So I feel like this needed to be said. Please note that this
is my opinion on the subject and so I don’t apologise for the language I have
used or the lyrics that I have quoted. I have done so to make a point and those
who know me, know that I don’t beat people round the bush so to speak.
Am a tad fed up of people in the media thinking they can
just go ahead and sing about how they treat girls and just coming straight out
with it. The person who has wound me up a fair bit recently is Robin Thicke. I
wish I could find the reference but hearing from the media that he thinks girls
are just there to be treated like crap or words to that affect shocked me. Young
girls who hear this, what are they going to think? How many of these girls are
likely to have watched his and Miley Cyrus performance at the MTV awards? How many
of these girls as a result of this are going to think that that is the right
way to act? The right way to behave? By these celebrities portraying sex as
some sort of toy, something that is fashionable, they are giving young teenage
girls the view that this is ok, that this is how a girl should be treated. Heard
of the whole thing about society sexualising young teens? That is exactly what
is happening! What happened to celebrities who were role models but were role
models not from dancing half naked on stage?!
It’s amazing also what is in some of the songs we sing! I listened
to Notorious BIG ‘nasty girl’ feat. P.Diddy and some other artists and after
having a look at the video thought I would read through the lyrics as I thought
there was something more to do it, something more abnormal about the song. Just
to clarify I wanted to listen to some songs that I used to hear on the tv a bit
as a child/young teenage. Back to where I was, I was wrong, this is normal in
the media. Some of the lines in the song ‘sex is all I expect’ and ‘fingers in
your mouth, open up your blouse’. These are just a couple of the lines that
disgusted me. The language in the song, no wonder they are rapping it! The
artists probably don’t want you to know what they are saying! Some of the lines
in that song are even more vulgar for example ‘when I’m done flip the mattress
change the sheet’ and that’s not even the worst of it! Why would you want a
young teenager to hear that? To hear that that behaviour is ok? To ask their
friends about it to then find out the other stuff that they probably should not
know till they are in her late teens at the earliest!
Robin Thicke as I have already mentioned is no better! Just reading
through the lyrics to his ‘blurred lines’ song (I refuse to listen to it!), I
should be shocked by the content of the song but after listening to the song ‘nasty
girl’ as I have talked about above, I’m really not shocked! As I have mentioned
before, this is the same guy who obviously does not realise that girls are
actually HUMAN and not animals as he implies in the line ‘Ok now he was close,
tried to domesticate you but you’re an animal, baby it’s in your nature.’ Someone
tell me how that is meant to make a girl feel valued? According to google
domesticate means ‘tame (an animal) and keep it as a pet or on a farm.’ I bet you
didn’t know that! I ask you again, how is that meant to make a girl feel
valued? To feel respected? What example is that giving to a young guy? Is this
how he is meant to treat a girl? No but he has been taught no better by the
media! In recent years I have noticed a rise in the adverts appealing directly
to teenagers saying about abuse in relationships and what it is and that it
should not be accepted. I’ve seen it, on tv, on posters in the community. They’re
there. And I’m no expert but I bet you that part of the reason these campaigns
are being run is as a result of the affect the media has on this and younger generations!
And these artists are just two examples and there is a wide variety from which I
could have chosen to use!
The media is a young person’s biggest
influence. Look around you, it’s everywhere! People have to be connected, young
people have it on their phones, it’s on TV’s, newsstands, you cannot get away
from it! However it is up to YOU whether you choose to listen to the media or not.
It’s like when you go to a bar, there are people around you drinking, yes you
have to have A LOT of determination not to drink sometimes depending on who you
are but there are alternatives. There’s a pub I go too where if my friends are having
cocktails then I will often have a non-alcoholic cocktail. This helps me not to
feel left out when they are drinking! You can do the same with music!
Anyway my point is basically there is
music out there that is positive, however it is often not in the charts,
sometimes it is but half the time the reason is because it doesn’t sell. Songs about
drugs, sex, alcohol, and generally having a ‘good time’ sell and so as a result
are more widespread amongst our generation. Basically as I said, there is
positive music out there, it’s just up to YOU to find it. It doesn’t matter
whether you are a Christian or not. Yes there is a lot of Christian rap, rock
and so on that is positive however there is also a fair bit of secular music
that has a positive vibe to it.
I leave you with this question. Do you
really want to listen to music that portrays drugs, sex, alcohol in the lyrics?
Lyrics that are often quite vulgar? Do you really want to be influenced by
this?
If you didn’t get anything out of
reading this then please at least think about what you are listening to, the
message it is portraying and the influence it is having to you. If it is having
a negative impact on you then it’s up to YOU to do something about it.