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American Women and Stupid Girls: Misogynistic Lyrics as Faux Social Critique

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards: Spokesmen for Clean Living
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards: Spokesmen for Clean Living

 

Listening to the Rolling Stones’ “Mother’s Little Helper” the other day, I was struck by how much the lyrics resembled a misogynistic MRA rant. Ostensibly a song pointing out the hypocrisy of suburban squares attacking the drug culture whilst themselves popping prescription pills, the song extends its “critique” to cover such subjects as the evil of women making cakes from mixes instead of from scratch.  (See below for videos of all the songs mentioned in this post.)

So you go from this bit of, ahem, social criticism:

“Things are different today,”

I hear ev’ry mother say

Mother needs something today to calm her down

And though she’s not really ill

There’s a little yellow pill

She goes running for the shelter of her mother’s little helper

And it helps her on her way, gets her through her busy day.

To this:

“Things are different today,”

I hear ev’ry mother say

Cooking fresh food for a husband’s just a drag

So she buys an instant cake and she buys a frozen steak

And goes running for the shelter etc etc

Yep, that’s right. Mick’s as bothered by the frozen steak as he is by the dangers of tranquilizer abuse. By the end of the song, the hypothetical freezer-and-cake-mix-using mother has died of an overdose. Told you so!

Misogynistic rock songs aren’t exactly a rarity – hell, “Mother’s Little Helper” isn’t even the worst offender in the Rolling Stones’ disography.

But unlike more straightforward outbursts of misogynistic nastiness like, say, “Under My Thumb,” “Mother’s Little Helper” pretends to be something nobler: a social critique.

The blogger behind the wonderfully arch I Hate the New York Times blog pointed out to me in a tweet that a surprising number of old rock lyrics play this little trick. Taking the form of a “critique of today’s inauthentic & hedonistic society” they are in fact “directed at [a] specific shallow hussy.”

Along with Mother’s Little Helper, IHateNYT suggested I take another look at the lyrics to Paul Revere and the Raiders’ “Kicks.” And, yep, it’s basically the same thing: a critique of drug use in the form of a patronizing lecture to a young woman in search of “kicks,” starting out with this little bit of I-told-you-so, delivered with a sneer:

Girl, you thought you found the answer on that magic carpet ride last night

But when you wake up in the mornin’ the world still gets you uptight

It turns out that the song, written by the songwriting team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, was inspired by the drug use of a male friend of theirs – though somehow in the song this specific man became a hypothetical “girl.”

And then of course there is the Guess Who’s American Woman, a sort-of critique of America’s “war machines” and “ghetto scenes” in the form of a long, sneering diatribe against a hypothetical woman:

Now woman, I said stay away

American woman, listen what I say

 

American woman, get away from me

American woman, mama let me be

Don’t come knockin’ around my door

Don’t wanna see your shadow no more

And on and on and on for a very long five minutes and nine seconds.

One of the reasons these songs sound so much like MRA rants is that MRAs like to play the same little game, dressing up their misogynistic sentiments in the form of “social critique.” Thus Paul Elam’s faux-environmentalist attack on female consumers, and all that talk about how single mothers and/or “picky women”  are going to bring about the end of civilization. Heck, some manosphere fat-gal-bashers even pretend they fat-bash out of concern for the well-being of the women they’re ridiculing.

It might be entertaining to transform some of these old woman-hating songs into critiques of woman-haters. “Stupid Girl” by the Rolling Stones might be a good place to start. I mean, seriously?

Like a lady in waiting to a virgin queen

Look at that stupid girl

She bitches ’bout things that she’s never seen

Look at that stupid girl

Those are real Rolling Stone lyrics, not a comment from NWOslave. Have at it.

Here are videos of all the songs I mention above:

 

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pecunium
12 years ago

Not me. Shaennon has done, The Book o’ Learnin’, so it’s probably not her.

But yeah, Varpoland is a strange place. I don’t want to visit; a guidebook is probably as close as I want to get; though I can put up with the occasional eruption into Manboobz.

pecunium
12 years ago

I wonder how close it lies to Mellibertopia? It’s, of course. can’t exist on the same planet as the Antzean Paradise of the Mississippi Division.

inurashii
inurashii
12 years ago

the occasional eruption into Manboobz.

ew

Shadow
Shadow
12 years ago

I’m actually chortling out loud.

And now I’M chortling out loud. That shit’s more contagious than a yawn

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

I don’t think Varpoland could share a border with either Mellertopia or Antzartica without all the nations involved being in a constant state of warfare. Which is part of the reason the MRM is such a mess – they never can agree on what they want, other than for women to be under their thumbs.

Steele
Steele
12 years ago

“Varpoland” is, in point of actual fact, the real world.

Personally and in my own opinion, I always wonder what Feminist-world must be like. Evil, disgusting straight white men everywhere, giving off Oppression Fumes wherever they walk!

hellkell
hellkell
12 years ago

Personally and in my own opinion, I always wonder what Feminist-world must be like. Evil, disgusting straight white men everywhere, giving off Oppression Fumes wherever they walk!

Actually and in fact, it’s pretty cool, except for the occasional stupid fucker like you.

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

Why did you think we were buying all those candles?

inurashii
inurashii
12 years ago

In Varpoland, you can only prove things by decreeing that they are obvious.

Presenting evidence is still useful, however, because it instantly makes you impossible to see or hear. Telling the truth and providing examples makes you invisible to Varpolanders.

Nepenthe
Nepenthe
12 years ago

Evil, disgusting straight white men everywhere, giving off Oppression Fumes wherever they walk!

This is a fairly good description of mathematics departments, ime. Especially the part about fumes, though they aren’t necessarily oppression fumes.

cloudiah
12 years ago

Can we just go back to posting videos? I don’t feel like we’ve covered enough African music. Franco (& OK Jazz) is great if you like Congolese music:

chibigodzilla
12 years ago

Varpoland must intersect with the real world in some places. Steele seems to have an emergent awareness that the feminism he is trying destroy is not the same as feminism as it actually exists, hence his usage of “M-Feminist” and “misandrist feminist.”

With a little bit of work, he’ll be able to realize that they are, in fact, straw feminists.

cloudiah
12 years ago

And a slower tempo one (translation in the comments):

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

Meanwhile I’m listening to…

hellkell
hellkell
12 years ago

I’m listening to:

cloudiah
12 years ago

I’m really enjoying everyone’s videos!

cloudiah
12 years ago

More African pop (this stuff makes me cheerful):

inurashii
inurashii
12 years ago

And now for something completely different.

pecunium
12 years ago

Torvus: Could you clear something up for me?

When you say “Personally and in my own opinion,” I’m wondering whose opinions you usually use when you express a belief as being personal?

thenatfantastic
thenatfantastic
12 years ago

Personally and in my own opinion

No person can write this terribly. Or if you’re Steelebutt, “No and none person and humans can and manage to write and type this and that terribly and ridiculously”.

I’m listening to this (no Youtube thingies unfortunately).

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

My favorite J-pop song, with subtitles for people who hate not being able to understand lyrics.

(Yeah, I know they’re often more of a rock band, but this one is definitely a pop song.)

CassandraSays
CassandraSays
12 years ago

@ nat

I keep trying to write like Steele and I just can’t do it. It’s like every teacher I ever had is screaming “wtf are you doing, stop it!” at the back of my mind. It’s like someone scraping their nails down a chalkboard.

cloudiah
12 years ago

This is the album (yes, I am old enough to think of things as albums!) I listened to on my walk to work today:

thenatfantastic
thenatfantastic
12 years ago

His writing is just so hilariously redundant, all the time.

*insert hilarious joke about his personality and ideas here*

Steele
Steele
12 years ago

You know – I’m going to tell the hate-soaked Boobzers – so oppressed by the evil straight white men; might as well commit straight white maleocide – I’ll tell you all to suck it. Again – my writing has suffered due to misandry. It is in no sense my own fault.

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