Last Tuesday, one of the most brilliant, talented and politically motivated women came to speak at the University. Sarah Jones performed her one-woman show to a filled 180 PLC, and she demonstrated the brilliance of using comedy to make a political statement.
It is a shame that most women do not know of Sarah; while she is tall, athletic, and represents the epitome of strength, women such as Sarah still represent a minority of voices in the everyday lives of women. Instead, we are barraged with images of anorexic models, movie stars who carve, pump and starve themselves into “perfection,” and musicians (read: corporate performers) who simply “sing” the lines fed to them.
Our society allows women to subject their bodies to endless scrutiny for magazine ads — only to have them airbrushed over — and then wonders why anorexia and bulimia are such problems for teenage girls; MTV loves Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, both of whom sing, as Jones calls it, “the illegitimate child of hip-hop: hip-pop.” And yet, they ignore a strong, multitalented woman like Jones.
All Sarah had to do was dip her foot into the same spotlight to criticize, not to conform, and she was censored. What does this imply about what we want women to see and hear, about what we want them to say? We condemn women who “go against the grain,” so to speak, and support those who conform.
The Portland station KBOO was slapped with a $7,000 fine from the FCC for playing Sarah’s song, “Your Revolution.” The FCC claimed the song “intended to shock and titillate” the youth of America. Good gracious! The titillation of young people — what a shameful endeavor never before attempted by any other artist!
The lyrics in “Your Revolution” are a reworking of lyrics already used in common rap songs, and I’m hard-pressed to find similarities between lyrics such as those in Eminem’s “Kill You” — “Shut up, slut! / Just bend over and take it like a slut / You’re goddamn right, bitch and now it’s too late / I invented violence you vile venomous vomital bitches,” and those in Jones’ song: “Your revolution will not be you smacking it up, flipping it or rubbing it down / Nor will it take you downtown, or humping around / Because that revolution will not happen between these thighs.”
While I certainly believe in free speech, even if it means men like Eminem become popular, progressives such as Jones are still silenced by the almighty dollar. Eminem was censored for a short period of time, but his record company put up such a stink and gathered together enough money that the decision was overturned. However, Jones does not have that kind of power and, consequently, her song remains censored.
Our society has become so bent on “entertainment,” whatever that means, that real dialogue about prevalent issues are lost in the chatter of “that thong,” “it’s getting hot in here,” and “even when I’m with my boo”-type garbage. As long as female entertainers fit with the common perception of womanhood, they are allowed to speak; America is completely comfortable seeing women “shake that ass” across the screen as long as they don’t say “Think I’m gonna put it in my mouth because you / Made a few bucks / Please brother please.”
Don’t talk back, women, just “take it.”
As long as women such as Sarah Jones cannot speak their mind without getting censored, and talentless men such as LL Cool J, Puff Daddy (or is it P-Diddy?), and Sisqo can use women’s bodies to promote their “songs,” our society will remain in its unbalanced state where men who come from women’s bodies refuse to respect them.