Former Cheetah Girl's "Spectacular" Video Grade: F-

Below is one of the better critiques (read: dirt naps) handed out regarding Kiely Williams' racy new single "Spectacular." AJ Plaid of Racialicious provides the commentary

Where some folks go from finger-wagging to full-on outrage is the consensuality: was it there if Williams was already drunk and getting drunker by her one-night partner?  Statistics say that 1) most victims of rape were acquainted with their assailants and 2) alcohol is usually involved in acquaintance sexual assault.  And we’ve heard the stories of—or even know the people, usually cisgender young women–on college campuses attempting to cope with the anguish and shame of date rapes because they felt they shouldn’t have been “passed out, drunk” at a party.  At the same time, I’ve heard from some friends who swear that “drunk sex” is some of the best sex they’ve ever had, even saying that, like Williams, they barely remember the evening but can vividly remember the act(s).  (One friend said of the experience, “I wish I had a video camera.”)  So, at best, Williams is celebrating some spectacularly unsafe fucking; at worst, Williams is salaciously singing about a sexual assault.

…

If she wanted to get out the ‘lactics-and-lust message, the video director could have shown Mr. Stallion ripping open a condom package and winking at the camera when she sang those lines, letting the viewer know that Williams may not have remembered, but he did.  (And, in a bonus, places the responsibility of safer sex and birth control on the man, which a startling number of guys don’t know about. ) And I think that the video’s creative team could get away with it, considering that YouTube 1) had an age-verification page before you could see the video partly because 2) Mr. Stallion was literally butt-naked in the video.  Considering the adult-section treatment, I think condom use could be shown.

And it’s not as if Williams couldn’t speak to us growing and grown Negroes about the joys of safer sex, considering the stats about Black people and HIV and other sexually transmitted infections…

You really should read the whole thing. It's thorough and utterly on point.

SOURCE: Racialicious