Subject: gender: britney, etc.
From: A R (mrgoodlife1@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Oct 06 1999 - 18:46:39 CDT
i don't want to keep beating a dead horse, but what we
were discussing today really hit a chord in me. i
guess it's cuz i'm a music-lover and like to think
about the social(gender, race, etc.) implications of
music.
i just wanted to share my thoughts on some things that
were said in class that i thought about later.
*limpbizkit (don't know how to spell it, sorry)--
someone brought them/him up. i think he still works
within the same system as britney. i mean, he is a
white, hetero male and we know that our society
"allows" men to be more sexual and agressive than
women. the fact that his song is called "nookie" just
supports that fact. it's the whole thing about a
woman who has a lot of sex being a whore and a man who
does it being a pimpdaddy or something. it also goes
into the whole good girl, bad boy thing. i mean think
grease. you have rebel guy whose attracted to pure,
innocent girl. obviously both are sexualized because
there is the attraction between the two. it's like
"boys will be boys" and "gotta be a good girl."
and then you have have britney's songs "baby, one more
time," "sometimes," and "crazy for you" which are all
male-centered songs. the man is given more power than
she has, especially in "baby, one more time." which is
basically her begging for a second chance from her
guy. in "sometimes" she sings "sometimes i'm scared
of you" and "sometimes i run from you." in whatever
context you take that, it's still giving the male
object more power than she has. whereas in "nookie"
the power is the male performer's. in our society men
can be blatantly sexual whereas women have to be more
covert (there's that word again) about it or else
they're looked down upon or criticized. let me give
an example: britney bearing cleavage and wearing tight
clothes is obviously sexual, but her lyrics are then
school-girlish. whereas the "nookie" song is
in-your-face sexuality. sorry i dragged this out, but
basically i feel they both work within the legitimate,
traditional scope of sexuality (which also has room
for pretty boys i.e. backstreet, et. al)
*britney spears
there was a rolling stone spread done on her some
months back and they were totally exploiting the whole
school girl/good girl thing about her image. in one
pic she was like on a tricyle with a tiny skirt on
looking very lolita-ish. i was actually sickened by
the spread. thought it was in bad taste. it just
evoked a whole child porn/pedaphilia thing to me. but
why would they present that image of her (twisted as
it may be) if it wasn't perceived a part of her
(image) to begin with?
*donny and marie
different era. but i don't doubt they were also
sexualized. i mean teens had their posters all over
their rooms. i'm sure, little boys and girls (teens)
wanted to do them. when donny got married there was a
negative response from his female fans. his career
was never the same. (saw it on vh1 behind the music,
so it must be true) donny and marie. the britney
spears and backstreet boy of their time? i think so.
*tlc
i agree with jen that they are also very sexualized.
i feel that they themselves control their own
sexualization. (as oppossed to the destiny's child
scenario where other people might be
controlling/encouraging that sexualization) there
first single was "ain't to proud to beg" which is a
pretty hyper-sexual song. they even wore condoms on
their clothes to promote safe sex. so, i think they
presented a confident, positive, healthy sexualization
of themselves that was not male-focused (i.e. in
regards to power). unlike a foxy brown (or lil' kim)
who is all about sex in lyric, presentation, dress,
etc. that caters to a male perspective. they were
also 21, 22 when the first hit the scene. very much
at an age where we wouldn't question their adult
status or their choices.
i apologize for the long-@$$ message. guess i had
something to say about this particular topic.
for those of you who are not familiar with these
artists, i also apologize.
to close,i'd just like to say that it's interesting
that, we all had so much to say about the sexual
representation of these artists, including myself, and
that the industry itself is so image-crazy. where
does talent come into play or does it?
freddie.
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