Singers

Take a good look at that photo right above this sentence. Chris Brown and T-Pain are physically and sexually objectifying this young black woman, and thus, reduce her to eye candy and perpetuating stereotypes about black women. To prove everything is mutual, the video director even had this woman smiling like that is the sort of thing a woman wants. Step right up black ladies! You're going to be featured in a video where everyone is going to look at your ass. If you're black, then it's almost certain we'll stereotype you for having a big ol' butt!

The problem does not stop there. Over the course of pop music history black women have consistently been objectified. If there are women in a hip-hop video, and the lead singers are men, one can almost be certain that a display of the female anatomy will be just what the doctor ordered.

Even before hip-hop emerged, black women's bodies have been objectified. In The rebirth of the booty: America's obsession with my big black ass., student writer Amber Williams discusses mainstream America's obsession with big black ass:

Black women have been objectified as sex objects ever since their voluptuous bodies were seen as a welcome change to the bony figures of European women to whom the male settlers were accustomed. When African women arrived in America via a "free cruise" through the middle passage with their large posteriors, it was assumed that they were sex-craving, savage beasts. The view of black women as sexual predators is still seen today in both the entertainment industry and society at large.

Listening to the lyrics of the song is totally different from watching the video. Most of the video is empowering for women. Lil' Mama picks up Avril Lavigne in her shiny pink car. They both appear to be promoting sisterhood and solidarity. The video does not seem to match the lyrics of the song at all.

The music alone is another matter entirely. When a love triangle is set up in pop media there always seems to be a "cat fight". On one end of the corner there is one woman who says she's better and can do more for "the man". On the other end of the ring there is a different woman that says she can do better for "the man". Instead of one woman saying it we've got two women saying it! The video appears to be promoting sisterhood, but in reality, it is used to disguise what the song is really about. The focus of this song is about how a woman wants a man to dump his girlfriend for her.

The potential lover might need some assistance in deciding which woman to pick. There are several examples laid out in the lyrics as to reasons why the other woman needs to be kicked to the curb. Mind you, they are not his reasons for dumping her -- they are another woman's reasons:

1. She is stupid.

So when's it gonna sink in
She's so stupid
What the hell were you thinking?!

2. She is less of a person.

She's like so whatever
You could do so much better

That is exactly what we women need. We need to convince men that other women are stupid and less of a person. Why in pop media are there so many women that do their men’s dirty work? If the guy is really thinking about two different women (or more) at once, why would the characters Avril Lavigne and Lil’ Mama portray be any different than the other women he’s interested in?

Feminist Fix?

They call it "a monument to pro-life." I don't know. It seems to me like a monument to something else. (I'm left wondering how many women give birth doggy style?)

“Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston,� believed Pro-Life’s first monument to the ‘act of giving birth,’ is purportedly an idealized depiction of Britney in delivery. Natural aspects of Spears’ pregnancy, like lactiferous breasts and protruding naval, compliment a posterior view that depicts widened hips for birthing and reveals the crowning of baby Sean’s head.

The monument also acknowledges the pop-diva’s pin-up past by showing Spears seductively posed on all fours atop a bearskin rug with back arched, pelvis thrust upward, as she clutches the bear’s ears with ‘water-retentive’ hands.

“Britney provides inspiration for those struggling with the ‘right choice’,� said artist Daniel Edwards, recipient of a 2005 Bartlebooth award from London’s The Art Newspaper. “She was number one with Google last year, with good reason --- people are inspired by the beauty of a pregnant woman,� said Edwards.

Yeah, that's it. Right. Uh huh. That's why people are coming here from Google looking for "hairy armpit girl" and "girl fucks donkey."

But hey, you're not a real artist unless you can talk total bullshit, right?

Update: Is it a knife fetish?

A little birdie tells me Britney gave birth by caesarean:

Pop singer Britney Spears has given birth to a baby boy.

The baby was born Wednesday by caesarean section at the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center in California, the magazine said.

Now go look at the oddball birthing posture in the Edwards fantasy. I have no further comment.