adminRIHANNA faced an extra- ordinary backlash last night after even her fans branded her latest video “obscene”, “vile” and “pornographic”.
Hundreds took to social networking sites to tell the singer that she should be ashamed of herself over the X-rated images in “Pour It Up”.They questioned whether she was fit to be a role model to her millions of young and impressionable fans. SCampaigners also called for YouTube to ban the video, which has already been viewed more than nine million times since its release.
Last night, Dr Helen Wright, a former president of the Girls’ School Association, urged parents to stop their children watching the video.
“No matter how much people may talk about its artistic merit, it nonetheless objectifies and therefore demeans women by casting them in the mould of whore,” she said.
“Teenagers are impressionable; this video feeds them the same old ugly story of female enslavement, not emancipation or equality.
“Parents should object and do their best to prevent their children from seeing it; even better would be for Rihanna herself to recognise the responsibility she has as a public figure to promote positive and healthy images of women, and to stop selling out, under cover of “art’”, to commercial interests which demean women.’
The video was originally posted by Rihanna on Vevo, a video sharing site, but was banned due to its explicit content. The site has since reinstated it.
It features pole dancers, strippers and lewd dance moves including “twerking”, a particularly provocative hip-thrusting dance.
Rihanna spends most of the video dressed in nothing but a jewel-encrusted bikini and platformed stiletto heels. She sings about strip clubs, alcohol and money and is seen gyrating and sliding provocatively down a chair. Miranda Suit, of Safermedia, a charity that campaigns against violence, sex and bad language in the media, said: (Rihanna’s) crude, tasteless and explicit dancing, combined with the money-focused lyrics, are telling all her fans — many of them still children — that it is good for women and girls to sell their body, and right for men and boys to see women purely as a sexual commodity.
“Rihanna has sold out completely to the commercialisation and objectification of women’s bodies and their sexuality. And now she’s promoting it to girls and boys.”
She urged websites such as YouTube to stop such videos being seen, adding: “Parents want to know that their children are going to be safe online.”
It is not the first time that Rihanna, who has a line of clothing at teenage high street retailer River Island, has caused outrage with her music and behaviour.
The lyrics to S&M, which appear to glamorise sadomasochism, provoked horror when the song was released in 2011, with the video being banned in 11 countries. A performance she gave during the final of the X Factor in 2010 led to ITV being flooded with complaints from shocked viewers. For the most part fans have tended to remain loyal. However, “Pour it Up” would appear to have pushed some too far. — mailonline.
Online Reporter