It’s not just WAP: Are women winning the battles but losing the war?

In the struggle for women to be taken seriously, we can’t deny there has been progress in many fields of endeavor. In the popular music world, women are indisputably at the top of the heap.  Most of the biggest, richest pop stars in the U.S. today are women. In theory, they hold enormous power, not least over the way they market themselves.  Now, one marker of progress was supposed to be that many of us agree that packaging women as a commodity to be consumed is not a good thing.  So would someone please explain this? 

Ariana Grande, looking for all the world like goods for sale:

 

 

Beyonce, twerking like a stripper (and dressed for the part):

 

 

And just in case the message wasn’t clear, let's remove any doubt, shall we?

 

 

 

Doja Cat, on display for a "client":

 

 

 

Lady Gaga, who has made a point of her woke politics (stemming in part from traumatic experiences as a girl), being pawed by a crowd of rough-looking men:

 

Heck, let’s go full stripper, and give the guys a lap dance complete with some intimate viewing:

 

 

 

In case the message isn’t raw enough, here is Katie Perry being kneaded and spread prior to being deep-fried:

 

 

 

Think I was kidding?  Here she is, being fed into the cauldron.  Note that this is not presented as some dark, Margaret Atwood dystopian nightmare—the title of this song is "Bon Appétit" and one of the lines is "You've got me spread like a buffet".  She thinks this is sexy.

 

 

 

What the hell is going on?  I’m no prude--I know where to find porn if I want it—heck, it’s everywhere.  But these people are supposedly music stars.  Their stuff plays in the background everywhere—shopping malls, gyms, and on the radio. Most of it sounds the same-- catchy, boppy, and non-threatening--because most of the songs are written by stables of professional songwriters who work from templates.  Do you get the feeling it’s not about the music? 

 

Some people claim that because these women have control, this is not exploitation.  Sorry, that doesn’t pass the laugh test. This is standard jerk-off magazine fare, on an industrial scale.  Phyllis Schlafly said that women’s ability to manipulate men through sex was their greatest power, and warned that asking for equal treatment in the workplace would require surrendering that power.  She needn’t have worried.  For women, pop culture appears to be all about embracing the hooker esthetic to lure us in, the music be damned.  And, given that these are our biggest cultural icons, do we really think that our teenagers are going to pay any heed to the occasional schoolroom lecture about setting boundaries?

 

By the way, for those who think I’m being unfairly critical of the women, let’s be clear: The men are largely absent, having abandoned the field.  There are currently no major male pop stars who even merit a discussion (sorry, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars do not count).  It seems women have won the war, and lost it at the same time.