Two days before he cried at the VMAs, Justin Bieber released, “What Do You Mean?”, the lead new single off his fourth studio album. Wait, fourth? Fuck. Anyway here’s a line in the song: “When you nod your head yes/But you want to say no/What do you mean?” So is Justin saying the girl doesn’t really want to go to the restaurant he just mentioned or is he trying to rape her. Let’s get Lena Dunham‘s hot take to be sure.
Let’s do away with pop songs where a girl nods yes when she means no and vice versa, k?
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) August 31, 2015
So, Dunham heard “nods yes, means no” and her internal trigger warnings, which allow most white feminists to read things out context, sounded the alarm with “NODS YES MEANS NO CONSENT THIS IS ABOUT CONSENT RAPE OMG RAPE”. And although rape culture is bad and real, the worse thing about this story is that Lena Dunham made me listen to this song. One listen was pretty much all it took to let me know that this song is about Selena Gomez. In case I missed the hashtag on Twittter, I don’t think he raped her. I know this may come as a shock to Lena, but most women know exactly what they want, they just have to figure out what that is first. Unless it’s pizza. Everyone wants pizza. Like, Enrique Iglesias has a song that’s literally called “Tonight (I’m Fucking You)”. One could make the case that song should come with a rape kit. And when she’s not making you want to adopt animals, Sarah McLachlan’s “Possession” actually gives you a play-by-play of her raping somebody. I mean, she wiped the tears away after, so that was sweet. And if you wanna dance a little bit before you get your rape on, throw in some “Blurred Lines”. I know you want it. No, no, I know you want this post to end so I’m doing that now. Please forward the consent form so I may sign and date.
