B-A-N-A-N-A-S

I included in the following entry a few links to content that covers a deplorable, uncomfortable current event that, were I a mother, I would not want my young one to be exposed to. If you are very young (I'm talking single digits and early teens), please skip this post. The indecent links are there to bridge generation gaps and offer enough information to inform and hopefully infuriate. I hate to refer to this filth as “our generation”. There should be so much more to us than this.

Unless you’ve spent the spring and summer of 2007 living under a sound-proof rock, you’ve heard Gwen Stefani’s (featuring Akon) song “Sweet Escape”. The pop star is currently on tour, and her impending presence in Muslim Malaysia resulted in an uproar. Malaysian students protested because they find her wardrobe and antics to be indecent and obscene. I applaud their grit. The platinum-haired Mother and Singer quickly bowed to the Malaysian pressure and she is planning on gracing their stage with a cleaned up routine and unrevealing costumes (how quickly she was willing to table this “fearless woman” mystique she flaunts with bloated pride).

But what appallingly failed to ruffle a single Malaysian feather is the fact that Gwen Stefani will be arriving in their Mecca of decency and modesty arm in arm with rapper and co-performer Akon. Infinitely successful and 100% shady, Akon, one of America’s favorite hip hop performers, has a long list of dangerous hobbies. Our man of the hour has clocked time in the clink for armed robbery and slinging drugs, and his most current disgrace was his very recent, in-concert, sexually brutal treatment of a 15 year old female fan. His horrifically degrading treatment of her can be seen here, if you can miraculously stomach its viewing. And this Islamic-faithed rapper is the man that Malaysia seems to have no problem with. In contrast to him, dependably trashy Gwen Stefani could pass for Christian Rock.

While he slithers out of trouble by protesting that due to the location of the performance he had reason to believe she was 21, I just don’t see why age would possibly matter. Being within the radius of 21 myself, I can’t even being to fathom how the year of my birth would make abusive, humiliating treatment like that any more acceptable, or leave less of a scar. While Akon did get a little slap on the wrist for his offense, his career continues to flourish, and his bleating, ultra-feeble apology “Sorry, Blame It On Me”, has been turned into a money-making hit single by his devoted, delusional fans. His success-after-the-crime stands in extreme contrast to the man whose profession has been reduced to rubble due to the use of the slur “nappy-headed hos”.

It doesn’t take an eighth of brain to wonder why on earth those who were offended for all womenkind over Imus’ mistake are now so tight-lipped in response to Akon. Why is Imus so vilified, while Akon’s putrid, pig-headed lyrics have won for him the following accolades?

“polished…irresistibly slick…” -USA Today

“Swaggering gangster soul…”
-Entertainment weekly

“An artist of vision and versatility.”
-Boston Globe

“It’s enlightening”
--Los Angeles Times

When is Akon’s payout coming? How on earth does Gwen Stefani sing with him, when she is such a staunch supporter of (her version of) women’s rights, and won fame as a self-professed antithesis of a "Hollaback Girl"? And how about the usually shrill voices of female politicians like presidential hopeful Hilary Clinton? Senator Stick-By-Her-Cheating-Man has not spoken out. It's all too clear that she’s talking nothin' but smack when she urges the women of Rutgers to “turn our culture of degredation into a culture of empowerment”, or here at the female Leadership Summit, where her love affair with her teleprompter seems more apparent than her true concern for women and their dignity.

How will we ever achieve the respect and the treatment we deserve as the fair sex, when women who claim to be on our side won't even speak out? Please, don't be passive to treatment like this from Akon, or any one else. As women, we can't just take a holiday from demanding the reverence that we deserve as beautiful beings. We need to guard our dignity and take a genuinely committed role in attaining it.

Comments

[chris]

I am young, so that I skipped.
Peace don't you think that you put light on her and make her a for free advertising, what is exactly she wants ?

[Tom]

Nicely written.

[Karen]

wow peace i read/enjoy your blog all the time and i fully agree with you.
well done keep up the good work!

[Donna Marie Lewis]

I think part of it is because Stefani's indecency is visible at first glance, whereas hearing Akon's (much worse !) depravity requires one to pay attention to lyrics. (The Malaysian fathers may have a stronger excuse than fathers here would have, as I presume that English is not their first language. They can 'understand' Stefani's hips without a translator !)

[Mary B]

Excellent. I'm sending the link to my older teens. We'll see what they think.