Country Music

As I was driving home tonight I was listening to the radio, and it was on a country music station. I love country music, I was brought up listening to it and I know there is a lot of sexism in its music. Songs like Brad Paisley's "I'm still a Guy" in which he explains that even though he may show his girlfriend love in ways like "walk your sissy dog, hold your purse at the mall, remember, I'm still a guy." He even portrays male violence and jealousy when he explains that he'll "write a love song that'll make you cry then turn right around knock some jerk to the ground 'cause he copped a feel as you walked by."

There is another song by a Kellie Pickler called "Things that Never Cross a Man's Mind." In this song the singer portrays what males and females prefer to do and think about. The lyrics go like this: "I need to go shopping These shoes are all wrong Just looked in my closet Not a thing to put on I wonder how these jeans make me look from behind Things that never cross a man's mind Lets turn off the tv Now can't we just talk Lets lay here and cuddle Till we both drift off If we don't make love that'll be just fine Things that never cross a man's mind That joke is too dirty That steak is too thick Ain't no way in the world I'll ever finish it That car is too fast This beer is too cold And watchin all this football is sure gettin old Wish I was workin this weekend Not on the lake, reelin my line Things that never cross a man's mind Her lips are too red Her skirt is too tight Her legs are too long and her heels are too high Boy, she looks like a marryin kind Things that never cross a man' That joke is too dirty That steak is too thick Ain't no way in the world I'll ever finish it That car is too fast This beer is too cold And watchin all this football is sure gettin old Wish I was workin this weekend Not on the lake, reelin my line Things that never cross a man's mind I feel a little bloated Think i'm fixin to start That movie was good except for the violent parts Brad Pitt is sexy Why did he change his hair I knew him and Jenny never had a prayer These curtains clash with the carpet The color scheme is a crime Things that never cross a man's mind Things that never cross a man's mind" This song portrays the idea that "men shoot, women shop." Men are violent and like sports and beer, while women like to cuddle and shop and do interior design.

What really got me thinking, however, was that these two songs are set up to be more like jokes. Even though that is bad in itself as we talked about in changing language and not using sexist ideas as jokes, it seems better than the next song I will discuss. This next song, entitled "I Wouldn't be a Man," by Josh Turner, makes the song sound serious and loving. It is slow tempo and romantic and intended to amke women swoon for the man and want their own man to be like the man in the song. The lyrics say "There's a slow moon risingIt's shining on your skinThe way your body moves meI know there's no holdin' backNo holdin' backI wouldn't be a man if I didn't feel like thisI wouldn't be a man if a woman like youWas anything I could resistI'd have to be from another planetWhere love doesn't existI wouldn't be a man if I didn't feel like thisI can feel passion flowingAs you fall into my armsThe secret way you touch meTells me there's no holdin' backNo holdin' backI wouldn't be a man if I didn't feel like thisI wouldn't be a man if a woman like youWas anything I could resistI'd have to be from another planetWhere love doesn't existI wouldn't be a man if I didn't feel likeRoll with me baby all night longSoul to soul with me baby all night longI wouldn't be a man if I didn't feel like thisI wouldn't be a man if a woman like youWas anything I could resistI'd have to be from another planetWhere love doesn't existI wouldn't be a man if I didn't feel like this." The way it treats the woman in the song as a sex object that a real man wouldn't resist reiterates the idea of the male box and the way men are supposed to see women and their relationships with them.