As the head (and sole) writer of Freedomreeves.com, I try to balance making timely and relevant posts with the desire to avoid sensationalism. I try to steer clear of gossip or negativity, although I know that both of these are alluring. Having said that, there is a trend that I feel the need to comment on, and this trend hit a most unfortunate climax for me last night, thanks to Twitter.

In a desire to shed her safe (not to mention profitable) image as one of the Cheetah Girls, Kiely Williams (also formally of 3LW), decided to put out a video for her song “Spectacular.”

I am not exaggerating when I say that this video is the most disturbing thing I’ve seen since “Precious”. Unlike Precious, this video does not have stunning visuals, compelling dialogue and incredible acting to balance out the harsh themes. As a visual connoisseur, I can honestly say that I am equally offended by both the reprehensible subject matter and the shoddy quality of the video itself. For the sake of this article, I will focus on the subject matter.

Links to the video as well as synopses on its subject matter can be found all over the internet at this point, but I will address some themes in the video and song that are the most problematic:

1) “Even though I’m not sure of his name/He could get it again if he wanted/Cause the sex was spectacular”

Okay… you don’t remember his name,  but you remembered the sexual encounter? It gets worse.

2)”What was I drinking/I can’t believe I blacked out”

Honey, it sounds like you a) You don’t how to handle your liquor or b) You were roofie’d. In either case, you were not able to give consent. One of the most damaging misconceptions about sex and alcohol is that anything done under the haze of drunkenness is “okay.” This given perpetrators a false sense of protection, and takes away voice from sexual assault victims.

3)”You can say what you want but/You can call me a slut but/What he did to me last night felt so good/I must have been on drugs”

Women who are truly comfortable with their sexuality don’t use value-laden words like “slut” and wouldn’t challenge someone else to call them that… and are you making light of being roofie’d?

4)”I hope he used a rubber/Or I’mma be in trouble”

*hits breaks* Okay, since you don’t remember his name and you “blacked out,” the fact that you don’t remember if he used a condom is not that surprising. But you are playing with fire (crotch) on this one. I’m not going to go into STI rates among African American women, but the fact that you weren’t prepared yourself is not something I would share with a girlfriend, let along put on a song.

I think somewhere along the line, young women like Kiely Williams confused sexual liberation with sexual desperation.There is nothing empowering about not taking care of your sexual health, drinking until you black out, and challenging people to call you a slut. What’s also troubling about this “movement” is the underlying thinking behind it, which is this: What’s okay for men should be okay for women. If men can have one-night stands and brag to their friends about it, we should have the “right” to black out, have sex with creepy-looking strangers and sing a song about it.

Well ladies: At the risk of upsetting the confused feminist contingent, there are fundamental reasons why this behavior is not suitable for either gender, but is especially not okay for women:

1) We have babies

2) We get diseases more easily

3) Did I mention that we have babies?

Women, like it or not, we can’t achieve equality by duplicating behaviors that are harmful and more acceptable for men. Reproductive female have the risk of getting pregnant every time we have sex, and by virtue of our anatomy, all females are more likely to contract an STI than our male counterparts.

I hope songs and videos like this mean that the open-leg market in music has finally jumped the shark. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go block my 14 and 13 -year-old cousins from searching for the “Cheetah Girls” on the internet.