Blurred Lines might totally be 2013’s zeitgeist object of hatred, but its legacy lives on, as a girl in a Bristol school was reduced to tears as she was pressured into dancing to the song.
Bella Hobbs, 14, had to complain four times before she could be let out of dancing to the song, which was made by Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams and T.I. and was accompanied by a provocative video featuring barely-clad girls dancing around fully-dressed men much older than them. And her mother Catherine Hobbs, 44, wants an apology from The Castle School, saying that there’s no way Year 10 students should have been exposed to the song, as its content is unsuitable. And it is true, the unedited song, which includes lyrics such as ‘I’ll tear your ass in two’ isn’t allowed on mainstream radio.
Miss Hobbs said, ‘[Bella] said that she was unhappy about the way that she was asked to dance, she said it was dirty.
‘I am not a prude. I am a liberal person and I haven’t got a problem with sexuality, but for a child to feel worried that what they are doing is dirty and rude, that is wrong.’
Apparently Bella didn’t know the meaning behind the song and Catherine had to sit down with her for a couple of hours to explain it to her. The school will look into whether the song was part of the backing music for a Zumba session run by an external instructor.
‘We are investigating, and we would take it very seriously if any age inappropriate lyrics have been used,’ Melanie Warnes, the school’s executive headmaster told The Telegraph. She added: ‘The teachers were not aware that any inappropriate dance moves had been made.’
If this is all true, it's pretty interesting that the girl made a stand without having read a single tweet, blog post, opinion piece or YouTube comment about the song. Maybe the sleaziness of the track is so in-built that even someone entirely green to its existence can find it offensive all on their own.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.