Married singer Robin Thicke's new single Blurred Lines has caused outrage amongst women everywhere for its 'rapey' lyrics and video.
The song - which he recorded with rappers Pharrell and T.I. - may have hit the number one spot on the Billboards Hot 100 chart but it has been lambasted for its blatant misogyny.
The openly sexist video for the track shows women prancing around wearing nothing but thongs as the fully dressed rappers ogle them and whisper 'I know you want it' in their ears.
Tricia Romano of The Daily Beast wrote a post on Monday titled Robin Thicke’s Summer Anthem, Is Kind of Rapey. She wrote: 'The subject [of the song] itself is enough to make some female music fans uncomfortable. The song is about how a girl wants crazy wild sex but doesn’t say it - positing that age-old problem where men think no means yes into a catchy, hummable song.'
Lisa Huynh of Feminist in LA first slammed the song in April and wrote: 'Has anyone heard Robin Thicke's new rape song? Basically, the majority of the song … has the R&B singer murmuring ‘I know you want it’ over and over into a girl’s ear.
And Thicke's comments about the video won't exactly help him to win back female fans.
In a recent interview with May's GQ magazine he said: 'We tried to do everything that was taboo - bestiality, drug injections, and everything that is completely derogatory towards women.'
'What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman,' he continued. 'I’ve never gotten to do that before. I’ve always respected women.'
The 36-year-old singer- who is happily married to actress Paula Patton - tried to defend the song on the basis that both Pharrell and T.I. are 'happily married with children' and that because they are settled in their personal lives they were both 'the perfect guys to make this.' Blurred Lines contains some very explicit lyrics and normally clean-cut Thicke will be hoping that it will not cause him to lose out on lucrative endorsement deals.
Eh, there are many songs on the radio like that. But what I find stupid is his statement in the interview. He knew how to create attention for his music by going to the shadiest pits.
Robin Thicke: We tried to do everything that was taboo. Bestiality, drug injections, and everything that is completely derogatory towards women. Because all three of us are happily married with children, we were like, "We're the perfect guys to make fun of this." People say, "Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?" I'm like, "Of course it is. What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I've never gotten to do that before. I've always respected women." So we just wanted to turn it over on its head and make people go, "Women and their bodies are beautiful. Men are always gonna want to follow them around." After the video got banned on YouTube, my wife tweeted, "Violence is ugly. Nudity is beautiful. And the 'Blurred Lines' video makes me wanna..." You know. And that's the truth. Right now, with terrorism and poverty and Wall Street and Social Security having problems, nudity should not be the issue.
It's clearly not that serious.
