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Tuesday Afternoon

(56,912 posts)
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 02:55 PM Feb 2014

What men want, America delivers

In his single “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke sings soulfully about giving a good girl what she really wants—buckwild sex—even if she can’t come out and admit it. It’s a catchy enough song. Some might even call it this summer’s anthem. But “Blurred Lines” is also a song that revisits the age-old belief that sometimes when a woman says no she really means yes.

Critics have been vocal about the sexual violence undertones in the song and they’re not wrong. Robin just knows you want it, girl. He just does, so shut up and let him give it to you. Scores of men and women are, apparently, on board. “Blurred Lines” is Thicke’s most popular song to date. In his latest single, “Give it 2 U,” Thicke doubles down on his bad boy phase with the lyrics “I got this for you / a little Thicke for you / A big kiss for you / I got a hit for you / Big dick for you / Let me give it to you.” In the wake of the criticism, Thicke is fairly unapologetic, saying, “Women and their bodies are beautiful. Men are always gonna want to follow them around.”

I guess that’s that. Men want what they want.

In truth, I like these songs. They make me want to dance. I want to sing along. They are delightful pop confections. But. I enjoy the songs the way I have to enjoy most music—I have to forget I am a sentient being. I have to lighten up.

Take Kanye West’s recently released “Yeezus.” It’s very compelling and ambitious, with sounds that are aggressive if not hostile. I’ve been listening to the album on repeat. I want to love Yeezus but I can’t because I hear lyrics like, “You see it’s leaders and it’s followers / But I’d rather be a dick than a swallower.” Kanye’s disdain for women overwhelms nearly every track — but then there’s a song like “Blood on the Leaves,” which is so outstanding you can’t possibly dismiss the album.

This is just music, right? These artists are merely expressing themselves.

The debate over rape jokes continues. My overall stance is pretty well documented, but as a writer, I recognize the necessity of creative freedom. I have finally heard funny rape jokes — Ever Mainard’s joke about the fear instilled in women and the assumption of the inevitability of rape and Wanda Sykes’s joke about wanting a detachable vagina. I still hate rape jokes but I hate censorship more. I hate that I have to choose.

more at link:
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/05/what_men_want_america_delivers/

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What men want, America delivers (Original Post) Tuesday Afternoon Feb 2014 OP
Today I had my Ipod on random and I heard a Thicke song from 2006 for the first time. jakeXT Feb 2014 #1
I dislike the use of the false dichotomy between calling out rape culture and censorship. redqueen Feb 2014 #2
I too, love that line Tuesday Afternoon Feb 2014 #3

jakeXT

(10,575 posts)
1. Today I had my Ipod on random and I heard a Thicke song from 2006 for the first time.
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 05:57 PM
Feb 2014

I've never heard of him before 2013

http://vimeo.com/62420794

The video is with his wife and he claims the song Blurred Lines is about her.





What Thicke wants, Thicke gets is probably visualized best in this picture.




When asked how the photo came about, she explained that she met him a week prior to the party and had "just moved to New York about a month ago."

In the photo, it appears that we can see Thicke and the young lady's backs reflected in a mirror—and his hand looks questionably close to her butt.

"I knew his hand was on my butt, but I didn't know that there was a mirror," she explained.

She added, "I didn't even know that was the reflection until I uploaded it, and someone commented on it. I was just like, ‘Oh I'll Instagram this photo with Robin Thicke, like everybody else.'"

http://eonline.com/news/454224/robin-thicke-photo-scandal-mystery-girl-confirms-butt-grabbing-photo-is-real

Thicke spotted with mystery woman

...

According to the New York Daily News newspaper, Robin was seen holding a cigarette and enjoying at least one drink, as well as dancing with the woman, who remained by his side all night.

At one point Robin appeared to lean in for a kiss with the brunette, who also held the singer's face in her hands as she whispered in his ear.

...

This is not the first time Robin - who has a three-year-old son, Julian Fuego, with Paula - has been spotted getting close to a woman other than his wife. In September last year, Lana Scolaro claimed he had kissed her at a party in New York.

...

Paula, 38, has previously said she and Robin have their arguments but remain committed to each other.

She said: "Listen, we have fun, but like every couple, we have our ups and downs. Nothing is perfect, but we're very happy. He's my best friend."

http://tvnz.co.nz/entertainment-news/thicke-spotted-mystery-woman-5804427



I wonder what his wife really thinks


Perhaps that has to do with Thicke’s carefully cultivated—and relatively new— image as a Lothario (see: “Blurred Lines.”) But in this narrative, his wife, actress Paula Patton, was supposedly cool with it all. Scolaro told the tabs that Patton was in the next room, and didn’t mind. “He mentioned that he and his wife are very chill. He was like, “Be nice to her, she’ll like you, she’ll love you,” she told Life&Style.

And Thicke’s interview with Howard Stern last July also seemed to imply that they had an unconventional relationship. “We’ve done just about everything,” he said. But he stopped short of saying they were in an open marriage. “Out of respect for her, we just won’t answer that one.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/11/11/the-rise-of-polyamory-so-what-if-celebrities-have-an-open-marriage.html


redqueen

(115,164 posts)
2. I dislike the use of the false dichotomy between calling out rape culture and censorship.
Sat Feb 15, 2014, 07:12 PM
Feb 2014

I love this part:

It’s hard not to feel humorless as a woman and a feminist, to recognize misogyny in so many forms, some great and some small, and know you’re not imagining things. It’s hard to be told to lighten up because if you lighten up any more, you’re going to float the fuck away. The problem is not that one of these things is happening, it’s that they are all happening, concurrently and constantly.

Tuesday Afternoon

(56,912 posts)
3. I too, love that line
Mon Feb 17, 2014, 10:30 AM
Feb 2014
if you lighten up any more, you’re going to float the fuck away


such a beautiful way to way describe disassociation.
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