Baby, it's date rape outside
Now that it's getting nippier (in some places) and we are in the Christmas season, the Frank Loesser-penned Johnny Mercer/Margaret Whiting duet (since covered by many others) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" returns to underscore the fact that date rape is not something invented by the brothers of Tau Kappa Epsilon in 1984.The song tells the story of a man trying to persuade his date to stay "a little longer", using as a ruse the low temperature outside.
The woman begins by saying "I really can't stay" and later says, flat out, "No!" but her partner is adamant and lubricious, plying her with drinks and cigarettes. He lies to her, physically intimidates her by getting ever closer, manipulates her by alluding to his death and, more to the point, worries aloud about his pride suffering a blow.
Louis Armstrong's duet with Ella Fitzgerald only emphasized that date rape is color blind, and Bobby Caldwell's version with Vanessa Williams further illuminated the fact that date rape is truly an interracial, international problem that takes no heed of class. Ms. Williams' fall from grace in the Miss America pageant probably made Caldwell think she was damaged and therefore accessible.
Joe Tex' "I Gotcha" is another big roofie song, but that one's good all year.
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by Marty Barrett at Sunday, December 04, 2005
1 Comments:
Hey! Those girls were willing participants!
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