OPINION:
The music industry has reached a new low. And that’s saying something.
The release of Kanye West’s clip for Bound 2 – in which he simulates sex with a naked Kim Kardashian on a motorbike – makes Miley Cyrus’ twerking seem quaint.
After reading the social media uproar on Wednesday, and various posts on websites, like so many other millions of people across the world, I watched the clip. Which, incidentally, was first released on the US talk show Ellen (a fact I find staggering given its content and her usual approach to standing up for women’s rights).
I wish I had those few minutes back of my life. But when I read the comments underneath the clip, there was a varying range of amusement, embarrassment and eye-rolling.
What was missing was true outrage. Oh god, it’s so politically incorrect these days, isn’t it We’ve all got to be so cool, mocking things such as this if we’re uncomfortable with them, always too afraid to stand up seriously and say “this is not OK”.
But as a parent, an aunty and someone who actually respects the rights of women, I’ve had enough. I am truly outraged by this clip. It actually left me feeling sick because of its objectification of women.
It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious. These two – West and Kardashian – have an incredible reach to young people. And what is the message they’re sending
That even after a woman has given birth to a baby – their daughter North West is only five months old – that she has one purpose, to look the same as she did beforehand, if not thinner. Forget her actually taking time out to accept this enormous change in her life and focus on her child, instead narcissism (and sexism) reigns supreme.
It would be passable and merely embarrassing if we felt this was all Kardashian’s doing. But there seems to have been an enormous ongoing pressure from West himself in regards to Kardashian regaining her body shape, as though anything but her looking her best would not be OK.
This clip proves that uncomfortable truth; that she is simply an object, a body, a way to prove his “manhood”.
Those who love West say he has always given them a sense of speaking up for underdogs, of raising his middle finger to the bourgeoisie.
It’s truly shocking, though, that this attitude has completely bypassed the women in his life and females in general. As this clip exemplifies, he is objectifying women to the extreme, including his very own fiancee. His behaviour even away from the video clip – including insisting on choosing clothing for Kardashian – has the words “controlling” written all over it.
There will be plenty out there who say “hold on, she’s choosing to be in this” and pointing out Kardashian’s sex tapes, made before West was in the picture. But isn’t it interesting that her own fiance wants to now keep up that stereotype As though it makes him a bigger man.
There have been concerns for some time that porn culture has infiltrated the music business. This video clip doesn’t so much confirm that ugly truth, as shout it from the rooftops.
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It is a pop culture message that is damaging young peoples lives and completely rewriting how young women see themselves and the way they should act. It’s also affecting young men too, who believe the only way to fit in is to adhere to these stereotypes, even though they might feel uncomfortable deep down.
And yet we as a society blithely roll on with it, laughing at West and Kardashian, rolling our eyes but not making any true statement to young people which clearly says “this is wrong”.
Of course, it probably makes it all the more appealing to them if the older generation out there makes a fuss. But does that mean we shouldn’t Have we given up caring
In regards to this clip, it’s worth the fuss. It’s an outrage and our children need to know that.
– Sydney Morning Herald
