Some commenters have criticized my post about Adam Lambert’s performance at the American Music Awards because they say I should not have singled him out. There were other provocative and even outrageous musical numbers in the show. That’s a fair point, but it seems to me there was a difference between Eminem and Lady Gaga, whose entire persona is built around their transgressive, edgy, sometimes offensive material, and Adam Lambert, who did something of a bait and switch on his fans in a manner that impaired the primary reason for his being there in the first place — his ability to sing.
But that doesn’t mean his was the only troubling performance. I thought Trish Kenney at the Huffington Post had a great column on the other performances at the AMAs and what they said about the way women are portrayed (and portray themselves) by rock and pop stars. She wrote about the “brazen entitlement” mutating into rape fantasy, dancers in black panties, writhing, and crotch-grabs throughout the show.
Imagine if an alien landed outside the auditorium Monday night and snuck in for a peek at our culture by watching the AMA’s. What impression would the alien have of women? And our society in general? If the alien had an entrepreneurial spirit, he would immediately go into women’s lingerie, preferably little black panties.
posted November 27, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I think it would also be important to ask the question, “What would the alien think of men?” as well since it is not just women who are exploited , manipulated, and shown in a negative way.