We all have them. Those little moments we find ourselves enjoying trashy movies, TV, or magazines that offend our feminist beliefs, but satisfy our desire for some mind numbing entertainment. I usually try to catch these moments, acknowledge them, and then usually continue whatever I was doing.
Well this weekend I had one of those moments that is really kind of bumming me out. I was driving home from a wedding with a friend and the song "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" came on. I remember being six years old and screaming this at the top of my lungs, and as we drove down a country road, I stuck my head out the window and howled the words at the moon.
Then I made the mistake of thinking about the words. Look them up. You'll see how offensive they really kind of are. Really, girls don't just want to have fun...they want to have equality, choice, and success.
Anyways, this really bummed me out. I love singing at the top of my lungs, but I fear I just can't do it to this song anymore. Similar story anyone?
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Personally, I always though "just want to have fun" meant that we want to do what we want to do. For me, choice, equality, and success are all indeed fun things to have. Having fun is enjoying ourselves and our freedom.
I always liked the lyric:
Some boys take a beautiful girl
And hide her away from the rest of the world.
I want to be the one to walk in the sun.
Girls just want to have fun.
It's about having our own agency. It's still a positive thing. At least in my perspective. Cyndi Lauper has used her voice so positively for LBGT rights and for women that I can't assume the worst from these lyrics.
Whoa, you are being way too hard on yourself. There is nothing anti-feminist about enjoying that song. In fact, I'd argue that it's a sort of feminist song! You are reading something into that song that just isn't there. Enjoy it! And pay attention to the lyrics.
It's not a song I actually enjoyed, but last night the family went to a father/daughter golf dinner at my grandfather's country club (holy white people, Batman!) and every table had "Thank Heavens For Little Girls". The lyrics sickened me so much I flipped the card over. You just know that ceiling she's pushing against is the lovely glass one. As I whispered to my cousin, the thing little boys would do without little girls is called sodomy.
. . .Sorry, I just had to rant about that to someone.
I think there is a rare and reaching case that Laupers lyrics LACK strong feminist themes.
When I graduated in 1999, with a small class with six other girls, we were asked by our private school founders to perform a talent or read a poem or something to lengthen the graduation ceremony. (Calling out seven names and handing them diplomas would take only a few minutes)
The seven of us decided to perform a choreographed dance to "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" together, rather than embarrass ourselves individually. It was simply the most honest and divine fun I've ever had in my entire life (even if I was the only one that was a half beat off for the can-can kicks).
I remember when I was a kid, and my hair stylist mother and her gay friends would help me dress up like Cyndi, my hero. I had a dog named "She-Bop".
When I was older and decoded the lyrics to She Bop I could not get enough of it (and asked my mother WHY ON EARTH would she let me name my poor dog that!)
In any case, Cyndi Lauper is a feminist hero.
Everyone is entitled to their own interpretation, of course. When I hear that song, I hear "Girls don't want to be "good", they want to be happy."
I agree - it's a fun and silly song, but I don't think it's particularly anti-feminist. Maybe if the lyrics were more along the lines of, "Who needs school when you can party all the time?" but as they stand, I think it's pure 80's "Just gotta be free" stuff.
Plus, if Cyndi Lauper is bad, then you don't even WANT to know about my guilty pleasures! They include a bunch of Eminem songs ("Lose Yourself" and "Cleaning Out My Closet" for example). I love the Nelly song "Ride Wit Me," which features some pretty bad lyrics for your typical MTV pop/rap song. "Hey Ma" by Cam'ron...well, I could keep going.
I definitely have a LOT of trouble reconciling my feminist "values" and my love for some pretty raunchy, misogynistic music. I balance it out with some genuinely awesome stuff (Dar Williams, Ma Rainey, Carole King, Tracy Chapman) but still...that can only take me so far. So unfortunately I can't give you any good advice - anyone else?
This is probably a pretty common reaction. I experience it quite frequently, listening to certain music, reading trashy novels, feeling superior when I see an unflattering picture of some starlet, enjoying movies that objectify women. I suppose that so long as you are aware that whatever you are viewing or hearing is 'wrong' in some way, you can disallow yourself from buying in to whatever deragoatory mindset that is being posed.
I love Mary Poppins, but I did a feminist interpretation and the ending had patriarchy written all over. This was insult to injury considering up until those last few moments, Mary Poppins was a feminist icon for me. I still love the movie, but I can't see Mary Poppins in the same admiring way I had been.
I had a similar experience, not with a song though. I harbor a secret love of fashion magazines that I have not indulged in years, but I was at a train station in Berlin and couldn't resist the pull of the newsstand. I picked up a copy of German ELLE and about 1/3 of the way through (I am embarassed it took me so long), I realized I had yet to see a non-white model. I flipped through the rest of the magazine to see only TWO non white people, neither of which were models. One was Vera Wang and another was a black actress in the background of a movie still for an article. It definitely ruined the pleasure involved in my guilty pleasure.