Jacked up.

is this the definition of what it means to be masculine?

I will assume that you may not have heard this song before, but it is worthy of a listen. When I heard it on satellite radio, it was intro'd by the artist saying that he was so excited to perform it in concert. Well, hell yeah...doesn't it have all the markings of a perfect party-concert song? Let's take a peek at the lyrics and see what the song is really saying, shall we?

"That's My Kind Of Night"
sung by Luke Bryan

I got that real good feel good stuff
Up under the seat of my big black jacked up truck
Rollin' on 35s
Pretty girl by my side

You got that sun tan skirt and boots
Waiting on you to look my way and scoot
Your little hot self over here
Girl hand me another beer, yeah!

All them other boys wanna wind you up and take you downtown
But you look like the kind that likes to take it way out
Out where the corn rows grow, row, row my boat
Floatin’ down the Flint River, catch us up a little catfish dinner
Gonna sound like a winner, when I lay you down and love you right
Yeah, that’s my kind of night!

Might sit down on my diamond plate tailgate
Put in my country ride hip-hop mixtape
Little Conway*, a little T-Pain, might just make it rain

You can hang your t-shirt on a limb
Hit that bank and we can ease on in
Soak us up a little moonlight
You know I know what you like, yeah!

All them other boys wanna wind you up and take you downtown
But you look like the kind that likes to take it way out
Out where the corn rows grow, row, row my boat
Floatin’ down the Flint River, catch us up a little catfish dinner
Gonna sound like a winner, when I lay you down and love you right
Yeah, that’s my kind of night!
Yeah, that’s my kind of night!

My kind or your kind is this kind of night
We dance in the dark and your lips land on mine
Oh oh oh oh oh, gonna get our love on
Oh oh oh oh oh, time to get our buzz on

All them other boys wanna wind you up and take you downtown
But you look like the kind that likes to take it way out
Out where the corn rows grow, row, row my boat
Floatin’ down the Flint River, catch us up a little catfish dinner
Gonna sound like a winner, when I lay you down and love you right
Yeah, that’s my kind of night!
Yeah, that’s my kind of night!
That’s my kind of night!
Yeah, that’s my kind of night!
Come on...

[* "Conway" as in Conway Twitty, the reference to the Country/Hip-Hop mixed tape]

So, is this the definition of a man these days? Not only the self-gratification of having a giant over-powered truck under your butt (as you sit in the driver's seat), but that you have a pretty girl by your side and she is handing you a beer? Please, someone tell me that this is all a dream. It is certainly somebody's fantasy, that's for sure.

I don't begrudge anyone from having an over-sized truck, if it didn't reflect their need for feeling powerful. Shoot, how much more macho can you get? Our culture is already driven by male domination in every way - from blatant disrespect of women and unequal wages, all the way to acceptable male violence against women and children. Overt aggression and domination of males in our daily lives is so much accepted, we women have a hard time fighting it, and most of us give into it. Shoot, we sexually objectify ourselves to please not just the man in our life, but all men who look our way. (Victoria's Secret, anyone?) But, I digress.

Did you have issues with the lyrics of this song? Boy, I sure did. Let's start with the definition of the perfect women, shall we? She is a pretty, hot thing who is always willing to serve a man, is suntanned, who wears short skirts with boots. All the men want to have sex with her, but the singer is the only one who knows how to love her "right" (I'm sure she doesn't even know herself). She always wants to head to a secluded area and let a man who owns a big jacked-up truck have his way with her. Oh, and let's not forget that she likes to take off her shirt and skinny dip.

Really??

Now, this song would be alright if it weren't an outright assault on the intelligence and worth of women. Because, let's face it, if you are not like this little sexy thing, you hold little to no value to a man with a big, over-sized truck. And his friends would agree. Why does this piss me off?

Call me a feminist, if you like. (Feminist: a person who believes the radical idea that women are people, too.) But, if you have a daughter, this song defines what she must be like in order to be valued in today's misogynistic culture. If she is smart, forget it. If she doesn't like to "put out", she's out. If she is not white and a sexy, little, suntanned doll...well, you are just out of luck. Today's women need to cater to the needs of men in a way that women always have, but in a much bigger way. Much like those newly-popular bigger trucks.

I guess I have a different definition of men, of women, and of relationship. I could say so much more about this song, about the lack of respect for human dignity, and how women fall head over heels to objectify themselves to please men (let's not even think about all the breast-shaking women that will attend this singer's concert just to scream over this song...wouldn't they love to be that little pretty thing handing him a beer?) It is my wish that men could respect women, that women could respect men, and that we all could appreciate what both sexes contribute to society.

And that is all I have to say about that...
for now.