It’s time to bring an end to the Rape Anthem Masquerading As Christmas Carol
Hi there! Former English nerd/teacher here. Also a big fan of jazz of the 30s and 40s.
So. Here’s the thing. Given a cursory glance and applying today’s worldview to the song, yes, you’re right, it absolutely *sounds* like a rape anthem.
BUT! Let’s look closer!
“Hey what’s in this drink” was a stock joke at the time, and the punchline was invariably that there’s actually pretty much nothing in the drink, not even a significant amount of alcohol.
See, this woman is staying late, unchaperoned, at a dude’s house. In the 1940’s, that’s the kind of thing Good Girls aren’t supposed to do — and she wants people to think she’s a good girl. The woman in the song says outright, multiple times, that what other people will think of her staying is what she’s really concerned about: “the neighbors might think,” “my maiden aunt’s mind is vicious,” “there’s bound to be talk tomorrow.” But she’s having a really good time, and she wants to stay, and so she is excusing her uncharacteristically bold behavior (either to the guy or to herself) by blaming it on the drink — unaware that the drink is actually really weak, maybe not even alcoholic at all. That’s the joke. That is the standard joke that’s going on when a woman in media from the early-to-mid 20th century says “hey, what’s in this drink?” It is not a joke about how she’s drunk and about to be raped. It’s a joke about how she’s perfectly sober and about to have awesome consensual sex and use the drink for plausible deniability because she’s living in a society where women aren’t supposed to have sexual agency.
Basically, the song only makes sense in the context of a society in which women are expected to reject men’s advances whether they actually want to or not, and therefore it’s normal and expected for a lady’s gentleman companion to pressure her despite her protests, because he knows she would have to say that whether or not she meant it, and if she really wants to stay she won’t be able to justify doing so unless he offers her an excuse other than “I’m staying because I want to.” (That’s the main theme of the man’s lines in the song, suggesting excuses she can use when people ask later why she spent the night at his house: it was so cold out, there were no cabs available, he simply insisted because he was concerned about my safety in such awful weather, it was perfectly innocent and definitely not about sex at all!) In this particular case, he’s pretty clearly right, because the woman has a voice, and she’s using it to give all the culturally-understood signals that she actually does want to stay but can’t say so. She states explicitly that she’s resisting because she’s supposed to, not because she wants to: “I ought to say no no no…” She states explicitly that she’s just putting up a token resistance so she’ll be able to claim later that she did what’s expected of a decent woman in this situation: “at least I’m gonna say that I tried.” And at the end of the song they’re singing together, in harmony, because they’re both on the same page and they have been all along.
So it’s not actually a song about rape - in fact it’s a song about a woman finding a way to exercise sexual agency in a patriarchal society designed to stop her from doing so. But it’s also, at the same time, one of the best illustrations of rape culture that pop culture has ever produced. It’s a song about a society where women aren’t allowed to say yes…which happens to mean it’s also a society where women don’t have a clear and unambiguous way to say no.
THANK.
THANK YOU THANK YOU OH MY GOD THANK YOU
NOW I HAVE A COOL HISTORY THING TO TALK ABOUT WHEN THIS SONG COMES ON.
ALL ALONG I JUST HATED THIS SONG AND NOW MY EYES HAVE BEEN OPENED
I couldn’t give less of a shit about Kylo Ren but good god if it makes General Leia Organa Founder of the Resistance, Last Princess of Alderaan and Hero of the Rebellion happy for once in her life then I will THROW HIS ASH-SNORTING EMO ASS ONTO THE FALCON AND DRAG HIM BACK TO D'QAR MYSELF
????? This is the guy in my English class that I only contact when I wasn’t in class. It’s too early for this.
If you’ve had some creep send you something worse than this, please let me know.
So he forgot he requested me on Facebook…I messaged his mother.
You know you fucked up when your mom tells someone to call the police about your ridiculous behavior because she tried but she is DONE, you’re supposed to be a man by now.
Alright nerds, today we are going to discuss headphone etiquette.
You walk into your favorite hang out joint and you see a dear friend. How grand! However, you see their headphones are in use and you have not the slightest clue how to approach them. Here is a helpful guide on how to decipher the code.
Both headphones on/earbuds in: Leave them alone, especially if they are hunched over a laptop, a book or their phone. This means they do not want to be disturbed. It is okay to give a small wave, head tilt or smile as acknowledgement.
One earbud is out: This means said person is listening out for something and not fully engaged with what is being listened to. You may approach, but watch for body language that says ‘leave me alone’. Examples are: crossed arms, little to no eye contact, short one word answers.
Headphones/earbuds out: You may approach! This one is not enjoying music/audio books on their device currently, and it is deemed okay to talk to said person.
Note: If someone sees you, and takes off their music delivering device from their head, that means they desire to talk to you! Smile, and enjoy a lovely conversation.
You taking off my headphones/earbuds: Run. Because no jury will convict me.
Anonymous asked: For the song otp thing, bicycle race by queen
I see you trying to trip me up and all I have to say is:
I hope this is as weird as you expected it to be. I feel like it fits the tone of the song. Two OTP’s, even though only half of each
pairing is present, and I guess this is more like…the start of plot than just an OTP thing.
“Once upon a time, there was a girl,” the
girl with the long hair murmurs, “and what no one knew was that the King of the
Goblins had fallen in love with the girl, and he had given her certain
powers. Which I thought included a sense of direction, but clearly not,” she adds
with a scowl, her helmet tucked under one arm and her hip propped against the
motorcycle behind her. “Snickers, where
are we?”
The goblin in question peers out of her pack—where
she firmly stuffed him out of sight because wow
she is not explaining that to any cops who happen to pull her over—and stares,
wide-eyed, up at the town in front of them.
It looks…odd. The town, not the
goblin, Snickers looks pretty much how he normally does except slightly less
chocolate-smeared, because it’s been a good six hours since their last stop at
a gas station and his beloved candy bars have since run out. But the town…
Well.
Sarah’s not going to call the Arbys with the glowing lights overhead,
the park in the distance surrounded by a twelve-foot fence topped with barbed
wire (helpfully labeled ‘Dog Park: Do Not Enter, Look At, or Think About’ to
Sarah’s unusually good eyes), or the house apparently under a pillar of divine
light the weirdest thing she’s ever seen.
But she’s maybe considering adding it to the list.
