Strutters' thoughts on this Too Short controversy?

phongonephongone 1,652 Posts
edited February 2012 in Strut Central
In a video interview with XXL, Todd Shaw basically advised middle school/high school aged boys how to "turn girls out" through sexual assault. The video has since been taken down. I know dude has made a career out of "dirty raps," but this is pretty despicable and beyond the pale.


http://www.thegrio.com/entertainment/too-short-gives-boys-advice-to-turn-girls-out-xxl.php

UPDATED Feb. 14, 2012 - Vanessa Satten, XXL Editor-in-Chief, has responded to theGrio with the statement: "I agree with [angry readers'] perspective. I do not see all content before it goes live. When I saw this video, I was truly offended and thought it crossed the line. I had it taken down immediately. I am disappointed that an employee decided to post it and I am putting internal procedures in place to make sure content like this does not go on the site. The video goes against my value system and represents poor judgment on behalf of the individual who posted it."
According to XXL.com, "Too $hort also responded to the video in a statement sent to XXLMag.com":
I want to apologize to anyone I may have offended with the XXL video interview I recently did. When I got on camera I was in Too $hort mode and had a lapse of judgement.I would never advise a child or young man to do these things, it's not how I get down. Although I have made my career on dirty raps, I have worked over the years to somewhat balance the content of my music with giving back to the community. Just coming from a man who wants to see young people get ahead in life, I'm gonna do my best to to help and not hurt. If you're a young man or a kid who looks up to me, don't get caught up in the pimp, player, gangster hip-hop personas. Just be yourself.
--
XXL magazine teamed up with rapper Too Short recently to give "fatherly advice" that involved teaching middle-school-aged boys how to "turn girls out." Calling it a process of "mind manipulation," the aging rapper advised boys to digitally stimulate girls to get "whatever [they] want." While the video has been removed from the XXL site, the fact that it was published at all is still drawing outrage.
"When you get to late middle school, early high school and you start feeling a certain way about the girls... I'm gonna tell you a couple tricks," Too Short said in the video. "A lot of the boys are going to be running around trying to get kisses from the girls... We're going way past that. I'm taking you to the hole."

WATCH TOO $HORT'S ADVICE FROM XXL BELOW:

Then, the 45-year-old rapper, whose real name is Todd Anthony Shaw, asks women off camera to "cover their ears" to avoid being offended. Short then describes a scenario in graphic detail. "You push her up against the wall," he continued. "You take your finger and put a little spit on it and you stick your finger in her underwear and you rub it on there and watch what happens."

While Shaw is giving his graphic "advice," upbeat, child-themed music plays in the background.

Not all XXL readers appreciated the advice.
The first comment on XXL's site, along with the post read; "This clip is totally INAPPROPRIATE on so many levels and advocates sexual aggression toward young girls that['s] consider[ed] RAPE, I'm [really] surprised this clip is publicly viewable. XXL lacks social responsibility with this immoral content!" The magazine has taken down the video but the cached version can still be found here.
Gina McCauley, founder of the black women's advocacy blog What About Our Daughters, believes that the publishing of this video on XXL.com is part of a misogynistic agenda of the media entity. McCauley told theGrio that, "In 2007, my readers had to call on advertisers to pull ads from XXL.com when they referred to a black mother who'd been the victim of a brutal gang rape in West Palm Beach Florida as 'some hooker down in Florida.'" She also noted that demeaning attitudes and sexual violence directed at black women and girls is seen as acceptable by too many blacks.
"People will want to point to XXL as an aberration, but misogyny and sexual violence committed against young black girls is normalized in far too many black communities," McCauley continued in an email. She recalled a prominent case that was recently in the news in which an 11-year-old girl in Cleveland, Texas was gang raped -- then accused by her community of somehow provoking their attackers.
"The black community has a problem with how it treats its girls and boys as it relates to violence," McCauley concluded, and she called on black men to take Too Short to task for his comments and re-educate him about respecting black women.
Charing Ball, cultural critic and writer for The Root, questions why Too Short was given a platform for "giving fatherly advice" in the first place -- particularly by a white female editor. "That is like Essence magazine hiring Don Imus to give black women hair care advice, or Rick Santorum being invited to an LGBT rights organization luncheon to speak about marriage equality," she told theGrio.
"Too Short, for the most part, is the epitome of the hyper-masculinity run rampant in hip-hop. [T]he blame lands squarely at the feet of Vanessa Satten, the editor-in-chief of XXL," Ball said. "Finding out that a woman manages the magazine that has decided to give a platform to a man known for sexually suggestive imagery for the purpose of advising children that it is okay to sexual molest -- or be sexually molested -- is very troubling.
"If anything, it shows us just how some women are readily willing to perpetuate certain images including that of rape culture if they feel it would give them favor -- in this case page views," Ball concluded.
Too Short is known for his sexually explicit rhymes in songs like "Freaky Tales." The rapper was arrested for assault in 2010 after an altercation related to his alleged attempt to bring underage girls backstage into his dressing room at a performance.
After being contacted, XXL digital content director Carl Cherry declined to comment on this article. Vanessa Satten has been contacted, but has not responded.

  Comments


  • Foul sh*t, but it reminds me of Suga Free's intro on this:


  • HarveyCanalHarveyCanal "a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
    Threw all my Too $hort vinyls in the rubbish as soon as I heard.

  • HarveyCanal said:
    Threw all my Too $hort vinyls in the rubbish as soon as I heard.

    ^^^ plays the douchebag shtick as if he gets paid for it, though even more sadly, does it for free. dismally predictable.

  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    The average age of entry into prostitution is 13 years old, so it makes sense that Short would be a kid toucher.

  • i always thought he sounded suspect saying young tenders.

  • what kind of dumb fuck parent would ever let their kid take any advice from too short?

    This is pretty much predictable stupid shit from Too Short though.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    I would expect far more responsible behaviour from someone as firmly rooted in morality as Too Short. I'm sure both he and XXL are ashamed and regretful of any publicity that has arisen from this controversy.

  • ReynaldoReynaldo 6,054 Posts
    Junior said:
    I would expect far more responsible behaviour from someone as firmly rooted in morality as Too Short. I'm sure both he and XXL are ashamed and regretful of any publicity that has arisen from this controversy.
    A thinly veiled defense of Too Short ^^

  • jaysusjaysus 787 Posts
    Wait wait, are you guys suggesting that Too Short might be a misogynist?

  • jaysusjaysus 787 Posts
    Don't worry sweet lady, I will treat you like a princess until you turn 18, after that i will beat the shit out of you and call you cuntslut.

  • phongonephongone 1,652 Posts
    Judging from his twitter comments, he's not too apologetic about it.

    Too $hort @TooShort
    If U have a daughter, chances are one day somebody's gonna have sex with her. I'm not in control of when that happens, U are mom & dad.

    Too $hort @TooShort
    Rape? Sexual assault? I would never try to force myself on a female of any race or any age. My dick wouldn't even get hard.

    Too $hort @TooShort
    Damn homie, U really never told your boys "smell my finger" ???

    Too $hort @TooShort
    If U tell your friends that U lost your virginity at 18 or 19 yrs old, they call U a late bloomer. True or false?

    Too $hort @TooShort
    Call me ignorant for whatever reason but don't pretend like I wrote the manual on teen sex

    Too $hort @TooShort
    I truly regret my negative energy I put out sometimes but keep it real. Stats don't lie. A lot of kids already know how to have sex.

    14h Too $hort @TooShort
    Females taught me everything. How to get it wet. How to get it in & later in life how to eat it properly. THANKS LADIES!

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Reynaldo said:
    Junior said:
    I would expect far more responsible behaviour from someone as firmly rooted in morality as Too Short. I'm sure both he and XXL are ashamed and regretful of any publicity that has arisen from this controversy.
    A thinly veiled defense of Too Short ^^

    TOO SHORT IS FOR THE CHILDREN

  • DuderonomyDuderonomy Haut de la Garenne 7,794 Posts
    Too Short said:

    Just coming from a man who wants to see young people get head

    fixed

  • djannadjanna 1,543 Posts
    XXL set up Too Short from what it sounds like. Yes, a horrible idea all around, but what advice would you expect him to give teen boys given the forum? They knew what they wanted from him and they got it.

    And he was talking about young tenders when he was 17 years old. He was a young tender himself. Can't believe I'm defending Todd.

  • SIRUSSIRUS 2,554 Posts
    djanna said:
    He was a young tender himself. Can't believe I'm defending Todd.

    this made me laugh.
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