WTF? Now they're banning "Baby, It's Cold Outside?"

More at the link.

I'll save all the left-wing nutjobs time and propose that we ban every song written before about 1990, because there's a fuck-ton of "classic" music (rock, jazz, etc.) that's sexist and bigoted as hell.

I mean, shit... "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" is pretty much an advertisement for infidelity.

And don't even get me started on "White Christmas".

Agreed except for the last. The song's gag is that the kid doesn't realize that Santa is Dad.

That's your interpretation (although it's generally accepted).

But a strict read of the "Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" lyrics implies no such thing.

Hey, that's kind of like... wait for it... "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

You can read it as a playful banter between two consenting adults, or you can put on your feminazi cap and interpret it as a rape song.

I want to run awaaayyy!
Baby it's cold outside.
It's purple and angry.
Baby it's cold outside.

https://www.snopes.com/news/2017/12/18/baby-its-cold-outside/

Long story short, it's not a song about rape, it's a song about not giving in to societal slut shaming.

I am deeply concerned by what is happening here. It began when we banned a single song. But the hunt didn't end there. Another song, "Baby It's Cold Outside", was brought to trial -- and it was a trial -- no matter what others choose to call it. A trial based on insinuation and innuendo. Nothing substantive offered against the song, much less proven. The song was written in a different era and some present-day people have been offended, and for that reason this song now stands in ruins. Have we become so fearful? Have we become so cowardly that we must extinguish a song because it may offend current sensibilities? Let us not condemn songs, or any other works of art, because of their alleged offense, or prohibit others for their innocent associations. I implore you, do not continue with this ban. End it now.

With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first song banned, chains us all irrevocably.

Which museum has The Rape of the Sabine Women hanging? Let's get after those fuckers for promoting rape culture!

People need to grow a goddamn spine. I believe in not punching down, but that’s not what is happening here. These people are afraid someone might perceive the song wrongly and get offended. That’s absurd. Consideration for others is an excellent thing, but this isn’t consideration, it’s capitulation.

Mildly melodramatic I feel. The song hasn't been "banned" it's been pulled from two networks rotations. They're choosing to refrain from playing it, not being prevented from doing so by Big Brother. That's not new, there are a great many radio stations won't play Black Sabbath or Garry Glitter for wildly divergent reasons.

If you want to listen to it choose a different station or use Youtube. Hell, buy a CD, no one's stopping you. When the government issues an edict banning the playing of a song do let me know and I'll be up there with you but a radio station opting not to doesn't interest me much.

Frankly though it's hardly a new observation how rapey the song is, I remember people making that observation at least as early as the 1980s and our values haven't actually changed that much since it was written, we knew it was wrong then much as we do now, the conversations are higher profile now.

1. It's not rapey. See above.

2. The stations are banning it, so individual DJs aren't allowed to play it if they want to.

3. Letting it be banned based on such shaky grounds, basically as the result of a stupid poorly informed internet rant that spread too far, is a terrible precedent.

Ootside*

1. I'm not sure you actually read that article, I did, it says the opposite of what you claim...
2. The stations have every right to choose what's on their playlists according to their own brand images and perceived audiences, such decisions have been standard practise since commercial radio began airing. When we start hearing death metal or gangster rap on the playlists for christian radio I'll rethink that.
3. It's not banned, it's just not being played by certain stations. You can still buy it or stream it, play it on the guitar or sing it at karaoke, listen to a different station.

There's a storm in a teacup here and it's not the "banning" of the song.

I read the article. The song isn't about rape. The songwriter wrote it as a duet for himself and his wife to have fun with at parties. That it is perceived as a rapey song is due to the last couple of decades where we've watched people push back against gender conformism and patriarchy. So we have definitely shifted, but the song is still the same, and it was never meant as a ditty about rape.

so you're telling me that 2 Live Crew's "Deck The Hos" * isn't suitable Christmas listening either? The terrorists have won.
* not a 2 Live Crew song

And what about?
All I Want For Christmas (Is My Two New Tits) ?
Who Child Is Dis ? remade in 1997 as Who Child Dis Is?
Oh Come All A Faceful ?
Angels I Have Heard Are High ?

Yep. One of my favorite holiday films, White Christmas, has moments that are ultra cringey ("so is my cocker spaniel!" for one), but I try to ignore those and enjoy the movie as the fun, lighthearted film it was intended to be.

Good call! I forgot all aboot that!

I think the line about what was in her drink is what people are pointing to as the reason it is promoting rape.

Now? Sure, we know about men who put drugs in women's drinks. Back then? She could have been referring to what kind of alcohol it has in it, or even is just using "say, what's in this drink?" as a coy way of saying "if I happen to lose my skirt, it's not my fault." Interpretations outside those of the original author, who addressed the issue, can lead to any number of terrible scenarios.

It says the song was written to play at dinner parties, not that it isn't rapey, nor is it anything other than an opinion piece.

The article also emphasises how our awareness of issues has evolved and we are much more aware of things we closed our eyes to at the time. That doesn't make the song any less rapey, it just makes it a product of a period when the media commonly portrayed gender roles in very stereotyped and unhealthy ways.

That he and his wife sang it together means precisely nothing as to the question of what values it does or doesn't promote, not by portraying rape per se but by treating it as a trivial light hearted bit of fun.

Personally I don't care either way if a Canadian radio station choose not to play it but the idea it's been banned is hyperbole, not unless we're going to get retrospectively outraged over thousands of iterations of songs and outlets which choose not to play them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Drumhead

My mother told me about a time in the 50's where there was a rash of songs about teenagers getting splattered in car wrecks drag racing, and a local DJ here in Maine got sick of them, and refused to play them anymore.

That's all this is.

Fuck, if I were a DJ, I wouldn't allow "two princes", by the fucking Spin Doctors.
That song needs a break for 25 years.

It’s not a rape song and everyone knows it. People made it into a rape song jokingly. Most notable is the Key and Peele skit.

It’s not a rape song and everyone knows it. People made it into a rape song jokingly. Most notable is the Key and Peele skit.

Just because politicians like to play "Born in the USA" at rallies doesn't suddenly make the song a patriotic tribute to America. Also, it's not two radio stations, it's two radio media corporations. Bell Media and Rogers. It would be just like if Cumulus said they weren't playing it. That wouldn't be one radio station. In this case, between Bell and Rogers, that's roughly 82 radio and media stations. That's about 10% of the Canadian market.

Seconded.

Their first single is a much catchier number but didn't get as much play as that damn song.

It’s the story of my ex wife.

I'm all for banning Baby It's Cold Outside, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, White Christmas, Rudolph, Frosty, Two Front Teeth, and Hippopotamus not because of their lyrics, but because musically, they're all pieces of shite

Agreed, though I do like Rudolph from time to time. The rest? Gone, especially Hippopotamus, may it die in a raging fire.