Monday, February 21, 2011

Madonna's "Human Nature": Deal With It.

Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
You wouldn't let me say the words I longed to say
You didn't want to see life through my eyes
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
You tried to shove me back inside your narrow room
And silence me with bitterness and lies
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
Did I say something wrong?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I stay too long?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind
[What was I thinking]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
You punished me for telling you my fantasies
I'm breakin' all the rules I didn't make
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
You took my words and made a trap for silly fools
You held me down and tried to make me break
[Express yourself, don't repress yourself]
Did I say something true?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I have a point of view?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about you
[What was I thinking]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Express yourself, don't repress yourself
Did I say something true?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex
[I musta been crazy]
Did I have a point of view?
Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about you
[What was I thinking]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
[I'm not apologizing]
[Would it sound better if I were a man?]
[You're the one with the problem]
[Why don't you just deal with it]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
[Would you like me better if I was?]
[We all feel the same way]
[I have no regrets]
[Just look in the mirror]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
It's human nature
[it's human nature]
And I'm not sorry
[I'm not sorry]
I'm not your bitch don't hang your shit on me
[it's human nature]
[I don't have to justify anything]
[I'm just like you]
[Why should I be?]
[Deal with it]

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Hell Hath No Fury

 So this has been happening.

(Greg)173. Because the real question was, why would a woman be attracted to an image if it debases her. My point was that it is because she drinks the kool-aid. With a man, the image doesn't give him the message that he is only a sexual object because it is drowned by the images around it. There is no kool-aid to drink. No man looks at our culture and says "wow, we really only value men for their sexual physique". Unless he is retarded.

WHAT THE FUCK?


 Who do you think you are to decide what images are quote-unquote debasing to women? Only women themselves have the right to decide that and only on a individual, personal, subjective level based on personal taste which may have nothing to do with feminism and/or sexism. Images you'd like to judge as debasing others might find empowering and arousing or amusing or simply visually pleasant and all sorts of things I bet you can't even imagine, they may hate it for all sorts of reasons you aren't able to take into consideration either. You can't generalize what's appropriate/harmful or not for ALL women--YOU--GREG can't certainly because you are A) male and B) No one ever should. In any context. Because that would be pure sexism.

This however: "...because she drinks the kool-aid." is debasing.

It is debasing because it implies--explicitly--that any woman who doesn't find it debasing is too stupid or brainwashed to realize the impact of all the suggestions and blah blah blah the culture, society, the media, has had on her, so she doesn't reject it but instead internalizes it. But many, many very smart women see those images and enjoy them or ignore them or have any mix of reactions to them and SIMULTANEOUSLY reject all the crap our culture tells them about their worth and value as human begins and as sexual beings and come to their own healthy-happy conclusions based on their own experiences, personality, biology, observations etc etc. Not the conclusions of anyone else, and certainly not the conclusions of what some dude on the internet thinks is the academic-acceptable-non-harmful-mainstream conclusion.

Also how dumb do you think females are Greg? I don't know many who see a picture and think the message they are getting is "Oh that's telling me--more than anything else I should notice in this picture--I'm only worthy as an object of sexual desire". Give us some fucking credit--it's 2011--time for a bit of an outlook update perhaps?

Bottom line is everyone and obviously men included must learn that women themselves--every single one of us--has to come to her own conclusions about what she finds harmful to her psychology and her self-image regardless of what images or media or cultural pressure she is presented with or stumbles across during her life--she can resent that stuff, or ignore it, or try to teach other people to disregard it and evolve beyond it but in the end she'll have to face the fact that she has a body--a body that has historically been controversial and more often than not put her in a position of disadvantage--it is a body that IS different and not the same as men's or as other women's--simple fact of life. Women and men both need to get over this stupid fear of woman's physicality and sexuality and it's manufactured Victorian dangers to individual and society's "long term" health, happiness and stability. It's a fallacy more damaging than some sexy pictures somewhere ever could be.

Ugh I don't don't even know if this rant makes sense anymore. Ah! a body that looks fake! Run! Hide your daughters eyes! Shame your sons for looking! It's unnatural! (Only it isn't.)