Gender in Blurred lines

I have recently reviewed three different music videos, one being an original song blurred lines by a well known artist Robin Thicke. The other two videos were personal takes on the song and the video, a boylesque version and a feminist parody. My prior to watching the video opinion was a dirty song, very popular and very catchy. As I began to watch the original music video by Robin Thicke I became extremely uncomfortable. The sexualization of women in this video actually made me want to turn it off with anger. While the men in this video were extremely well dressed in suits, the women were practically naked dancing and shimming around. The vulgar phrases and lyrics made me extremely upset. For example they refereed to girls as "good girls" and suggesting "I know you want it". Along with the ass smacking and hair pulling I was not surprised that Robin Thicke chose to make his music video so sexual. In today's culture it did not surprise me at all, but I wish it did. 

The second video I watched was a boylesque version where the woman were dressed in suits while the men were practically naked dancing around. It was the same video as Robin Thicke but with reversed roles. At first this video almost made me uncomfortable, but by the end I was laughing and enjoying seeing this change in gender roles. In Thicke's version there was women sexually riding animals, it did make me want to look away when the men in this video began to do the same. I was also very unsure how I felt about the phrase "good boy" instead of "good girl", it is something I never really heard. In fact the only time I have ever said "good boy" was to my dog, but people tell girls all the time that they are a "good girl". This video made me feel empowered because I want to show it to every male in the world to prove to them the way women are sexualized. If we could switch gender roles for a day nation wide I am sure men would realize the way women are sexualized. For example the difference it makes when a woman walks down the street in comparison to man. 

The third video was my favorite. A feminist parody of blurred lines. It features naked men, women dressed in business formal outfits, and a completely new set of lyrics. My favorite line said, "so we can fuck this mans world, with all its bullshit, girls don't deserve this" which I find to be so true. Woman do not deserve to feel sexualized with every move they make. Most choices woman make involve thinking about how a man would view this choice. The one scene I found to be the best depiction of a woman was when a man with no clothes on other than an apron had just made a sandwich. This is what most people view the typical house wife as. The viewing of all three videos showed what can happen when you view something from a man's point of view versus a woman's.

I find it repulsive to think about how our culture views woman as a whole. We are grouped together and viewed as these house wives with little rights. The woman suffrage act in the nineteenth and twentieth century got us to where we are today, but since then we have not made many big changes. It is time for gender equality, in hopes that I never have to feel uncomfortable doing something so simple as watching a music video. 

video 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyDUC1LUXSU

video 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKfwCjgiodg

video 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC1XtnLRLPM