Rihanna’s latest video for her song “S&M” hasn’t even been out for a week, but it’s stirring up a controversy.  Due to the sexual nature of the video and its subject, “S&M” has been banned in 11 countries, restricted on YouTube (it’s only available if you log-in with an account that proves you’re over 18), and pulled from play on some radio-stations until after 7pm.  Some radio stations have even changed the name from “S&M” to “Come On.” (Read all about the scandal and watch the full video here.)

But seriously, come on! While some critics and fans are outraged by her sexual lyrics and fetish-filled video, I can’t help but wonder where the boundaries of entertainment actually stand.

Women are seen as sexual beings, but when they express that sexuality in any way that would make someone uncomfortable, it’s not okay. Even recently, the indie film Blue Valentine with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling came under fire for the scene where Ryan’s character performs oral sex on Michelle. We live in a world where it’s OK to fellate a man in a movie, but it’s not accepted for a woman to receive cunnilingus. Although the NC-17 rating was eventually dropped (thanks to Ryan Gosling fighting for it in the press), it shows that double standards still exist in movies and in music. This isn’t 1950!

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Rihanna’s latest video for her song “S&M” hasn’t even been out for a week, but it’s stirring up a controversy.  Due to the sexual nature of the video and its subject, “S&M” has been banned in 11 countries, restricted on YouTube (it’s only available if you log-in with an account that proves you’re over 18), and pulled from play on some radio-stations until after 7pm.  Some radio stations have even changed the name from “S&M” to “Come On.” (Read all about the scandal and watch the full video here.)

But seriously, come on! While some critics and fans are outraged by her sexual lyrics and fetish-filled video, I can’t help but wonder where the boundaries of entertainment actually stand.

Women are seen as sexual beings, but when they express that sexuality in any way that would make someone uncomfortable, it’s not okay. Even recently, the indie film Blue Valentine with Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling came under fire for the scene where Ryan’s character performs oral sex on Michelle. We live in a world where it’s OK to fellate a man in a movie, but it’s not accepted for a woman to receive cunnilingus. Although the NC-17 rating was eventually dropped (thanks to Ryan Gosling fighting for it in the press), it shows that double standards still exist in movies and in music. This isn’t 1950! Read More »

When I walked into my apartment yesterday and saw the television, at first glace I was positive that my roommate was watching porn. There were scantily clad bodies everywhere, dry humping, (barely) clothed crotch-shots and some close-ups of faces that were taken by pleasure. I stood in my doorway shocked and confused – porn on the living room TV in mid-daylight when I’m expected home? — but after a moment of clarity, I realized that what was on TV wasn’t porn – it was MTV.

We’re adults, and if we want to watch other people have sex – or be filmed while having sex; that’s our decision to make.  The real problems come from naughty videos on TV that are borderline pornographic and available to children. I don’t want my niece and nephew to see Miley Cyrus gyrating up against random dudes in booty shorts after getting out of a cage, and I don’t want them seeing close-ups of Lady GaGa’s crotch. The FCC is overly concerned with swearing, or Janet Jackson’s boob – but seem to have no problem overlooking dry humping on mainstream TV. There is a very distinctive difference between nudity and pornography.

Pornography is sexual, nudity is natural. Read More »

Innocent and happy to be heading home.

This past Monday, while most of us were snoozing through lectures, four Hofstra students were arrested, slapped with a “rapist label” and thrown in a jail cell facing up to 25 years for gang raping a  freshman.

The next day my mom called me distraught.

“Please lock all your doors.”
“Do not go home alone or stay out really late.”
“If a guy is following you or you feel at all uncomfortable, call the police.”

In an instant all college guys were DANGER.

While most of us tend to bop around in our (seemingly) safe, little campus bubbles, this situation forced me to wake up and realize that this is a valid and substantiated fear. College girls all over the country have been taken advantage of on campus, from harassment to rape. This is a real concern for all of us.

Which is why this Hofstra freshman’s story was taken so seriously.
Too bad she made the whole thing up.

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