Robin Thicke's catchy track "Blurred Lines", featuring TI and Pharrell, scored the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in June and could well be the hit of the summer - but not with everyone. After the original video with its three topless models was banned on YouTube for its nudity, it seems the lyrics of the song aren't going down well with some feminists; one blogger, in fact, calls it a "rape song."
Here's how some of the lyrics of "Blurred Lines" go: "I know you want it. You're a good girl. Can't let it get past me. You're far from plastic. Talk about getting blasted. I hate these blurred lines." Another verse of the chorus goes like this: "I know you want it. But you're a good girl. The way you grab me, must wanna get nasty. Go ahead, get at me."
Lisa Huynh started off her blogpost on the song with the line, "Has anyone heard Robin Thicke's new rape song?" "Basically, the majority of the song (creepily named "Blurred Lines") has the R&B singer murmuring 'I know you want it' over and over into a girl's ear. Call me a cynic, but that phrase does not exactly encompass the notion of consent in sexual activity," she wrote.
It isn't just the lyrics that some feminists are objecting to. A recent Daily Beast write-up on the song being "kind of rapey" mentions a video titled "Robin Thicke is a D*CK" put up on YouTube by Aimee Davison, a Canadian model and actor. Objecting to the power imbalance of the "Blurred Lines" imagery, Davison said in her video, "The men have all the control and status because they are not vulnerable-they are completely covered. Whereas the women have no status and are totally open to be exploited ogled and used. It doesn't jibe with me."
In response to the ban of the "Blurred Lines" video on Youtube, Thicke said that he has no problem with nudity. "I think people that are uncomfortable in their own bodies or are uncomfortable with their own bodies don't want to see other peoples'," he told Billboard in May. Regarding the song and the lyrics, he explained that it refers to: "The good-girl/bad-girl thing and what's appropriate, and that's what the video was about -- what's right and what's wrong and what's inappropriate and appropriate."
