Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sexxxy violence (by Suzie)



Because I live on a small outer planet, I just heard about the controversy over Adam Lambert kissing a man on the American Music Awards. Feminists have decried the homophobia of his critics. An example is Jos at Feministing.

Bitch Magazine comments on an earlier Details article in which he’s photographed with a naked woman as a prop. Carla C. at Blonder and Thinner takes him to task for his comments to Out magazine.

But I wish more people were talking about the lyrics to the song he performed. In “For Your Entertainment,” he tells someone that she misread him. He asks if she knows what she got herself into. He says it’s going to get rough for her. He’s going to hurt her. He’s in control, and there’s no escape. He’s going to hold her down, make her scream, force her to take the pain and the pleasure.

Why did I choose female pronouns when Lambert says he’s gay? Because in the video he released, women predominate. (His debut album is selling well.) Maybe he also likes sex with women, or maybe he just uses them for commercial purposes.

Most people will understand the video and the AMA performance as BDSM. But I found the lyrics chilling because they sound so similar to what many rapists say, including rapists who actually believe women enjoy being forced. In a society with so much male sexual violence against women, we don’t need another man showing how much the ladies love it.