Can you feel the love, Taylor and Olivia? According to the results of last week’s
cutest Lunchtime Poll ever, you are the Cream readers' favorite musician/pet couple! Hit me up on Twitter or Tumblr to claim your prize, Tay. I will break out my glue gun and get all Miley Cyrus on a new cat collar for Olivia.
Speaking of Miley, which makes me think of twerking, have you seen the new Mastodon video for the song “The Motherload”? Butts. There’s so much butt. Tina Belcher’s head would explode into a cloud of stars and glitter at the sight of this video. As Big Freedia would say: “Ass everywhere, ass everywhere / Ass all over.”
Here, watch (NSFW, probably):
After the video went live, it almost instantly got
labeled sexistbecause DUH. The Atlanta-based metal band says they “just wanted to make something that was bizarre,” but when are people going to learn: Woman and their asses are not props for you to place in your videos to make it seem weird or silly.
When asked about the negative reaction, Brann Dailor, the band’s drummer and singer, said:
The last thing that I wanted to do was come on and be defensive, because I don’t feel like I should have to defend it. It’s a music video and it’s really not supposed to be something that gets people this upset, because this was really a fun thing that doesn’t really mean too much. It’s not to be taken so seriously.
YOU DON’T GET TO DECIDE THAT, DUDE. OBJECTIFYING WOMEN IS NOT LESS SEXIST JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A DUDE WHO HAPPENS TO LIKE METAL AND DIDN’T INTEND FOR IT TO BE SEXIST. CHECK YOUR METAL PRIVILEGE, BUDDY. Ahem. OK. Deep breath. It’s just that if I had a dollar for every time a man told a woman that his accidentally sexist “joke” wasn’t meant to be taken so seriously I could afford to build the world’s largest rocket and blast all those dudes into outer space. (Related: Anyone want to contribute to my Kickstarter? It will be called Misandry Pathfinder. Have fun on Mars, buttheads.)
This isn’t a new discussion. Between Lily Allen, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and so many others co-opting a woman’s twerking body to serve as their stage prop, represent their social commentary or make them look on-trend, you’d think Mastodon or someone involved with the video would take a step back and realize that they’re not above making the same mistakes. If the point of the video was to be as off the mark as possible, they are, quite literally, using the slow-motion shots of a black woman’s twerking body like a spectacle in the freak show. And that is not OK.
I can think of literally 5,000 not-sexist ways you could’ve made a video that would get people to go, “What the fuck is this?," Mastodon. One idea involves a giant cotton candy machine, a bajillion ants and the hope that you aren't ticklish. Another idea involves Derek Jeter. He probably has some free time.
So here's today's Lunchtime Poll question: How do you feel about the new Mastodon video? Is it sexist? Is it great? Is Mastodon trying to cash in on the trends in order to reach a new level of recognition? Maybe all of the above? Vote now! (And seriously, Mastodon, call me if you want to talk about that cotton candy idea.)
