I was listening to the preview for the
new KickDrums song featuring A$AP Rocky and Lana del Rey song,
“Riding” when I finally lost it.
“Pick me up after school, you can be
my baby,” she coos. “You say that I am flawless, true
perfection... so give me all your drugs.”
I’ll admit, singing about getting
picked up after school by a rich powerful man who gives her attention
and drugs, isn’t the most blatant example of, what I’m now
calling, “pro-pedophilia,” in Del Rey’s work. Del Rey could
arguably be singing from the voice of an 18+ college student here.
But she is the most famous
pro-pedophilia celebrity of the moment, and she does this consistently.
In “Off to the
Races,” she pays direct homage to Lolita, quoting Vladimir Nabokov,
when she sings I'm the “light of your life, fire of your loins”
over the persistent soundtrack of playground noises and children in
the background.
In
“Put
Me in a Movie” she is the most straight forward about her pedophile undertones when she begs, “Come
on you know you like little girls. Come on you know you like little
girls. You can be my Daddy.”
While
“Lolita” may have become a pop-culture term for someone who wears
heart shaped glasses, frilly socks and makes frequent references to
candy, there is another story behind “Lolita.” You know, the one
about a grown man having sex with a child.
Just
because “Lolita” is fiction doesn’t mean pedophilia is.
Pedophilia
is a real thing that happens to an immeasurable amount of children.
It is immeasurable because most victims keep quiet be it because it
is too dramatic and traumatic a thing for them to deal with, because
they are being threatened, or because they don’t know what the fuck
is going on. But pedophilia happens. It happens in poor
neighborhoods, and it happens in white upper middle class
neighborhoods to young girls with pouty faces and cute outfits on.
Del
Rey sings songs about sexual relations with children. They are
pretty, appealing songs. I can’t be the only one who thinks that’s
weird.
So,
after listening to “Riding” and I realized Del Rey’s Lolita
shtick wasn’t going anywhere, I decided my observation should be
shared. Specifically with the three or four people who actually read
my Twitter feed. And, the slim chance Del Rey would hear, I included
her twitter handle too.
I’ve
never been a very good speller. I know this. Many people on the
internet helped remind me. A
few people were upset by my statement and called me a bully. 50+ people re-tweeted, and 33 people favorited. But,
more than anything, people were confused by what I meant and why Del
Rey retweeted it.
What
I mean by “pro-pedophilia” is someone who endorses a culture with
pedophilia in it. It’s
pretty much the same idea as rape culture. When
I say Del Rey is “pro-pedophilia” I mean her songs support a
culture where pedophilia is common, tolerated, and condoned.
So
that’s why I tweeted what I did. As for Del Rey’s end, I don’t
know why she re-tweeted but here are a few of my best guesses.
She
thought I was being mean, and wanted me to look stupid for my dumb
spelling, and for the Internet to be mean to me back.
It
was a mistake. She didn’t mean to do it.
She
wanted to open up a dialogue about the undertones of pedophilia in
her work.
Number
3 brings me to another point: It’s not unlikely for a victim of
sexual abuse to try to capitalize on their experience. Perhaps Del
Rey can relate to Lolita more so than she lets on.
The
truth is, I’m not out to stop Del Rey. Freedom of speech is
important. What
I mind is that aesthetic is described not as mimicking pedophilia but
mimicking Lolita without discussing the implications. Why? Are people
scared about talking about it? Is it impolite because it makes people
uncomfortable?
Like I said, I can’t ignore it anymore.
And
Lana Del Rey, what ever the reason was you re-tweeted me for the six
hours that you did before taking it down, thank you for being brave enough to open up the
discussion.
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