Blurred Lines

I’m a little tardy to the party on this topic, but…I’m putting in my two cents anyway. I needed a bit of time to process this whole thing. I had the misfortune of seeing Miley Cyrus’ “performance” with Robin Thicke on the VMA’s the other night.

Wow.

I remember back in the day seeing Madonna roll around on the floor in a wedding gown, back in the day. I also remember how shocking it was. (Seems so innocent now.) Then in the 90’s, we had Britney proving over and over that she wasn’t that innocent with the flesh colored body suit and the snake and later on, the kiss with Madonna. The VMA’s try to shock, because it gets people talking. I get that, and I try to think that I am not so uptight or that much of a prude to be “outraged” by these antics.

Then came Miley. And Robin.

I don’t have a vested interest in her as Hannah Montana. I have a son, so it wasn’t the right demographic. Her dad’s first CD got a few spins back in the day. I remember watching Growing Pains, which starred Robin’s dad, back in the day. Back before Kirk Cameron went all guerilla Christian on us, and he was dreamy. Here are two celebrity kids, and I question if they would have ever gotten any attention or a record deal if they weren’t the child of so and so.

I am the mother of a tween son. My little guy is almost 11, and is becoming more cognizant of pop culture. Up until now, we’ve kept him fairly insulated, with monitoring video games, internet usage and viewing habits. He’s listened to the music my husband and I listen to, without much say in things (other than requesting Michael Jackson’s greatest hits and a few Lady Gaga songs). We do not watch the VMA’s, because both my husband and I know nothing good can come out of it (we grew up with MTV and were first hand witnesses to some of the more “shocking” performances). Since I am attempting to raise my son with a strong moral compass, I have reminded him time and time again that all people deserve respect and to be treated fairly.

What has me more upset about the situation the most is the fact that all the attention is focused on Miley Cyrus, and Robin Thicke is being virtually ignored. He is equally complicit in this, and I guess gender stereotypes die hard. There is a culture of slut shaming that has reared its ugly head again in the wake of this. All I hear is Miley, not Robin. I watched the uncensored video of his hit song, Blurred Lines, and its obvious he is at the very least, co-conspirator and at the most, instigator. In fact, I was more offended by that video than I was by the “performance”. Again, it’s the objectification of women as vapid objects to be paraded around and not good for much else. Feminism in its pure essence fought very hard to stop the objectification of women’s bodies. Unfortunately, that has been, in the words of my 10 year old son, an epic fail.

I do not want my son to think its ok at objectify women. I don’t want him to think its ok for women to be an object rather than a person. Instead, I want him to see women as his intellectual and social equal. I want him to see beyond a woman’s physical appearance and learn that she is much more than that. Having people like Robin Thicke as a potential role model will not allow that to happen. One day I will not be able to censor his TV viewing or internet access and he will come across things like this VMA performance. I hope that my husband and I instilled enough morality for him to know that this is wrong, and to switch it off.