One Dimension?

A lot is said about feminism, none of which I will touch on in the following paragraphs.  However, I will refer to a recent incident that left me somewhat confused about the whole thing.  I was attending a small get-together at a friend’s house, where we were engaged in drinking and light discussion.  Nothing out of the ordinary, the kind of civilised affair my peers and I are well used to.  The hostess was providing the entertainment for the evening in the form of their iPod and 2 Watt speakers.  Things were progressing splendiferously until a turgid guitar riff began to emanate through the air, which I now know to be One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful”.  While my hatred of such things lost it’s vehemence a long time ago, I was quite surprised by what came next.  A room full of University educated ladies degenerated into a gaggle of giggling schoolgirls.  There was not a shred of irony, hipsterism, post-whateverism or any such excuses to be detected here - just a genuine, unstoppable wave of tangible desire which presumably connected directly between the speakers and said ladies’ erogenous zones.  Upon assessing the situation I could only deduce that One Direction, or whoever their puppetmaster is, is a certified Master of Misogyny.  Might sound crazy, so I shall demonstrate this by way of a few comparisons.

James Brown – It’s A Man’s World

What we have here is a potent example of misogyny in popular music.  Of course these were different times, but luckily this gives us some easy pickings.  We start with these lines:

“This is a man's world
This is a man's world
But it wouldn't be nothing
Nothing without a woman or a girl”

Straight away we have established that we live in a world where a Y chromosome is of vital importance.  Brown continues to list the accomplishments of men, such as:

“You see man made the car,
to take us over the road.
Man made the train,
to carry the heavy load.
Man made the electric light,
to take as out of the dark.
Man made the boat for the water,
like Noah made the ark”

Now many of these activities require some degree of heavy lifting, so you could possibly mistake the chauvinism for chivalry.  No such chance, as in the second verse Brown proceeds to also tear motherhood away from woman.

“Man thinks about the little bit of baby girls,
and the baby boys
Man makes them happy,
’cause man made them toys”

At this point it seems as though there’s no going back.  The song is undeniably misogynistic and I doubt Mr Brown had much time for political correctness.  One saving grace can be found in the delivery of the song and in particular the line.

“But it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl”

There’s a real sincerity to this line which allows it to render everything that has gone before meaningless, which is a literate and artistic success.  In conclusion, the track deals misogyny in spades but the bigger picture is painted in such a way that it goes at least some way toward justification.
 

The White Stripes – You’ve Got Her In Your Pocket

I’ve decided to include this track from The White Stripes’ 2003 classic Elephant in view of it’s much more real misogyny than that associated with Hip Hop bitch-fuckery and also due to the fact that Jack White has been singled out in certain sections of the media for his misogynistic lyrics.  Take the first refrain as an example:

“You've got her in your pocket,
and there's no way out now.
Put it in the safe and lock it,
'cause it's at home sweet home”

Here we have a great example of assumed male supremacy.  Many a man has at one time or another had such thoughts run through their mind, many more foolish men have articulated this to their significant others and incurred the fiery wrath of woman as a result.  Each passing chorus has a slight change in the first line, before the final admission of the song’s autobiographical nature (“Cause I want, to keep you in my pocket”).  The sneaky scoundrel.

The song has a few other choice lines which show the writer’s attitude to women, such as

“Nobody ever told you that it was the wrong way
To trick a woman, make her feel she did it her way”

and

“The smile on your face made her think she had the right one
Then she thought she was sure
By the way you two could have fun
But now she might leave
Like she's threatened before
Grab hold of her fast
Before her feet leave the floor
And she's out the door”

However, although this work certainly puts the writer’s feminist credentials under scrutiny, I don’t feel that it’s at all that misogynistic a song.  In the context of the track and the fragility of the performance, it’s more of a reflection on the writer’s failings as a man.  Much like a good country song.  Therefore it’s tame when compared to our next example.

One Direction – What Makes You Beautiful

So here we have it.  Before I start, I must point out the obvious and say that neither musical content nor performance are in need of much analysis in this particular case.  One Dimension would be a suitable description - both are intentionally bland enough to allow the main message of the track to shine through.  The message being that you don’t know you’re beautiful.  Let us take a look at the opening verse:

“You're insecure,

Don't know what for,

You're turning heads when you walk through the door,

Don't need make-up,

To cover up,

Being the way that you are is enough

Everyone else in the room can see it,

Everyone else but you.”

At first glance this could seem empowering to women.  None of it.  If I tried this on with a girl I would expect to be laughed out of the room or to receive a slap in the face, and if I neither of these things happened I might lose a bit of respect for the girl in question.  This type of assumptive chatter is chauvinism in the form of a pithy chat up line.  I don’t disagree with the sentiment.  I haven’t seen this girl but I’m sure it’s probably true.  My point is that this song is preying on the insecurities of girls (and apparently, grown women).  The first line alone is Derren Brown grade psychorape; Now that your pitiful girlish self esteem has been torn to shreds, each subsequent compliment will build you up more and more until the earth-shattering climax –

“Baby you light up my world like nobody else,

The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed,

But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell,

You don't know, Oh oh,

You don't know you're beautiful,

If only you saw what I can see,

You'll understand why I want you so desperately,

Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe,

You don't know, Oh oh,

You don't know you're beautiful, Oh oh,

That's what makes you beautiful”

There it is, in all it’s glory.  The lads repeat several lines that “You don’t know…”.  Again, there’s a lot of subliminal negativity going on here.  The importance of this cannot be underestimated.  Without it, the song would be an ode to a beautiful girl.  With it, the song becomes an exploitative masterpiece.  I particularly like the “when you smile at the ground” bit.  It’s predatory.  It’s not even trying to hide it.  I could go on, however there’s no point as there’s no let up, it’s just a lot more of the same.

Conclusion

I don’t think that there’s too much to say here that hasn’t already been said.  I chose the first two tracks as both have been described as misogynist by others in the past.  It’s clear from my findings that One Direction have brought things to a new level here.  It’s not just misogyny, it’s Post-Misogyny, Keyser Soze style.  Women of all ages are falling for it.  Of course, it’s always possible that women couldn’t care less about that and either want to marry or mother these boys.  Just thought I’d leave you with a little misogyny of my own there!