There’s little doubt that Robin Thickes “Blurred Lines” has caused controversy and outrage across the globe. It’s been heavily criticised by feminist groups including The Everyday Sexism project, it’s received numerous complaints when played before watershed and it’s already been banned on several university campuses. In light of this it comes to many as no surprise that the Exeter Guild has proposed a student vote on whether it should be banned on campus here too.
“Blurred Lines” raises many questions about what is acceptable in mainstream pop culture, its lyrics arguably promote rape-myths and its video is either misguidedly ironic or appallingly misogynistic. The video alone was heavily criticised for its depiction of naked women juxtaposed to fully clothed men and if you can’t really see why, then watch this very amusing feminist parody video, which was banned on Youtube for a while. When the gender roles are reversed you definitely view it differently.
But the most damning criticism of “Blurred Lines” comes not from big protests or comedic parodies but from the mouths of women and girls for whom those “blurred lines” were real excuses, real justifications uttered by the men who abused them. Project Unbreakable helps women, and men, who have been sexually assaulted and raped. One of the ways they do this is to photograph them holding up the words their abusers used to justify their actions. This project was not started as a response to Robin Thicke, it was not designed to protest against the song but looking through those images, one of which actually says “I know you want it”, it is impossible to not think that in a way, having the biggest pop song of the year sing those words along to a catchy tune, somewhat validates the excuses these rapists used.
However, it is easy to pin the acceptance of rape myths to this one song. It is easy to use Robin Thicke as a scapegoat for what is arguably a wider social and cultural problem. “Blurred Lines” is just one of many songs and videos which perpetuate damaging myths about rape and sexual assault. Popular culture is saturated with degrading and confused messages about sexuality and consent; if you sit down and read through the lyrics of hundreds of our most popular songs you will find the same messages and the same ideas littered through many of them. “Blurred Lines” is perhaps just more obvious.
If the Exeter Guild does vote to ban “Blurred Lines” from playing on campus then it is setting a precedent, to ban all derogatory and rape-myth supporting songs from campus. This is a commitment difficult to uphold. It is not wrong to object to the song and it’s lyrics, but to do so and to ignore the others which are just as bad, would be naïve and perhaps a knee-jerk reaction to a larger problem.
When considering the Guild vote on “Blurred Lines”, it is interesting to cast your mind back to the last vote we held on an issue of sexism and misogyny. The “No More Page 3” campaign on campus was arguably not met with thorough and healthy debate but quickly became personal and disappointing. If the Guild does follow through their decision to hold a vote on “Blurred Lines”, it should be met with the proper intellectual and intelligent debate that Exeter students are capable of.