No, It Isn't Funny

This morning I listened to a radio program interview of two young women who were asked their opinion about a current "hit" that was topping the charts. Segments of the song were played. Evidently there is also a video production of it, having two versions, one called "safe", the other that sounded like salacious scat as described.  Now, I am not a crazy who thinks that pop music on its own, can drive normal youth to perform acts that are criminal.  Lots of other influences may, but music alone cannot do that. Few young people listen carefully to the lyrics and are more interested in the beat and moving to it.  But what concerned me were the comments by the two young women.  One believes that when radio hosts choose persons to comment on issues, they are well chosen from some kind of norm. When the song was played, the lyrics were so jumbled and lost in the volume, that until the interviewer repeated them verbally, I had not heard them clearly. In fact, I wish I hadn't. The words were outrageously abusive to women in the crudest way. I can't see any female wanting to listen to this kind of thing let alone condone or defend it.  But these two women who sounded reasonably well-educated and verbal, said they didn't see the harm since it was all in fun. They saw rape as a joke and said  that even the performer didn't take it seriously. Fun? A joke? Is that the way young women see their roles? Do they see themselves as mere objects to be used and abused and it's funny? Rape is never funny. Nor is it a joke. I found their remarks worse than the lyrics. Surely, young women want to be regarded as worthy of respect and value. Surely, in an age of the equality of the sexes and the value of contributing to society as human beings together is where youth is heading. I felt saddened by what these individuals were thinking. When they are wives and mothers, is this what they want to remember as their radio interview experience? I realize they were only two people out of a host of other young women who daily face inequality in this world. They were ill chosen and I hope they were joking.