The Issue with Blurred Lines

By: Emily Scharf

While I was at my favorite sub shop picking up dinner this
summer, I was irritated to hear the song Blurred Lines by Robin
Thicke come on the radio behind the counter. Before I even had time
to think about how much the song irritated me, the muscled man
making my sandwich grumbled, I hate this song with a burning
passion. No paraphrasing or rehashing; those were his words
verbatim. I dont know whether the sexist, degrading lyrics are what
caused that man to loathe the song, or if it was simply the melody
itself. Regardless, it was refreshing to hear.
It seems the world has mixed reviews concerning the single that
has gained the title of longest-running No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot
100 for the year. While the song held the No. 1 spot on iTunes top
selling singles list until dropping to No. 2 this week, listeners
responses vacillate between love of the music, to outright disgust at
Thickes lyrics and methods. One iTunes reviewer states, Albeit
catchy, I cant support a person who actively tries to degrade women
and then defends himself for it. I dont care if its his choice as an
artist and trying to be edgy doesnt cut it. This song, and the intent
behind it, is sick and a huge disappointment to what could have been a
good song.
The lyrics to the song are, frankly, disturbing; some of them so
much so that I do not feel comfortable putting them in print, much less

having children hear them on the radio. Some of the less risqu lyrics
compare women to animals, claiming that the singer tried to
domesticate the woman to whom he is singing. I find this upsetting
because it puts the listener in the mindset that it is okay to treat a
woman as less than a man. It puts forth the claim that women need to
be tamed; that women are subservient and need to be controlled. In
this day and age, I find it abhorrent that women and men still are not
perceived as equals. Another line of the song says, The way you grab
me, must wanna get nasty. This claim simply feels downright creepy.
It engenders the notion that if a woman so much as touches a man she
is consenting to sex. It provides listeners with the false belief that
something less than verbal consent is acceptable. The song also
choruses the line, I know you want it. This seems to undermine a
womans refusal of consent, implying that no doesnt always mean
no. It is reasonable to say this song condones rape culture, and that
is despicable.
The first time I heard Blurred Lines, it was in a commercial for
Beats Pill, a portable stereo by Beats by Dr. Dre. At the time, I did not
know the song, I did not know that Robin Thicke was actually in the
commercial, and I did not know that the commercial was essentially a
copy of the songs music video. My initial reaction was horror; why was
it so necessary to sexualize a non-sexual product? Why do women
need to parade around nearly naked to sell stereos? Why turn a simple

product into something phallic? When I saw the actual music video, I
was equally horrified.
The Blurred Lines music video comes in two forms: the regular
version, and an unrated version. I found it disconcerting enough that
in the regular version women were seen, barely clothed, draping
themselves all over the men singing and rapping. Some women
werent even clothed at all, just concealed by arms or animals. One
womans only clothing is a nude-colored thong. Yet, the unrated
version takes it a step further. In nearly every scene of the unrated
video the women are topless and wear only a nude-colored thong; that
is, except for the only black woman in the video who is seen wearing a
black thong. I can only guess this was supposed to match her skin
color and make her appear naked like all the other women. Whoevers
vision this was must be color-blind. If the fabric indeed matched the
brown tone of her skin, I would have understood the decision. As it
clearly did not, I find the use of a different color a little bit racist. I can
only hope this was unintentional.
Another problem for me, evident in both versions of the video, is
the statement, spelled out in balloons, that Robin Thicke has a big D.
I fail to understand why a musician needs to proclaim this to the world.
All this statement serves to do is propagate the age-old, self-esteem
hazardous myth that size matters. It seems that, in this respect, the
video promotes false ideas of what both men and women should look

like. Women have been grappling with the medias image of how they
should be long before the advent of photoshop. We see nearly all
there is to see of the women, or should I say models, in the music
video. What many fail to realize is the effect this has on the young
women who see them. This provides women everywhere with the false
notion that the women in the video are the norm in terms of body size
and shape; it teaches young girls that if they do not look like them,
they are not worthy of love and attention. That is not acceptable.
Though I take issue with the nudity for many reasons, a false
perspective on womens bodies is the biggest issue.
The models nudity also gives men and boys the same idea: that
all girls should look like them. In this sense, it could cause men to not
be appreciative of all women, regardless of their outward appearance.
In addition, the way the men drape themselves all over the women
gives the impression that men are entitled to do so. I sincerely hope
that this song gives no person the idea that they are entitled to access
any part of another person without their consent. Each of us is our
own person and has the right to our own personal space. Finally, if the
women are nearly naked, why arent the men? Why is it okay for the
men to be dressed in dapper suits, while the women parade around in
their underwear? If clothing is a sign of status in this video, then I
certainly do not like the message.

Robin Thickes record label did not support Blurred Lines right
away. They didnt get it and had no desire to support it. They didnt
pay for the music video; though after seeing it, they jumped on the
bandwagon. What struck me as shocking was the simple fact that a
woman directed the music video. Diane Martel, who has directed
numerous music videos, sought to gain attention for Thicke with the
video. She said, I think if ... we do a funny, silly video with topless
girls, everybody's going to have to know who Robin Thicke is. She
certainly succeeded in gaining him attention, though I cannot
comprehend how the video is any way funny or silly. Yet, this has been
Robin Thickes idea of the video as well as the song. The way he views
it, both he and Pharell Williams (who both sings in the song and helped
Thicke write it) are happily married and are, therefore, the perfect
people to make fun of the numerous amount of taboos in the video.
Thicke recognizes the video is derogatory towards women, yet,
amazingly, finds no fault with it. As Elizabeth Day of the UKs Observer
has said, the video is eye-poppingly misogynist. I quite agree.