Brand new country duo Maddie & Tae are calling out the crazy-high levels of sexism in the music genre known as “Bro Country”—the hyper-masculine, woman-objectifying trope that has come to dominate modern country music. They use their new song, “Girl in a Country Song” to point out the ridiculousness of portraying every woman as an overly sexual yet faceless being.
The lyrics are pretty great:
“I hear you over there on your tailgate whistlin’
Sayin’, ‘Hey girl’/But you know I ain’t listenin’
Cause I got a name/And to you it ain’t ‘pretty little thing,’ ‘honey’ or ‘baby’
Yeah it’s drivin’ me red-red-red-red-red-red-red neck crazy.”
In the music video there’s a lot of cross dressing and some fabulously satirical male sexy dancing.
“Bein’ the girl in a country song/How in the world did it go so wrong?
Like all we’re good for/Is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend/Nothing more
We used to get a little respect/Now we’re lucky if we even get
To climb up in your truck/keep my mouth shut and ride along
And be the girl in a country song.”
It’s great to see some people making a space for lady-friendly country! Of course, it would be nice if we didn’t need to create a “lady-friendly space”—all country music should respect women! What would Dolly Parton say?
Images courtesy of pbs.twimg.com and justjaredjr.com.
