Even though I am sure that we are all sick of hearing about
Blurred Lines, I thought this video was very appropriate to post this week
since we are talking about activism and how it relates to education. As I am
sure you saw, a high school dance team coach was fired three days after the
high school dance team did a performance of Blurred Lines during a halftime
show. Jolin said that students have always picked their own songs to dance to
and that they edited the song to make it appropriate.
Is it even possible to make that song “appropriate?”
Anyways, I wanted to gauge the opinion of the feminists in
our class. We have discussed how educating students on the oppressions of the
world could potentially work as a form of activism to end the subordination
that women and minority groups face every day. Do you think Jolin should have
been fired for allowing the girls to do this dance routine? Even though they
picked the song, should she have stepped up and told the dancers that the song
was sexist and demeaning towards women? Or do you think that it was ok that she
allowed the girls to pick this song and dance to it? From the footage that the
video shows, it does not seem like their dance was over sexualized by any
means, but it is still the fact that a HIGH SCHOOL DANCE TEAM danced to this
song!
For me personally, I have never been one to listen to the
song lyrics much, and I have always really focused on the tune of the song.
These girls obviously focused on the popularity of the song as a selling point
for doing a dance routine on it. I am also a person that is firm in her belief
in allowing students to express themselves in artistic manners like this At the
same time, it is a school and it worries me that these young teenage girls may
not even know what the song is about or be educated on the topic if they chose
to do it as a dance routine.
Also, I think it bothered me even more considering we just
heard of a male teacher violently raping a 14 year old girl and getting only 30
days in prison for it. Jolin allowed her dancers to do a dance to Blurred
Lines, and she was fired for it! I obviously have some very conflicting
thoughts about this and would like to hear from all of you. Schools are
supposed to educate students but also allow them to intellectually,
artistically, and athletically express themselves. Was this the most
appropriate way to handle the situation?
Wow! I feel extremely terrible for this teacher. How can a school fire her if she plays a popular song that was edited. If the song blurred lines was banned everywhere then I understand the action taken against the teacher, but this song is everywhere! The girls picked this song, but the teacher is being reprimanded. Instead of firing a woman why doesn't the school explain to its ENTIRE student body why the song blurred lines is so awful. I also don't like how the school is keeping their reasons in the dark about the firing. I wonder if students are allowed to play the song in the hallways?
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