From time to time, my daughters and I check out new music on iTunes. Well, the other day, we started with looking to see what was new on the Top Charts. That day, the song that was number one on the Singles Chart for Music Videos was LMFAO’s “Sexy And I Know It”.

In iTunes you can view a 30 second preview, so that’s what I clicked. It was roughly the first 30 seconds of this video. I was not prepared to witness what I saw with my two girls sitting there: a man who resembled the Simpson’s character Sideshow Bob stripped down to a crazy colored animal print “banana hammock” pant, pelvic thrusting to the beat, and as he did so you could see plainly his “package” (penis and scrotum) bouncing up and down inside the hammock. It was HILARIOUS!!
I probably sat there with my mouth open, incredulous at the boldness of this video. It even contains a cameo by adult film legend Ron Jeremy. Initially I laughed out loud and I’m sure my girls picked up on my embarrassment, but they were laughing right along with me. Marcia and Cindy wanted to watch it again but we moved on to looking for other new music. I have to admit, this catchy song and video stuck in my head (as I’m sure it did in the kids’ heads as well).
Later in the day when we were back at a computer, we watched the whole video on YouTube. The whole video was much less intimidating because I knew what to expect and because of its ridiculousness. I posted this video on my facebook page (as I do with lots of sex/uality related stuff I find) with the following comment: “You know what I like best about this? The MEN are all scantily clad, NOT women. And the ridiculousness of the dancing makes me smile. Plus 44 MILLION views can’t be wrong.” Yeah, that’s not a typo: 44 MILLION views. Today, 4 days later, it has 52 Million views! Amazing. It certainly has an audience.
In viewing the video the second time, I noticed I wasn’t embarrassed. These 5 guys are, as Marcia says, “not that good looking” – and that is exactly the point – Yet they are all so confident! Part of the lyrics say “I got passion in my pants and I ain’t afraid to show it. I’m sexy and I know it”. They walk around the entire video in their underwear basically and strut their stuff; Zero self-consciousness. It’s rather refreshing. Aren’t we ALL sexy? Shouldn’t we ALL be so confident?
Add to that, that second time I watched it I realized few things. One, there were no gratuitous shots of bathing suit clad females. My daughters and I have seen plenty of rap videos featuring clothed men with tons of women in bathing suits looking bored and disinterested dancing around the rappers. Two, there weren’t any bouncing, jiggling females breasts or outward displays of hyper female sexuality. Pretty much any Katy Perry video has lots of this. And three, I relearned from one of my friends on facebook who reminded me that this is a female centric genre of adult video/porn called CFNM – Clothed Female, Naked Male. I forgot that I have a guy friend who is into this. A lot of his fantasies were of the “change up” (see previous blog) but others were of this CFNM genre. Just so you know, there are women who are into this genre as well. See? S
omething for everyone. 🙂
I am glad I stumbled upon this video. It turned into a perfect opportunity to talk about media literacy, namely sex and music videos, with my girls. And it was a little bit of an anatomy lesson as well. The penises in the banana hammocks bouncing is not something they see everyday around our house. I initially was shocked and embarrassed about seeing such blatant displays of male prowess but realized it was just the polar opposite of what is considered “normal” to see in our society. My daughters were not harmed by viewing this video. In fact, I think they have a better grasp of playfulness and humor around the human body. Which is something I think we can all use.
xxoo