On sex, women have great power, and with great power comes great responsibility
Cardi B’s new music video “Twerk” has, well, a lot of twerking. Some conservatives weren’t having it and called out the rap star, asking her how a dance wherein women thrust their hips back, shake their booties, and squat empowered them, particularly in light of the #MeToo movement.
In the Era of #meToo how exactly does this empower women?
Leftists, @iamcardib , feel free to chime in.
THX ..
In the Era of #meToo how exactly does this empower women?
Leftists, @iamcardib , feel free to chime in.
THX .. pic.twitter.com/59fyDxrYAz— Stephanie Hamill (@STEPHMHAMILL) 21 January 2019
— Stephanie Hamill (@STEPHMHAMILL) January 21, 2019
Cardi B responded in her own typical style:
It says to women that I can wear and not wear whatever I want. do w.e I want and that NO still means NO. So Stephanie chime in..If I twerk and be half naked does that mean I deserve to get raped and molested ? I want to know what a conservative woman like you thinks 🤔 https://t.co/8UBQQzO6jK
— iamcardib (@iamcardib) January 22, 2019
Of course, approximately zero women on the Right or the Left would seriously say any woman, wearing anything, and behaving in any manner is asking for assault or deserves to be subject to sexual harassment. Still, the difference between Cardi B’s and Stephanie Hamill’s opinions shows clearly the sliver of daylight between women who like to express their sexuality and what responsibility they bear for the results that follow.
While there is most certainly a difference between wearing revealing clothing and flirting (or “twerking”) and asking to be assaulted, the #MeToo movement went too far months ago when it started to equate the two. Remember the horrifying essay about comedian Aziz Ansari, published at the height of the movement? Ansari’s awkward, clumsy advances were broadcast and condemned as if it was sexual assault, when really it was just a bad date.
Whether women want to admit it or not, they bear responsibility for their own behavior, even if a man is ultimately the only one responsible for a man’s behavior. Women hold all the power, as Camille Paglia says, when it comes to sex. All women know this, deep down, and many embrace this. Many women like Cardi B enjoy being sexual and flirtatious — why else would they do it? Soliciting a compliment or a date is a form of affirmation and titillation. It’s disingenuous to pretend this isn’t how it goes.
Yet many of these same women would “twerk” in front of a man, buck-naked, and call “foul” when he touched her back in a flirtatious manner or complimented her sex appeal. Broadcasting sex appeal and waiting for the compliments to roll in is one part of how the game is played — except right now it’s a game where the rules are blurry and everybody on the field is responsible, except the women twerking.
This is not only unfair to men who are inherently visual, sexual beings, but to the women themselves, who tiptoe up to the line and claim it isn’t their fault when guys cross the line with one toe. This isn’t to say that a man doesn’t have agency for his own misconduct, whether benign catcalling or criminal assault, but if a woman is shaking her booty, while naked, in another man’s face, don’t blame the rest of us when we say you’re offsides in the game that has become the #MeToo movement.
