“I hate these blurred lines I know you want it I know you want it I know you want it But you’re a good girl The way you grab me Must want to get nasty”
You most likely remember Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” In 2013, it was the No. 1 hit on the Billboard Top 100 from June until September of that year. It spent 33 total weeks on the Billboard Top 100. It is truly a shame that this song was successful for such a long period when it evidently celebrates violence against women. It supports an aspect of rape culture that assumes that women are always interested in intercourse, but are unable to say so because of the societal restrictions on female sexuality. The lyrics imply that because she is a “good girl,” she cannot express her sexual desire to the male without jeopardizing her reputation and receiving criticism. He then goes on to say that based on the way she “grabs” him, she “must want to get nasty” – there simply cannot be any other meaning to her body language!
The absence of the woman’s “no” does not mean “yes;” verbal consent should not be ignored. The concept of “blurred lines” sends an extremely dangerous message to the listeners. And these presumptuous lyrics are just the tip of the iceberg in today’s rape culture, “an environment in which rape is prevalent and in which sexual violence against women is normalized and excused in the media and popular culture.” (Marshall Women’s Center). Rape culture should never be glamorized, and unfortunately many songs such as this one are admired for being “sexy.”
Perpetuating rape culture is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the practice of excusing and even celebrating rape culture is thousands of years old.
In Ovid’s account of Apollo and Daphne in his Metamorphoses, the characters’ behaviors are distinctly reminiscent of a hunting scene. In Apollo’s pursuit of Daphne, he is “grazing her heels with his outstretched jaws,” while she is attempting to “escape his bite.” Daphne is literally described as being driven by fear, while he is “driven by desire.” Even after she turns into a tree to avoid his advances, he still refuses to quit. Ovid even uses language to apply a graceful and forgiving nature to Apollo and his continued advances, painting him as a good guy for wanting her “even like this.”
In her essay “Reading Ovid’s Rapes,” classical scholar Amy Richlin reveals that even in Ovid’s lifetime, critics were disturbed by his “witty” portrayal of “unfunny circumstances.” In Ancient Rome, a culture that is known for being sexually oppressive towards women, people were still struck by the problematic portrayals of sex in Metamorphoses, which includes over 50 tales of rape throughout its 15 books. Today, we make a conscious effort to educate on the topic of rape culture, and thereby prevent it. In the past five to ten years alone, the conversation of rape culture has become increasingly incorporated into our lives, especially as young adults attending a liberal college. I agree wholeheartedly with the Columbia students that claim a trigger warning should be issued when discussing classical texts that include disturbing content such as this one in an academic setting. This will not take away from the academic value of discussing the language and metaphors of the text. A trigger warning is there to prepare students for the topic, and to remind them to be conscious of other people’s experiences, even if they do not share them. As Richlin points out, “a text about rape may also be about something else,” and therefore it may be examined for other reasons, but “it is still a text of rape,” and must be treated as such.
Whether you agree or not that Ovid’s Metamorphoses requires a trigger warning, the fact that we are even addressing this topic shows the strides that society today has made to spread awareness of rape culture. However, the core fact remains that modern pop culture still normalizes and even romanticizes sexual violence against women. We still have work to do in order to get to a place where pop culture subverts rape culture instead of perpetuating it.