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August 21, 2006
Pop Semiotics: ***** and Pimp Chic
"Young people today are not stupid," says Alexia Loundras, a music
journalist from England, "there is simply no way that my 14-year-old
sister would dream of thinking it was fashionable to describe
themselves as 'whores'." Youth culture in the UK must differ radically
from that of the U.S. For in America, songs about being a ***** top the
music charts.
Take, for example, Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", currently #3 on
the Billboard Hot 100. The song, about a self-proclaimed "promiscuous
girl" and "promiscuous boy", even won in a best song category at
last night's Teen Choice Award. Since one of the definitions of
"*****" is "a person considered sexually promiscuous", we can
discern that (a) young people think it is fashionable to describe
themselves as 'whores', (b) they are too dumb to even know the
definition of the term *****, or (c) they are so stupid that they think
it is fashionable to describe themselves as 'whores'.
None of these options speaks well for America's youth.
Furtado isn't the only wannabe-***** topping the music charts. The
top spot is currently held by Fergie whose song "London Bridge"
compares her nether regions to an old, crusty, highly-trafficked span
of roadway. "I'm such a lady, but I'm dancing like a ho," she
claims in one of the more tame lyrics. Just behind Furtado on the
charts is "Buttons" by the burlesque dance troupe-turned singing
group The Pussycat Dolls, mewling about how their paramour won't undo
their buttons fast enough.
Furtado, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls are the latest example of
"***** chic", a trend that is closely related to the "pimp
chic", a fad that that has been around for at least thirty years.
In the 1970's the success of "blaxploitation" movies like
Dolemite and The Mack as well as books such as Iceberg Slim's
bestselling "Pimp: The Story of My Life", helped secure the image
of the pimp as a flamboyant, violent black man. Rather than denouncing
such a demeaning and racist association, though, many in the black
community embraced the connection. And, as often happens with American
popular culture, what was once accepted only on the fringes has now
been adopted by mainstream. In 2006, Hustle & Flow, a blaxplotation
movie with better production values, received critical acclaim and was
nominated for a couple of Academy Awards.
The image of a pimp as an archetypical counter-cultural hero may be
disgusting but it at least has an internal twisted logic. Pimping is
about power. No matter how low you go on the socio-economic ladder, you
can always gain power by exploiting and degrading another human being.
A pimp may get trampled by society, but at least he can always stand on
the neck of his *****.
The desire to be a *****, though, is harder to understand. Perhaps the
desire is simply to cut out the middle-man: why not exploit yourself
before someone else can do it for you? Call it "empowerment" and
the objectification of female sexuality will sound almost like a
positive thing.
But while the real whores-whether prostituting themselves on the
street or on the radio-have a financial incentive for selling their
dignity, why do young women feel the need to give theirs away for free?
Related: Young Miss Pimp: Pop Music and Female Teen Promiscuity
Other posts in this series:
The Rise of Polyamorous Advertising
Torture-tainment
The Passion of the Rappers
Gnostic Inoculation
A New World of Blurs
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