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Those of you who know me well, will know that I am endlessly
fascinated by the resplendent contemporary art form that is known
as twerking. When used in appropriate settings, this majestic dance
is, to me, not only a fantastic form of cardio but my platform for self-
expression. However, despite my passion for twerking, I can’t help
but worry about the music videos it’s been featured in as of late, or
more specifically, the messages that these clips send. Sadly, these
videos typically depict women in a way that they are just there to be
mindless objects, nothing more than for the pleasure of men and that
all girls want to be treated that way.
Let me set the scene: a man sitting on top of a pile of scantily clad
women as he decides which one he wants to pick. This image is
accompanied by the lyrics ‘got her saved on my phone under big
booty’ – poetic, I know!
I think we can all agree that music videos like the one I’ve just
described do little to celebrate the intelligence of women, our
opinions and our value beyond our bodies.
We live in a time when feminism is prevalent in our society. We
live in a country that prides itself on equality and tolerance for all.
With this in mind, these videos which objectify women, whose
presence is still disturbingly wide-spread, have no place in our lives
and it is time that we banned them once and for all.
Some people have called simply for age restrictions on sexist
music videos. However, wouldn’t this just create a dangerous double
standard? That the derogatory mindset promoted by these videos is
okay, just not for children?
The fact is, these sexist attitudes are not okay for anyone and
graphic music videos that objectify women encourage this sort of
toxic mindset. You might not think that a small video can have such
a large psychological impact, but it does and research has indicated
that those consistently watching these clips have an associated
tolerance for sexist, racist and even rape tolerant attitudes.
An attitude might not appear so damaging on the surface, but
think of the consequences it leads to that become a reality for us:
sexual assault, domestic abuse, the violence that will afflict at least 1
in 3 of us women in our lifetime. What we think about women
affects what we do. As long as people continue to see women as less
than equal, disrespect and violence will continue.
Ask yourself if you’re okay with this. The answer, I hope, is a
A Problem We
Shouldn’t Have
To Watch
Any Longer
Pearl Paguio
Alan Patterson Public
Speaking Competition
Finalist
12