Nicki Menaj doesn't understand what the fuss is about over her video 'Anaconda'. I didn't know what it was. for those who are similarly ignorant, here is the video from Youtube. Also, here is a news story posted on Foxnews about Minaj's response. The lyrics are available here.
Minaj says the video is about 'female empowerment', about women 'taking back the power'. She says it's a 'fun story', about slumber parties and being with your friends.
If you have not read the lyrics, the refrain is 'my anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon", and 'this one's for the bitches with a fat ass in the fucking club'. Why, that sounds like every slumber party I ever heard of, the ones my sister threw and went to, the ones my daughter threw and went to.
And the video definitely empowers women. Synchronized ass shaking. Twerking. Stroking of crotches. Milk dribbling out of opened coconuts (nuts, get it?). Bananas on turntables.
I'm an Ob/Gyn. I've seen about 65,000 naked women in my career. I've been on nude beaches. Nudity is not sexual; behavior is. This video is more sexual than seeing the same women just walking around naked. Every woman ever born has breasts, a vulva and a butt. Just seeing them is about as sexy as being in a locker room shower. When a woman shakes, strokes and caresses said parts while looking lustfully at you, that is sexual.
What a disingenuous fraud to say this video and song are about a slumber party! That they are technically legal and 'free speech' misses the issue. Songs and videos like this are a terrible denigration of women and a lowering of our society. I hope every person has the joy of untrammeled sexuality with the partner of their choice. I hope their every physical and emotional desire is fulfilled. I am all for sex, and not within the bounds of 'normal' or the church. But not in public. Selling songs and videos that overtly use sexuality to sell them reduces women to sex objects. Once again we have the spectacle of a woman denigrating herself while claiming it is a flaunting of her 'power'.
Of course, if you object you are a prude. Or a racist. To deny Minaj her free speech rights is censorship. If you touch Minaj, it is assault. If you post her nude pictures it is inappropriate. But it is OK for her to simulate sex acts on camera and be called an artist.
I like it when porn is called porn, a prostitute is called a prostitute, and when entertainment does not contain foul language and fake sex acts. This is not entertainment, it's just adolescent level sex, an immature girl confusing the suasion of sex as empowerment. By those standards a hooker is a power broker.
I long for a time when this sort of material will be banished, not published by companies too honorable to be complicit in the distribution of smut and trash. And I don't have any problem with the re-introduction of a uniform code among media distributors to regulate this. By all means, put out sex tapes and porn. I am all for the complete legalization of porn, prostitution and drugs. But keep it zoned, regulated and taxed. And don't go selling 'entertainment' to teens and the general public by using sexuality and calling it 'power'.
Ted
Minaj says the video is about 'female empowerment', about women 'taking back the power'. She says it's a 'fun story', about slumber parties and being with your friends.
If you have not read the lyrics, the refrain is 'my anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hon", and 'this one's for the bitches with a fat ass in the fucking club'. Why, that sounds like every slumber party I ever heard of, the ones my sister threw and went to, the ones my daughter threw and went to.
And the video definitely empowers women. Synchronized ass shaking. Twerking. Stroking of crotches. Milk dribbling out of opened coconuts (nuts, get it?). Bananas on turntables.
I'm an Ob/Gyn. I've seen about 65,000 naked women in my career. I've been on nude beaches. Nudity is not sexual; behavior is. This video is more sexual than seeing the same women just walking around naked. Every woman ever born has breasts, a vulva and a butt. Just seeing them is about as sexy as being in a locker room shower. When a woman shakes, strokes and caresses said parts while looking lustfully at you, that is sexual.
What a disingenuous fraud to say this video and song are about a slumber party! That they are technically legal and 'free speech' misses the issue. Songs and videos like this are a terrible denigration of women and a lowering of our society. I hope every person has the joy of untrammeled sexuality with the partner of their choice. I hope their every physical and emotional desire is fulfilled. I am all for sex, and not within the bounds of 'normal' or the church. But not in public. Selling songs and videos that overtly use sexuality to sell them reduces women to sex objects. Once again we have the spectacle of a woman denigrating herself while claiming it is a flaunting of her 'power'.
Of course, if you object you are a prude. Or a racist. To deny Minaj her free speech rights is censorship. If you touch Minaj, it is assault. If you post her nude pictures it is inappropriate. But it is OK for her to simulate sex acts on camera and be called an artist.
I like it when porn is called porn, a prostitute is called a prostitute, and when entertainment does not contain foul language and fake sex acts. This is not entertainment, it's just adolescent level sex, an immature girl confusing the suasion of sex as empowerment. By those standards a hooker is a power broker.
I long for a time when this sort of material will be banished, not published by companies too honorable to be complicit in the distribution of smut and trash. And I don't have any problem with the re-introduction of a uniform code among media distributors to regulate this. By all means, put out sex tapes and porn. I am all for the complete legalization of porn, prostitution and drugs. But keep it zoned, regulated and taxed. And don't go selling 'entertainment' to teens and the general public by using sexuality and calling it 'power'.
Ted
A few random thoughts...
ReplyDelete1. I also had not heard of this "Anaconda" video until you posted it here. I watched it with a mixture of sexual indifference and mild disdain. I don't get turned on watching women shake their booties - we all know what comes out of them, and it ain't flowers...
2. I was impressed by how many people had seen this video just on youtube: over 262 million!!! That doesn't put it in the top 10 for 2014, but nevertheless that number dwarfs 99% of youtube videos.
3. I couldn't help but muse, "How many of those who viewed the video come from sexually repressed Middle Eastern Islamic countries?"
4. This video reminded me of sexual technique books like the Kama Sutra: the message is that sex is merely a physical sensation, so mastering technique will enhance the pleasure.
But as the Canadian novelist Robertson Davies pointed out, if that is ALL sex is, then it is equivalent to blowing your nose.
Like all sexual predators - be they horny armies conquering an enemy, randy fraternity guys or inner city gangs - men can see women as objects for use, sure. That's also the idea behind prostitution - payment for the use of a body. But the idea that sex could actually involve emotions that spring from a RELATIONSHIP...or that a loving relationship can ENHANCE sex, can be a turn-on in bed, is not there either in gang bangers or in videos like that of Anaconda.
5. Like many modern videos, this one hypes sexual attraction. But in doing so, it cheapens sexual intercourse. And in cheapening sex, it sets one up for disappointment. "Is that all there is?"
In "The Four Loves" C.S. Lewis quoted M. Denis Rougement: "love ceases to be a demon only when it ceases to be a god." Lewis then wrote, "which of course can be re-stated in the form 'begins to be a demon he moment he begins to be a god.'"
Make sex into some god-like attraction and it will become a demon, an obsession that eats away at the soul. Keep it in its proper perspective, and paradoxically, the quality gets better.
Enjoyment of coitus is not dependent on an adolescent obsession with erotic gyrations and dress. In the 1970s, Dallas Cowboy quarterback Roger Staubach denied being a stick in the mud when he emphatically stated, "You know, I enjoy sex just as much as Joe Namath, only I do it with one girl. I mean, it's still fun."
That's not a message that videos like Anaconda broadcast.
-D-
One additional thought: companies that sell food are required to put their ingredients on the package label. Cigarette packages are required to place warnings on their cartons about smoking being hazardous to your health.
ReplyDeleteYet we don't require a youtube video like Anaconda to place any warnings or cautions on it, even though it would be good advice.
"Warning: watching this video might make you think that unlimited sexual intercourse with other sexually experienced members of society has no risks. However, possible dangers include - but are not limited to: unwanted pregnancy for women, possible initiation of child support for men, need to drop out of school, relationship difficulties, or contraction of any of the following diseases: Chancroid; Chlamydia; Gonorrhea (colloquially known as "the clap"); Granuloma inguinale; Syphilis; Candidiasis (yeast infection); Hepatitis B; Herpes; scabies; Crab louse (pubic lice); Molluscum Contagiosum; Trichomoniasis; HIV (the "AIDS virus"); or HPV (human papilloma virus - the virus that causes genital warts).
Some of these cannot be cured and have long term consequences: HIV infection has produced AIDS and killed legions of people; HPV not only can cause genital warts but some strains cause cervical cancer. Infection with Hepatitis B has potential to eventually lead to liver failure (cirrhosis) or liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma).
Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD's) can be transmitted orally, anally, or vaginally."
Come to think of it, there are a lot of music videos that would be worthy of such a warning label.
-D-
The sad truth is a lot of schools are supposed to teach such lessons via sex education. Music videos and celebrities are, more often than not, where kids learn about sex. It's not pretty to teach such things in a classroom, but at the same time, they do need to know more about sex and sexuality to make healthier decisions. Even if you don't teach sex ed, they're still going to do it. Let's at least get them the "warning label" while they're still in an environment where they can ask questions judgment free.
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