaykin only illustrated, not wrote, yet the imagery is the same.

Female empowerment – but why does she not wear trousers?  Not to mention the top left corner…

(Google it.)

Some American cable TV channels are (in)famous for gratuitous nudity.  HBO picked up a lot of grief for Game of Thrones, but Starz is the one to note.  Spartacus is a really good TV series, but if you took out the gratuitous female nudity it would be 20% shorter (take out the gratuitous violence and it would be a mini series).  Outlander is a better example – a strong female protagonist in an historical romance.  It includes a lot of nudity and sexual violence (to be fair it does actually include male nudity and male on male on rape, but I’m not sure that is quite how we want to improve things).  Outlander would seem to a series aimed at women, but this does not stop this.  Obviously a lot of people put there qualms aside to watch shows where the content is not all to their taste.

So, I don’t approve, but you have to very strong willed to turn your back on favourite creators.

Finally, the track in question.  I am a big fan of Trevor Horn.  Producers are vital in the music industry but few make it to general name recognition on their own.  Horn achieved this, though he was a pop star as well in his early career.

This track used the fake lesbianism of the group members to generate controversy and attention.  This was especially shocking given that Russia is one of the least tolerant countries for LBQT+ in the world.  I just can’t stop liking this track though.  More Trevor Horn to come.

All The Things She Said