Editorial: A Response to the Ying Yang
Twins Controversy
Kate Noel Naef, Contributing Writer
As the conflict surround
ing the Ying Yang Twins’ concert at
Meredith unfolded, we had many
questions, comments, and criticisms
tossed our way. Fortunately, many of
them are surface-level and repetitive,
so we are going to take a few minutes
to address these “common com
ments.”
“If you don’t like it, just don’t
go.”
First of all, this issue isn’t as
trivial or simple as not caring for the
music. This issue goes beyond, “Darn,
I really wanted a rock concert and
rappers are coming instead.” If I sim
ply didn’t care for the genre of music
selected, I’d be happy to stay in my
room watching movies from precisely
seven to ten o’clock on the evening
of Sunday, September 12th, and then
I’d crawl out of bed and go to Cook-
Out—but only when I was sure that
my ears wouldn’t be assaulted with
that annoying music that I merely
don’t care for. Ludacris is coming to
NC State. I don’t care for Ludacris.
I’m not going. Why don’t I protest
Ludacris? Because Ludacris won’t be
at Meredith, and at least he also sings
about shooting up the ghetto in ad
dition to his sexual exploits. Second,
since when is ignoring something the
most effective way of dealing with an
issue? Examples of the inefficiency
of this method range from extreme
to irrelevant, but since most students
embodying this comment don’t ap
pear to enjoy thinking critically. I’ll
give you a pretty straightforward case
in point. You see your fiance cheat
ing on you. He has invited you on a
date tomorrow night, but since you
don’t like that his tongue was down
another woman’s throat, you say that
you have homework and don’t have
time to go. You don’t tell him the real
reason, and then you act like it never
happened. Now, did you really fix the
problem? In regards to the Twins’
presence at Meredith, we didn’t feel
like it was enough to simply disagree
and look away, so we wanted people
to know that there are students on
this campus who feel that a group
that openly writes songs for strippers
might be welcome at Pure Gold, but
not at a women’s college.
“They’re not talking about me in
those songs.”
Would you
like to bet on that?
They’re talking about
your gender at large in
those songs. So now
you’re not a woman?
The registrar’s office
seems to think you are.
The jig is up; you are
Shawty, and it’s your
birthday every day.
“It’s just a song
with a fim beat.
No one actually
pays attention to
what they’re say
ing. Besides, do you
really know anyone
that acts on those
songs
9”
If you didn’t
know what the lyr
ics were, why were
so many of you so
willing and able to
shout them out at the
concert when The
Twins tipped the mic
your way? You heard
what they were saying, and we heard you
saying what they were saying along with
them. How’s that for feigned innocence?
On a more serious note, our culture in
general acts on media such as the Twins’.
You don’t believe me? Please do explain
16 and Pregnant and The Bad Girls Club,
or at least explain why those television
shows are so engrossing to watch. Then
explain why the average middle school
girl wants crop tops and shorts so short
that the pockets hang out. If you need
something closer to home and more
quantifiable, explain your average NC
State frat party and why the minute a
woman walks through the door, she’s
signing an invisible waiver allowing
anyone to touch her anywhere and in
any way. Say no, and she may wake up in
their basement with a headache and no
memory of how she got there. Explain
away.
“It makes Meredith look bad to
make a big deal out of it like this.”
This one is my personal favorite.
The administration and Meredith lead
ers certainly made a bit of a hypocritical
blunder in even allowing the Twins onto
the ballot. There was a lot of oversight, a
lot of generation blindhess, and a lot of
general ignorance
as to what the
Twins represent. Within the Meredith
community, it really may look like
those who objected to The Twins were
just giving CAB a hard time. Outside of
the Meredith community, it looks like
some students took a deeper look into
an issue and brought the contradiction
into light. Meredith students, thinking
critically? Imagine that! Thank benevo
lence for Prism; it would appear that
a lot of us need it. The catch to this is
hypothetical: How does this look to
the outside community who doesn’t
know about the letter of dissention,
the editorial, the “What’s the Rap on
Women” forum, and the protest? It
looks to all eyes like Meredith’s affilia
tion with a misogynistic boy band is re
ally Meredith supporting those values
and behaviors. All the outside would
see is that a prestigious women’s col
lege with a mission to develop strong,
critically-thinking leaders really blew
it by inviting performers who generally
encourage the idea that women can be
rented for men’s pleasure. Now, after
all the discussion generated both inter
nally and in greater Raleigh, someone
can tell those outside of the college
community that at least someone tried.
And in case you’re wondering why it
matters what people other than the
Ying Yang Twins concert, photo by Izzy Bouchard
students think, just keep in mind that
the Board of Trustees is NOT made
up of freshman, sophomores, juniors,
seniors, WINGS, or graduate stu
dents.
If you still don’t understand
what the big controversy is about,
please do read Stripped by Berna
dette Barton (the sociology book of
the year). Reviving Ophelia by Mary
Pipher, and please, in the name of
intelligence, at least look up the cliff
notes on Half the Sky by Nicholas
Kristoff and Sheiyl WuDunn. If you
don’t feel that aspired, then just
Google the Twins’ lyrics and ask
yourself if it’s really okay that they
said that to you on Meredith Col
lege’s campus.
Have an opinion on this issue
or any others?
Email it to herald@email.
meredith.edu!