Justin Trudeau Slams Misogyny in ‘Certain Types of Music’ But Doesn’t Say Which Genres

During an interview about women's issues which aired at an event hosted by Up For Debate last night, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau was asked about what societal factors contributed to young men's shitty behaviour towards women.

(The clip above makes it sound like Trudeau was answering a question that asked him to explain why women are still "vulnerable to violence" but an actual transcript says he was asked to explain why young men are responsible for a lot of the abuse that women face today, such as #FHRITP.)

"I don't know where exactly to point my finger. I think there's an awful lot of factors that come together to shape societal behaviors whether it's certain types of music," Trudeau initially answered. "There is a lot of misogyny in certain types of music."

He went on to blame "the prevalence" of pornography and added that there are a "a lot of communities in which fathers are less present than they have been or than they might be in the past, and there's more need to have engaged, positive role models."

We can't say exactly which "types" of music and "communities" Trudeau was referring to (in fact, Trudeau now says he wasn't referring to any community in particular), so we looked at every single music genre that has featured misogynistic lyrics. No record, 8-track, mixtape, or phonograph recording has gone unplayed to figure out which genre(s) Trudeau could have been talking about.

There is no genre of music today filled with more misogyny, alcohol abuse, and pickup-truck praise than "bro country." A genre that started out with Johnny Cash singing about the pleasures of doing cocaine and shooting your woman has been taken over by a bunch of tattooed frat boys who think owning F-150s makes them cowboys. Clearly, the Liberal leader was taking a shot at those off-roading yahoos who think women are only around to deliver beer in their daisy dukes and get felt up in the back of said pick-ups.

If you think extended listening to Nancy Sinatra's "Bang Bang"—or the clearly superior Cher version—won't immediately turn you into a violent monster, you are so clearly wrong. With their croony glorification of gun noises, a bevy of female pop icons have actively encouraged the baby boomer generation to shoot their babies down. Inexcusable.

Of course you wrote a song about shooting your woman at the dancehall with your ol' .44. Of course you did, you William S. Burroughs wannabe.

You think the wave of bands ushered in by the manufactured success of Mumford & Sons is a bunch of Clinton-voting, pro-choice feminists? Think again, dirtbag. A generation of Upper West Side-dwelling crooners raised by single moms in well-located urban lofts came after that carefully groomed insult to Woodie Guthrie, eagerly returning to songs about pulling out their Smith & Wesson and shooting their girl down. These indie darlings have been peddling a virulent strain of misogyny-inducing pop-folk for years and Trudeau was right to call them out.

While the seemingly innocuous image of all those grown men with teased-up hair, bright red lipstick, and feathery fashions makes for a fun night of retro rock singalongs, there's something far more sinister going on in glam. Many of the songs written by these dudes come across like the sexual fantasies of horny teenagers, until you realize that then 27-year-old Kip Winger was singing a tune like "Seventeen" (chorus: "She's only seventeen / Daddy says she's too young, but she's old enough for me"). Let's not even get started on Warrant's "Cherry Pie" (eww), Poison's "I Want Action," Guns N' Roses' "Back Off Bitch," or Mötley Crüe's exceptionally ineloquent "Girls Girls Girls," all of which come off as really just the wrong (and potentially illegal) way for grown men to relate to women. In this context, Stephen Harper's go-to cover of "Sweet Child O' Mine" seems a little less cutesy.

Peacenik/raging asshole John Lennon sings on Rubber Soul's "Run for Your Life" that "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man." And that's just the first fucking line! Then it goes, "You better run for your life if you can, little girl / Hide your head in the sand, little girl / Catch you with another man / That's the end ah little girl." Now is the time to call Stephen Harper's love of the Beatles into question.

Do we really need to tell you that "Brown Sugar" is about a white slave owner raping a black woman?

Who doesn't want to be serenaded by Borgore's "Act Like a Ho"? "Ho, when we're in bed act like a ho / Girl, take example from these bitches / In bed act like a ho but first do the dishes!" Wow, just pass me the molly and fuck me now! Or what about his 2011 hit "Gloryhole": "Oh my god, it's a whale / Wait, that's your sister / Just take her to the gloryhole / You wouldn't have to kiss her / Nah, sea mammals are not on my fuck list / Man, it's a gloryhole, fuck if she's obese." Ungh.

For a genre founded on PLUR (Peace Love Unity Respect), EDM is rife with misogyny. In electro DJ Destructo's music video for "Technology," the main character gags his fembot girlfriend (played by a real-life woman) with a ball of newspaper, wraps her entire body in plastic and duct tape, then later returns her for being defective—all because she fell in love with him.

"Baby, It's Cold Outside" is basically a Christmas-themed song about rape. The dude in the song pressures a woman into staying at his house and feeds her booze (and possibly roofies—"Say, what's in this drink?" the woman in the song asks) just because it's supposedly cold outside. For fuck's sake.

Yup, there's an extreme metal subgenre called "pornogrind." Pretty self-explanatory.

You've got your Taking Back Sundays and your Blink-182s and numerous other snot-nosed white kids singing about banging moms in the suburbs and whatnot, miles away from the original inclusive spirit of punk music.

Do we even need to explain why?