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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Manchester Bomber Targeted Girls
We don't know the exact motivation behind Monday's horrifying terrorist attack in Manchester, England, which killed 22 people, including an 8-year-old girl. And given that the bomber died in the attack, we're unlikely to ever find out precisely what was going through his head as he detonated that device. But one thing we do know is the demographic he targeted: young girls and women. As is so often the case with acts of violence, misogyny was deeply woven into this attack.
ISIS, which has claimed responsibility for the attack, is of course notorious for its ghastly treatment of women and girls for mass imprisonments, rapes and acts of torture. It's not yet known if the suicide bomber, whom police have named as 22-year-old British national Salman Abedi, acted alone, or what his exposure to ISIS might have been. Regardless, the symbolism of his attack is clear and devastating. During Ariana Grande's Dangerous Woman tour, Abedi gave the world a sick reminder of the dangers of being a woman in public in 2017, attacking largely female concertgoers for doing nothing but enjoying themselves while listening to music.
These girls and women weren't just listening to any music, either this was feminist music. Through her songs and public statements, Ariana Grande has taken a strong stand against sexism and the objectification of women, and she does so kindly, joyfully and without apology.
All of that is threatening enough. But Grande goes even further, daring to embrace sex positivity: the idea that sexuality is healthy, that it can and should be expressed in diverse ways, and that it deserves no shame.
It hardly takes being a member of ISIS to balk at women embracing their sexuality without shame plenty of Republican lawmakers show their discomfort with the idea by attacking basic reproductive and sexual health for women. Take away shame, and you take away one of humanity's most powerful tools for keeping women in line; suicide bombs and oppressive laws might put women in their place, but shame is the glue that holds it all together.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/why-it-matters-that-the-manchester-attack-targeted-girls-w483855?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=052417_12
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,308 posts)niyad
(113,074 posts)Ohioblue22
(1,430 posts)Fla Dem
(23,590 posts)By Julia Brucculieri
Ariana Grande sure has come a long way from the cat-ear-wearing days of yesteryear. Now, shes a bona fide dangerous woman who isnt afraid to tell us all about her sex life.
First, there was Love Me Harder, in which The Weeknd sings about making her (or any girl, in general) moan, then came Into You , when the pop star told us she wanted a little more touch my body. Finally, we were blessed with Side to Side, a catchy pop tune featuring Nicki Minaj thats all about having so much sex you cant walk straight. (Yes, you read that right.)
Grande confirmed this very meaning of the song to reporters at the MTV Video Music Awards, where the video premiered.
That whole song is about riding leading to soreness, she said, adding, Ride dick bicycle is the lyric, indeed.
More>>>
You can watch the whole video below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ariana-grande-side-to-side-meaning_us_57c71915e4b0e60d31dcc6c8
By Evan Real August 31, 2016
Talk about TMI! Ariana Grande revealed the NSFW and very literal meaning behind her track Side to Side, which features Nicki Minaj. According to the singer, the Top 40 hit is about having so much intercourse that walking in a straight line becomes a problem.
Chatting with MTV News on Sunday, August 28, the powerhouse vocalist, 23, said that despite her bicycle-themed performance with Minaj, 33, at the 2016 Video Music Awards, the sexually charged tune is actually about riding something else. (Yep, you guessed it.)
That whole song is about riding leading to soreness, the pop star explained. 'Ride d--k bicycle is the lyric, indeed.
More>>>
http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/ariana-grande-reveals-the-nsfw-meaning-behind-side-to-side-w437436
LisaM
(27,794 posts)What's wrong with enjoying sex and saying that you do? She's what, 23? She should be enjoying it.
Fla Dem
(23,590 posts)The song itself is smutty. I'm not a prude, but if her target audience is pre-teens to late teens, not sure that is the message I would want to convey under the guise of feminism.
Ohioblue22
(1,430 posts)i really really dislike that girl
Fla Dem
(23,590 posts)niyad
(113,074 posts)It hardly takes being a member of ISIS to balk at women embracing their sexuality without shame plenty of Republican lawmakers show their discomfort with the idea by attacking basic reproductive and sexual health for women. Take away shame, and you take away one of humanity's most powerful tools for keeping women in line; suicide bombs and oppressive laws might put women in their place, but shame is the glue that holds it all together.
brer cat
(24,524 posts)would gladly embrace the most fundamentalist laws of Islam regarding women. Patriarchy on steroids.
niyad
(113,074 posts)2naSalit
(86,330 posts)sheshe2
(83,654 posts)tears...
Oneironaut
(5,486 posts)He was probably a misogynistic loser who believed that women were evil temptations bent on steering him way from Allah. Behind every fundamentalist ideology is a seething hatred of women and beauty.
Of course, life is so much easier if you can blame your problems on everybody else. The bomber was a coward.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)Hey, Donnie, some losers blow themselves and others up. Others do it sneakily, like you, through devastating laws taking away all human rights and dignity. When attacks such as this one in UK happen here, some people have to declare bankruptcy because of devastating medical bills. The injured in Manchester can heal faster, knowing their medical bills will be non-existant thanks to the NHS. YOU mr. tRump are as destructive as the cowardly bomber, destroying lives with your greed for more riches.
IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)Some cowardly asshole was trying to make Germany great again by killing millions of people and bombing the shit out of Britain every damn day. Luftwaffe bombers over your city can be very terrorizing. They had too many wounded people and those needing long term chronic care for burns and missing limbs to have the invisible hand of the free market fix anything so they developed a universal health service to take care of everyone.
America had a different history with less wounded, more minorities, and the AMA adamantly opposing FDR and Truman's plans for national health insurance. Originally, many southern states were blocking minorities from even claiming social security or veterans benefits out of spite.
Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)gets too much money from their donors to do anything to help others apart from the rich.
niyad
(113,074 posts)Ligyron
(7,616 posts)They fear women.
Boomerproud
(7,942 posts)and Democrats and Barack Obama that as well. Is he really equating an evil murderer with his opponents? Remember, in Trumpland you are not an opponent, you are an enemy.
Azathoth
(4,607 posts)"Side to side" and its music video were about standing against the objectification of women?
Never let facts get in the way of a good narrative.
RhodeIslandOne
(5,042 posts)Artists and performers should be allowed to sing, say, perform, dress, whatever anyway they want whether it be considered feminist or sexist or whatever and fuck.....fuck.....FUCK fundies of all stripes if they don't fucking like it!
niyad
(113,074 posts)IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)doing it on their own terms of their own choice
Duppers
(28,117 posts)To me they're disgusting but they do not excuse what happened in the least, not in the least.
Women should be free to express their sexuality. Does that mean any kind of sexuality? I wouldn't want a young daughter of mine listening to "side by side." And I, and people who know me well, have never considered me a f'n prude but perhaps I need to rethink what prudishness means? And, btw, I HATE misogyny.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)A huge stretch.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)why.
JoeStuckInOH
(544 posts)"We don't actually know anything, but here's a neat story we'll conjure up being sure to hit a few current political hot topics..."
I don't blame the writer, he needs a piece to fill up column space and this one was pretty easy to spin up (whether or not the content is even all that accurate, as the article itself admits). I mean for all we or they know is that the bomber just might have happened to have the equipment and means to strike a heavily populated venue on the night Arianna Grande was having a concert.
Saviolo
(3,280 posts)Came out with this Op-Ed:
And I will not link to the article itself, because I don't think that sort of sick victim-blaming opinion requires any air at all.
But even a couple of comments in this thread eyerolling about "Side to Side." Sorry you don't like it, but seriously? That's victim-blaming bullshit. That's a hair's breadth away from "if they dress like that, they deserve it." Can we, as a progressive discussion board just please do away with that?
Muslim Extremists have a lot of common ground with Evangelical Dominionists and Quiverfull movements here in North America when it comes to women's rights. Lots of people (including lots of women) still consider women's health issues like abortion to be perfectly hunky-dory for right-wing old white men to decide, and not the women themselves.
OP is right on point about some of the root causes of all of this.
Adding, all misogynists get upset when women are given attention for their talent or skills; it violates their core belief that women are inferior and here only to serve.
Egnever
(21,506 posts)That Arianna is a strong outspoken feminist that stands against the objectification of women.
I can post plenty of videos of her playing to exactly that audience.
I like her but the idea she is a strong feminist is laughing inaccurate. So much so it makes the rest of the article seem ridiculous.
melman
(7,681 posts)Yes we do.
Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)one part where her father says that it wasn't a man who shot Malala; it was an ideology. Very uplifting and thought provoking movie and explains why the Taliban goes after girls. Same could be applied to ISIS. It helps to understand their mind set.
LeftInTX
(25,132 posts)Duppers
(28,117 posts)Skittles
(153,113 posts)this is a horrendous tragedy for her to endure, at such a young age
I wish her the best