Kanye West’s “Monster” video has been banned from MTV “for its violence and explicit content toward women,” according to Essence magazine (here). That’s a rather glossy description of the video. According to the petition signed by over 5,000 people:
“The video features West, Jay-Z, Rick Ross, and Nikki Minaj surrounded by the “sexy” corpses of women in lingerie. Other women dangle from the ceiling by chains,” the petition read. ” Ross erotically eats a plate of raw meat from between a female corpse’s legs. And West practically rapes the dead bodies of two women in bed. The message of the video is pretty clear: women are sex objects and it can be erotic when they are killed in violent, sexual way.”
The full text of the petition is here.
Yes, Kanye has the right to express himself how he chooses, and yes, consumers have a right to critique.
Here’s my question: will we ever see a music video in which equality is “sexy”? What would that look like? I have no idea, but I’m waiting.
-Bridget Crawford
