Ariana Grande, the Objectification of Women, and Our Culture

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Jim Geraghty:

Apparently we need a national conversation on the objectification of women, spurred by a fan’s interaction with pop star Ariana Grande.

In Grande’s account, she was out with her boyfriend, rapper Mac Miller, picking up food from a restaurant when an enthusiastic “young boy” told Miller, “Ariana is sexy as hell, man, I see you hitting that!”

Now, that’s rude. Gentlemen ought to be gentlemen, at any age. And no, the fact that Grande dresses in skimpy or revealing outfits in her performances does not give any male fan carte blanche to say or do whatever he likes without consequence. How you choose to treat people doesn’t make a statement about them and their standards; it’s about you and your standards.

But let’s add two other notes: Grande said “it hurts my heart that so many young people are so comfortable enough using these phrases and objectifying women with such ease.”

Indeed, but many of us on the Right feel like we’ve been making this argument about a coarse, vulgar public discourse for years and we’ve been dismissed as old-fashioned prudes. You can’t have people marinating in a culture that moved from Hugh Hefner to George Carlin to Madonna to Andrew Dice Clay to Howard Stern to Bill Maher to Marilyn Manson to twerking to rappers walking around with women on leashes and then be surprised that people say vulgar, sexual things on the street. (Fun question: How would the American society of a generation or two generations ago greeted Donald Trump’s more vulgar comments and moments? Would they have deemed it disqualifying for a president?) If you have a culture that is extremely open about sexual topics, you’re going to have people expressing thoughts about sex in ways that offend other people – i.e., “I see you hitting that.”

Grande points out that she is in a relationship with “a man who treats me with love and respect.” Wonderful! But if she’s wondering why one of Mac Miller’s fans might have thought it was acceptable to objectify her, she may want to peruse the lyrics to his “Break the Law” or “God Is Fair, Sexy Nasty.” They’re way too explicit to print in NR. The first words of the latter are “Open your legs,” and I think you can get the idea from there.

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Look at what 1 or 2 generations has produced, from Debbie Renoylds singing Tammy to Disneys product Ms Cyrus. I fault the female preformers their obvious lack of true talent makes them expose themselves, onstage behaviour that would only be suitable for the lowest stripclubs. Do we correct our daughters, no we bring them to these shows, post to you tube them gyrating and popping, isnt that cute. Hardly Shirley Temple dancing. I am such a prude, little girls dressing like prostitutes and gyrating in baby beauty pageants fully painted faces choreographed by pedophiles for pedophiles. Get em young, then wonder why they never have meaningful relationships, bounce from bed to bed and die young of overdoses.
Its not normal, we need to stop allowing them normalizing it.
Let our kids have their wonderous time of innocence no sex ed in kindergarden.