D // Sweater Weather // The Neighbourhood

Somehow, despite it being cold and needing a sweater, there is a whole lotta naked going on...maybe it's a PSA. Like: "Girls, it's getting cold. Bring a sweater. Wear some pants." Nope. Just about sex.

• You in those little high waisted shorts, oh
  
• No shirt, no blouse

Here we go, foreplay!

• The goose bumps start to raise / The minute that my left hand meets your waist / And then I watch your face / Put my finger on your tongue / 'Cause you love the taste yeah

• No name calling
• Woman in relation to man and temperatures
• Some objectification
• Not empowering women. Where does she have agency in this song? I'll tell you: nowhere.

D // Let Her Go // Passenger

A (bitter) sweet song.

• No name calling
• Slight objectification: woman is not a "thing" that you let go. Women have agency, people! I know there are ways you could interpret this song to make this line mean otherwise, but in context, this is definitely what he means.
• 'Cause you only need the light when it's burning low
  Only miss the sun when it starts to snow
  Only know you love her when you let her go
  
  Only know you've been high when you're feeling low
  Only hate the road when you're missing home
  Only know you love her when you let her go
• Does not empower women. ^ And who really knows what this part is about:
• Well you see her when you fall asleep
  But never to touch and never to keep
  'Cause you loved her too much and you dive too deep
• Women in relation to man

B+ // Unconditionally // Katy Perry

Musically, I find this song terribly boring. The lyrics are sweet. It would be nice if this were the kind of love songs we ladies got from men instead of the "you're beautiful" line.

• No name calling
• No objectification
• Women in relation to... I mean, I guess you could sing this even to your mom. Which Perry has acknowledged. So, I guess not.
• I happen to think that the human power to love unconditionally is pretty special. So to acknowledge that...maybe it's empowering. 

F // Timber // Pitbull ft Ke$ha

Well, this song is gross. 

I have ‘em like Miley Cyrus, clothes off
Twerking in their bras and thongs, timber
Face down, booty up, timber
That’s the way we like the what, timber
I’m slicker than an oil spill
She say she won’t, but I bet she will, timber
Swing your partner round and round
End of the night, it’s going down

• No name calling
• Objectifies women. Hard.
• Women not empowered. Okay, I get it, women like to dance. But HE has them do it naked. *rolls eyes*
• Women in relation to man. It's going down with a "partner," I'm pretty sure he's talking about hetero-sex here. Correct me if I'm wrong.

D // Rap God // Eminem

Eminem is not known for feminism. He even addresses it in this song.

Angels fight with devils, here's what they want from me

They asking me to eliminate some of the women hate

But if you take into consideration the bitter hatred that I had

Then you may be a little patient and more sympathetic to the situation

And understand the discrimination

But fuck it, life's handing you lemons, make lemonade then

But if I can't batter the women how the fuck am I supposed to bake them a cake then?

Don't mistake it for Satan

It's a fatal mistake if you think I need to be overseas

And take a vacation to trip a broad

And make her fall on her face and don't be a retard

Be a king? Think not, why be a king when you can be a God?

Eminem is often smarter than he seems. You can often realize more of the layers that he's playing with after a few listens. That said:

• No name calling
• Does not objectify women
• Does not empower women
• Woman in relation to man

C // The Monster // Eminem ft. Rihanna

Despite the hum on facebook about not calling women "crazy", I'm going to rule that this collaboration is not about women.

D // Gorilla // Bruno Mars

Okay, vocally, Bruno Mars pulls is out on this song in an impressive way. But lyrically...I know when I want to do a reading of a song to my roommates, it's bad. But maybe in a Prince-y way? Cuz on the other hand...maybe I want to send the lyrics to a lover...hmmm...

Ooh I got a body full of liquor with a cocaine kicker and I'm feeling like I'm thirty feet tall
So lay it down, lay it down

You got your legs up in the sky with the devil in your eyes
Let me hear you say you want it all
Say it now, say it now

Look what you're doing, look what you done
But in this jungle you can't run
Cause what I got for you
I promise it's a killer, you'll be banging on my chest
Bang bang, gorilla

Ooh Ooh Yeah You and me baby making love like gorillas

Yeah I got a fistful of your hair
But you don't look like you're scared
You're just smiling, tell me, daddy it's yours
Cause you know how I like it, you's a dirty little lover
If the neighbors call the cops, call the sheriff, call the SWAT we don't stop, we keep rocking while they knocking on our door
And you're screaming, give it to me baby
Give it to me motherfucker

I bet you never ever felt so good, so good
I got your body trembling like it should, it should
You'll never be the same baby once I'm done with you

The question here is really whether this empowers women or subjugates them. At times the song gets that rapey vibe. "You can't run"? "A killer"? "Call the cops"? She doesn't "look" scared? Not great consent practice. And my personal fave, "Once I'm done with you." But at times it seems quite consensual. She's smiling, screaming for him to give it to her, and she's trembling, presumably from pleasure. 

If we assume Bruno Mars is not singing about rape, because it's not what he intended, and is rather about "animalistic sex", as he describes in interviews, then maybe there is no harm other than the perpetuation of a culture that can't help but discuss women without discussing sex or her body, and that does not promote clear lines of consent during sex. Should we hold Bruno Mars accountable for that? Isn't that kind of the point?

Many women enjoy the kind of sex described. I certainly would not want to take good, consensual sex away from anyone. But I can't call this empowering when it feels like Bruno's fantasy more than it feels like his partner's by the virtue of it being from his point of view. If it were a woman singing, it would likely be different. Just read it in the voice of Nicki Minaj but substitute "daddy" with mami. How does it sound now? To me, she'd be taking power, not giving it, and that's a sign that on some level, my subconscious empowers men so that when I listen to this song, any minuscule bit he gives over is considered. *sigh* 

• Does not empower women

Which has some standing in the next question--does this objectify women?

If you want some go-to feminist guidelines on objectification, check this out. But as the wiki makes a little clearer, objectification is treating a person as a thing, without regard to their dignity. So the antonymous question of whether a song objectifies women is whether or not it dignifies them. I'm going to go with no. 

• Objectifies women

And the easy ones

• Women in relation to man
• No name calling

Many have drawn comparisons to Blurred Lines, which I also gave a D. Part of me thinks I should fail them both. So why didn't I? I mean, I failed Treasure, which seems like a much more vanilla song. But it isn't women enjoying sex, rough or gentle, that the feminist in me is against. Certainly the part of me that values modesty does not like it, but that isn't what this blog is about. I'm against women not having a voice, not being valued (for more than their bodies), lacking power, and violence against women.

Well, this post is long enough. I welcome your thoughts!