To the Editor:
Re “A ’40s Duet Refracted in the #MeToo Era Lens” (front page, Dec. 14), examining the lyrics of the holiday standard “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”:
This is the quintessential example of political correctness taken to a ridiculous extreme. I’m in my 70s, as is my wife. We are both ardent supporters of women’s rights and are happy to see abusers finally being called out and, in some cases, brought to justice. I don’t need lessons in “feminism” from anyone.
But taking issue with a song from the 1940s that was nothing more than a cute, flirtatious exchange between two people obviously attracted to one another is, to be generous, misguided. This is precisely the kind of nonsense that makes those people resistant to appropriate societal change dig their heels in. It gives them ammunition to tar all such progress with a derisive brush.
MacKenzie Allen
Santa Fe, N.M.
To the Editor:
Your article didn’t mention one of the most objectionable parts of the song. She sings, “At least I’m gonna say that I tried,” meaning that she will falsely say that she tried to resist.
The implication is clearly that women falsely claim that they tried to resist and oh, isn’t that just typical of women.
That and the possibility that she is being drugged — “Say, what’s in this drink?” — is what makes the song so offensive. There’s more here than that she wants to leave and he is trying to get her to stay and ain’t that adorable.
Ellen Radin
Scotch Plains, N.J.
To the Editor:
So now the old chestnut “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is being targeted by some #MeToo enthusiasts. But if this song is offensive, what about “Là ci darem la mano,” the beautiful duet from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”?
In the duet, the Don rather forcefully persuades Zerlina (who is in her wedding dress, about to be married to Masetto) to run off with him to his nearby villa. Will this have to go, too? And why not ban the entire opera? After all, its hero is a serial seducer and likely a rapist as well, whose servant Leporello tells us he has “seduced” 1,003 women in Spain alone. Sorry, Mozart; this kind of behavior is no longer acceptable.
I completely sympathize with the women who have been abused by the Weinsteins, Cosbys and O’Reillys of the world; I found Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony quite credible and Brett Kavanaugh’s subsequent tirade odious. But perhaps the #MeToo movement needs to step back for a moment and give more consideration to what it really wants to accomplish.
Charles P. Cook
Cresskill, N.J.
To the Editor:
As the director of the Young Conservatory at American Conservatory Theater, for many years I used “Baby It’s Cold Outside” as a duet in our cabaret series with students in training. I always reversed the roles, with the woman pursuing the man, with him saying “I really can’t stay,” and the woman taking on the “But baby, it’s cold outside.” For our contemporary young female performers this proved such a better scenario. And our audiences always love the switch.
Craig Slaight
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Listen to Blossom Dearie and Bob Dorough perform “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and, hopefully, you will hear what I hear — the genuine affection expressed and the obvious delight the audience experienced as this love story unfolds.
Remember, this song was written to be performed as an amusing party act, not to be picked apart 74 years later. Come on, people, let’s not lose our senses of humor over a darling duet from 1944. We have more serious work to do.
Maris Thatcher Meyerson
Berkeley, Calif.
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | Flirtation, or a Prelude to Date Rape? A New Look at an Old Song
Opinion | Flirtation, or a Prelude to Date Rape? A New Look at an Old Song
To the Editor:
Re “A ’40s Duet Refracted in the #MeToo Era Lens” (front page, Dec. 14), examining the lyrics of the holiday standard “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”:
This is the quintessential example of political correctness taken to a ridiculous extreme. I’m in my 70s, as is my wife. We are both ardent supporters of women’s rights and are happy to see abusers finally being called out and, in some cases, brought to justice. I don’t need lessons in “feminism” from anyone.
But taking issue with a song from the 1940s that was nothing more than a cute, flirtatious exchange between two people obviously attracted to one another is, to be generous, misguided. This is precisely the kind of nonsense that makes those people resistant to appropriate societal change dig their heels in. It gives them ammunition to tar all such progress with a derisive brush.
MacKenzie Allen
Santa Fe, N.M.
To the Editor:
Your article didn’t mention one of the most objectionable parts of the song. She sings, “At least I’m gonna say that I tried,” meaning that she will falsely say that she tried to resist.
The implication is clearly that women falsely claim that they tried to resist and oh, isn’t that just typical of women.
That and the possibility that she is being drugged — “Say, what’s in this drink?” — is what makes the song so offensive. There’s more here than that she wants to leave and he is trying to get her to stay and ain’t that adorable.
Ellen Radin
Scotch Plains, N.J.
To the Editor:
So now the old chestnut “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is being targeted by some #MeToo enthusiasts. But if this song is offensive, what about “Là ci darem la mano,” the beautiful duet from Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”?
In the duet, the Don rather forcefully persuades Zerlina (who is in her wedding dress, about to be married to Masetto) to run off with him to his nearby villa. Will this have to go, too? And why not ban the entire opera? After all, its hero is a serial seducer and likely a rapist as well, whose servant Leporello tells us he has “seduced” 1,003 women in Spain alone. Sorry, Mozart; this kind of behavior is no longer acceptable.
I completely sympathize with the women who have been abused by the Weinsteins, Cosbys and O’Reillys of the world; I found Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony quite credible and Brett Kavanaugh’s subsequent tirade odious. But perhaps the #MeToo movement needs to step back for a moment and give more consideration to what it really wants to accomplish.
Charles P. Cook
Cresskill, N.J.
To the Editor:
As the director of the Young Conservatory at American Conservatory Theater, for many years I used “Baby It’s Cold Outside” as a duet in our cabaret series with students in training. I always reversed the roles, with the woman pursuing the man, with him saying “I really can’t stay,” and the woman taking on the “But baby, it’s cold outside.” For our contemporary young female performers this proved such a better scenario. And our audiences always love the switch.
Craig Slaight
San Francisco
To the Editor:
Listen to Blossom Dearie and Bob Dorough perform “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and, hopefully, you will hear what I hear — the genuine affection expressed and the obvious delight the audience experienced as this love story unfolds.
Remember, this song was written to be performed as an amusing party act, not to be picked apart 74 years later. Come on, people, let’s not lose our senses of humor over a darling duet from 1944. We have more serious work to do.
Maris Thatcher Meyerson
Berkeley, Calif.
Source: Read Full Article