Sunday, November 22, 2015

Stupid Girls Aren't Stupid

In 2006, P!nk released a new song, Stupid Girls, on her I'm Not Dead album. This song was awarded the MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video and nominated for many other awards, such as a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. An example of the lyrics include:

"What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees
Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?
Oh where, oh where could they be?"

P!nk uses satire to mock society's sexualization and objectification of women. She explicitly points out the women in music videos. She targets the all-too-familiar image that the women in many music videos, especially rap, hardly wear any clothing while dancing provocatively. These said women are seen as the rapper's trophies and accomplishments which he then praises in his song. Their value consists only of their beauty and their ability to satisfy a man's wishes. While male rap videos are an extreme example referenced by P!nk, she also targets societal pressures on a woman as a whole. She sings, "Maybe if I act like that, that guy will call me back/ Baby if I act like that, flipping my blond hair back/ Push up my bra like that, I don't wanna be a stupid girl" depicting that women do these things to be accepted in our society. While she's criticizing the women who act like this, P!nk still describes having to face the pressure to conform and act the same way.

P!nk's larger motive isn't to criticize these women, but to criticize our society that shoves these "ideals" onto women to be accepted. Our society's image of a woman is a docile, sexual object whose interests and skills have no influence on her value, just her physical appearance. P!nk's bigger picture is how our media depicts a limited view of women which in turn influences young girls to believe that this is how they need to shape themselves to be. The media places a huge pressure on females to abide by the images that represent the gender. By P!nk creating this song and getting it out there, she is taking action on changing and questioning society's image of women.


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