Woman is the N****r of the World
John Lennon
Woman is the n****r of the world
Yes she is...think about it
Woman is the n****r of the world
Think about it...do something about itWe make her paint her face and dance
If she won’t be a slave, we say that she don’t love us
If she’s real, we say she’s trying to be a man
While putting her down we pretend that she is above usWoman is the n****r of the world...yes she is
If you don’t believe me take a look at the one you’re with
Woman is the slave of the slaves
Ah yeah...better scream about itWe make her bear and raise our children
And then we leave her flat for being a fat old mother then
We tell her home is the only place she would be
Then we complain that she’s too unworldly to be our friendWoman is the n****r of the world...yes she is
If you don’t believe me take a look at the one you’re with
Woman is the slave of the slaves
Yeah (think about it)We insult her everyday on TV
And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
When she’s young we kill her will to be free
While telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumbWoman is the n****rof the world...yes she is
If you don’t believe me take a look at the one you’re with
Woman is the slaves of the slaves
Yes she is...if you believe me, you better scream about it.We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and danceIf you're offended by Lennon's use of the "n" word,
read this.I censored my own damn blog because I personally do not like the word, but I can get behind a lot of John's (and Yoko's because the phrase was hers) statements in the song. And if I do it, is it considered censorship? Food for thought.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Friday Feminism
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Sure, it's censorship, but that isn't always a bad thing. I self-censor every-time I go on-air, otherwise I'd spend two hours saying our Preznit is a $%&*&#! and I'd probably get thrown off air, into jail and/or fined... In your case it could be also be seen as restraint, tact or politeness depending on how you view it.
ReplyDeleteI posted the lyrics to 'Pusherman' (it has the n-word) once and almost did the 'n****r ' bit, but decided to put it up unedited- got a lot of hits from people Googling for the lyrics...if anyone was offended, they didn't tell me.
I grew up reading Twain, Faulkner, O'Connor etc, so in some contexts (Like in Superfly lyrics) it doesn't bother me at all. I once used it in the script of a comic book story that I sold, but the publisher removed it against my wishes...IMO it's impossible to write convincing Southern 'period' dialogue w/out using it - a 1950's-era Klansman villain who talks about lynching an "African-American male" just doesn't work.
What amazes me is the use of words that have been around for donkeys dicks...( a long time )are only recently been labelled offensive.
ReplyDeleteI see you can still use the word pommie bastard, or yank but when there is a slight change in skin tone other words used become offensive.
Go figure. Wonder if I could get millions of dollars from being offended by being offended by those that say they are offended.
Allan: As always, thanks for visiting and commenting! I struggled (not too hard, I'm salaried, yo) whether to keep to the original for the sake of the art, but the important parts of the song weren't harmed by my censorship. I agree with you about the common usage in books of a certain era - I too read a lot of Twain but I always figured it was a use of the vernacular.
ReplyDeleteWhitesnake: In the Wiki it says that for centuries, it has held negative connotations; in modern times it is considered a racial slur in most contexts.
That's a long time to be considered in a negative way! The wiki also pointed out that Australia specifically does not have the US sensitivity to that particular word.
I really like Friday Feminism. Keep it going please. :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting, though, that your pondering about self-censorship of a racial slur sort of displaces the focus away from your feminist point.
I agree with Allan. There are historical contexts in which our current preferences are anachronistic. And while I will argue all day and night that we really are better behaved and better thinking than southerners of the 1950s, accuracy (even unwelcome accuracy) is crucial.
Out of respect for tidalgrrl's preferences, I've laid down a few thoughts about the n-word elsewhere.
Tripsarecopsemwtfisthissupercalifragilisticfucking namesupposedtobe??:
ReplyDeleteI'll do my best to do another, less weird feminism Friday. Thanks!
I find that personally I'm not bothered by the n word in a context like this that's plainly using it to speak out against the dehumanization of women in a way that connects it to the dehumanization of blacks.
ReplyDeleteWe make her bear and raise our children?
ReplyDeletemake them?
i thought women wanted to bear children.
hmmmm.
makes me understand my poor ex now.
i will apologise to her and my children immediately.
Dr. Alistair: I'm wondering how you got this far in life without a sense of curiosity about your world in surroundings?
ReplyDeleteIn what universe do you live where women are actually in control, fully, of their reproductive processes?
In what Utopia do you exist where women aren't kept pregnant to keep them down, without access to birth control and abortion on demand, without apology?
If you can truly say that you don't realize these things go on daily, then I'll discuss it further with you. If you're just a troll, then I won't bother.