Response to Sydney’s critique of Carlson and Owens’ Response to WAP
When Sydney described rolling on the floor choking with laughter and anger in response to Tucker Carlson’s and Candace Owens’ derision towards WAP I could totally understand the way she and her friends felt. I remember watching the video when it came out, and I’ll admit I was shocked, but I quickly got over the shock value and just enjoyed the song for what it is. Even when commentators were ripping it to shreds I still laughed, because nothing is funnier than hearing Ben Shapiro claim that his “doctor wife” says w.a.p. is a medical disorder and that Meghan and Cardi need to see a gynecologist.
BUT, all clownery aside, Sydney is correct in her concern that the angry, aggressive demonization and criticism of a song like WAP sends harmful messages to the people that absorb this rhetoric. I think that even though the song itself can be interpreted as harmful towards issues of objectification and sexism, overall it is not nearly as problematic as people are trying to make it seem. However, no matter how poorly these commentators try to portray WAP, they always end up outshining it with their own shitty opinions.
I really appreciate that Sydney points out how they repeatedly use a clip of choreography that simulates lesbian sex and relentlessly hark on how disgusting, perverse, and harmful it is for audiences. Something I want to expand on though is how they keep talking about how this whole performance is being marketed to children as something to aspire to. Girl, What???? Supposedly Carlson and Owens are speaking to their educated, upstanding audience, so do they also think their audience is filled with the types of people who would show this to their children??? Like who is your audience dude??? It is a pointless slander session over something that people can choose not to watch if they don’t want to, all with the purpose of portraying female sexuality as immoral and taboo. BUT, worst of all, the demonization of lesbian/ gay suggestive behaviors (as seen in the choreography) plays into a much larger issue with how members of the LGBT+ community are viewed.
For C E N T U R I E S gay people have been viewed as perverted, corruptive forces, especially when it comes to children. People characterized gay individuals as predators and likened them to pedophiles, a damaging stereotype that still persists today. As we’ve seen with the recent “controversy” around Lil Nas X’s “Montero” homophobic parents are terrified that gay corruption in the media will poison their children, turning them into gay perverts. It is a disgusting viewpoint that is all over the subtext of Carlson and Owens’ commentary which I think is the worst part of all of this. Of course, instead of being upfront with these feelings, the idea is hidden in context clues and beating around the bush, which covertly plants these fillings into people’s minds without them even realizing it. I think these two are not only full of obvious bias and prejudice but also a hidden bias that they may not even realize, and for Owens, the internalized misogyny is obvious as well. Overall, it is not the song that is disgusting and perverse, but actually the corrupted, angry minds of these two “professionals”.
