For Part II I am featuring Nicki Minaj's Anaconda. For those who know anything about the song I'm sure you're very clear as to why I'm bringing it up. The music video features, to put it lightly, a lot of butts.
Consideration Because of Reputation:
Here is one of my main concerns, with a song and video like this I'm afraid of the ramifications. I'm not trying, nor do I want to try to control Nicki Minaj in any way, however I do think that especially when you are in a position like Nicki (being that famous, and having a large reach) you need to be careful as to how you're portraying yourself not only because of how it might affect you, but because how it might affect others like you.
When Nicki Minaj show's off her butt, and her body in general as a sexual object, that creates an idea, a reputation of ALL women in the minds of some people.
What she does, what anyone does with their body is TOTALLY their business and their decision UNTIL there is a possibility of affecting others negatively, then I feel like there needs to be more, and more careful, consideration about whether or not to follow through with the idea. Then I think that what you, the owner of the body wants should take a smaller chunk of importance and allow some priority to how it might affect others.
Because this kind of thing feeds into the rape culture, it does, it feeds into the perception of women being a certain way and it can feed into male entitlement. It's the idea that "well if such a successful young woman is choosing to do this, clearly I can expect this from all women."
When Nicki Minaj show's off her butt, and her body in general as a sexual object, that creates an idea, a reputation of ALL women in the minds of some people.
Because this kind of thing feeds into the rape culture, it does, it feeds into the perception of women being a certain way and it can feed into male entitlement. It's the idea that "well if such a successful young woman is choosing to do this, clearly I can expect this from all women."
[More on] Messing with your body to please other people
A very prominent lyric in "Anaconda" goes "My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns, hun." First off, has it been made clear that the person wants anything to do with said anaconda? Because assumption is NEVER good enough.
Also, I'd like to point out that this is a situation where we need to take a step back and distinguish between what may be acceptable in fantasy [fiction] and reality. In all honesty, if a request like that had been directed at me I would have found it quite offensive.
The person is essentially saying that unless the other's body is a certain way, that's not good enough for them. It puts all the importance, all the emphasis, on looks and there's none allotted to traits, character and/or other things that have been proven to be important for a healthy relationship.
It almost threatens the person with "I won't be with you unless your body meets my standards" and sends messages like "your body needs to please me" which if you read Part I you would know I think messages like that are a huge problem.
Also it disregards the other person's health, something society really needs to value more. They're sort of asking you to do something potentially harmful to your health to please them, which I think is totally disrespectful.
I do believe that getting things like that in real life are warning signs for an unhealthy relationship. Had this been me, I would have ended the relationship because there's no way I'd be with someone that treats me as nothing more than something to please them, no way I'd stick around with someone that disregards and disrespects me like that.
And you might ask "what's the big deal it's just a song and/or just a lyric" but the truth is it can be a big deal. Clearly, I have noticed it, and I guarantee there are plenty of other people that will notice and have already noticed it. People are going to interpret things in all sorts of different ways, and that includes in ways that lean toward the negative or bad.
The other thing is what we see others do, we do hold onto, consciously or unconsciously it stays with us, possibly for only a little while, possibly forever. (I'm not a scientist, I don't know) and if the person we see is like us, that's going to contribute to what we perceive ourselves as able to do, and what other people perceive of us, and of our limits. This in turn can affect what you can achieve because of your own perception of what you are capable of, what other people think you are capable of, and how seriously other people will take you.
THAT is a big deal because of people aren't reaching their full potential... just think about it, we've already done so many amazing things in this world where not everyone is given the chance to reach their full potential, from exploring the universe to finding life-saving medicines to nearly defying the laws of the world that governs us we've done it all, think of what we could do if EVERYONE was given the chance to be their very best.
So yeah, I think there should have been more responsibility taken and consideration put into some of the lyrics of "Anaconda" on the creators' parts, but I'm not going to call it some crazy terrible crime, and I'm not saying everyone needs to conform to my ideals. I'm just going to keep on reminding people of two things: try to be considerate, and remember that just because it's in the media, doesn't mean it's okay, or that it's the way things should be.
So I wasn't planning to, but it seems like everything I have to say is calling for a Part III, so look for that in a few days. Right now I am looking for someone to be my first comment so share your thoughts with me in the comments of any of the posts and to the first person to comment on the blog overall, I'm going to try to get you something. :)
Peace,
Maggs
Also, I'd like to point out that this is a situation where we need to take a step back and distinguish between what may be acceptable in fantasy [fiction] and reality. In all honesty, if a request like that had been directed at me I would have found it quite offensive.
The person is essentially saying that unless the other's body is a certain way, that's not good enough for them. It puts all the importance, all the emphasis, on looks and there's none allotted to traits, character and/or other things that have been proven to be important for a healthy relationship.
It almost threatens the person with "I won't be with you unless your body meets my standards" and sends messages like "your body needs to please me" which if you read Part I you would know I think messages like that are a huge problem.
Also it disregards the other person's health, something society really needs to value more. They're sort of asking you to do something potentially harmful to your health to please them, which I think is totally disrespectful.
I do believe that getting things like that in real life are warning signs for an unhealthy relationship. Had this been me, I would have ended the relationship because there's no way I'd be with someone that treats me as nothing more than something to please them, no way I'd stick around with someone that disregards and disrespects me like that.
And you might ask "what's the big deal it's just a song and/or just a lyric" but the truth is it can be a big deal. Clearly, I have noticed it, and I guarantee there are plenty of other people that will notice and have already noticed it. People are going to interpret things in all sorts of different ways, and that includes in ways that lean toward the negative or bad.
The other thing is what we see others do, we do hold onto, consciously or unconsciously it stays with us, possibly for only a little while, possibly forever. (I'm not a scientist, I don't know) and if the person we see is like us, that's going to contribute to what we perceive ourselves as able to do, and what other people perceive of us, and of our limits. This in turn can affect what you can achieve because of your own perception of what you are capable of, what other people think you are capable of, and how seriously other people will take you.
So yeah, I think there should have been more responsibility taken and consideration put into some of the lyrics of "Anaconda" on the creators' parts, but I'm not going to call it some crazy terrible crime, and I'm not saying everyone needs to conform to my ideals. I'm just going to keep on reminding people of two things: try to be considerate, and remember that just because it's in the media, doesn't mean it's okay, or that it's the way things should be.
So I wasn't planning to, but it seems like everything I have to say is calling for a Part III, so look for that in a few days. Right now I am looking for someone to be my first comment so share your thoughts with me in the comments of any of the posts and to the first person to comment on the blog overall, I'm going to try to get you something. :)
Peace,
Maggs
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