Nine Inch Nails is a famous rock band originating in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. This band has a main musician, Trent Reznor who puts together all the pieces of the band himself. This group has had numerous radio hits and has made lists such as "The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
I do not know much about this band or what its about but based on reading the lyrics to one of their songs "Closer" I felt as though this song was objectifying women. Here are some of the notable lyrics of this song:
You let me violate you
You let me desecrate you
You let me penetrate you
You let me complicate you
I wanna f*** you like an animal
Lyrics like this seem very negative toward women and appear to be objectifying them. It doesn't seem to me that there is anything positive coming from such lyrics. This relates to a cultural issue of power. This band wants to feel a sense of power and so by talking negatively towards women and making them into objects that they own, they are achieving that power that they seek. This actually happens with other bands as well, but these lyrics stood out to me the most since they were pretty obscene. What are lyrics like this telling our culture? That by objectifying women we will become popular and have a hit label? That by saying degrading things about women we will make good music and get more girls? Songs like this appear to me to negatively teach our culture that things like objectifying women give us power over everyone else.
The song doesn't specify the gender of the person to whom it is referring. Yes, the singer is straight, but the song wouldn't have to change at all if Trent were gay or a woman.
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