Robin Thicke recently claimed that his summer hit, “Blurred Lines”, was “a feminist movement within itself.” This comment was made after the song received a large backlash over its lyrics that clearly objectify women, and for good reason. Thicke’s song is anything but a “feminist movement”, and his claims are just a defense mechanism arguing against the fact that the song indirectly promotes misogynistic behavior and rape culture.

To give “Blurred Lines” credit, Thicke does sing about releasing women from the clutch of domestication and how men are not their makers, but what he says women do want completely contradicts his claim of it being a “feminist movement.” Instead of singing about how women do not need a man to be happy, he sings about how women want him. If anything, it is not a song about supporting women, it is a song about his ego.

In addition to objectifying women, the song’s promotion of rape culture can be found in its title. Singing about the “Blurred Lines” of consent, Thicke addresses the fact that men do not necessarily need a woman’s consent to engage in risque behavior. This idea is used all of the time in acts of rape and sexual abuse.

Now, this is certainly not the only song that popularizes the idea of objectifying women merely for their appearance. Popular music, specifically rap, is constantly referring to women as property all while calling them expletive names, but the reason that this song has garnered so much negative attention is because of its increasing popularity. The song almost gained the spot of “most listened to song ever” because of its 12 consecutive weeks as No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 list, missing out by only a few weeks.

So what does this say about our culture? Does it mean that the whole world is one large population of misogynistic men? No, of course not, but it does have some cause for concern. The fact that “Blurred Lines” has become so popular means that the lyrics are bound to make impressions on people, and when celebrities are singing lyrics such as “I know you want me” people will take that belief with them in the real world. It is seen all of the time; celebrities endorse a product, and all of the sudden that item is selling out on the shelves. This is how it works with the lyrics being sung in a song.

What made the song even more controversial and influential was the music video that premiered Mar. 20. The video features three dancing models who are practically naked. They dance around Thicke in a racy way. What made it worse was the fact that Thicke released an unrated version about a month later. It allowed anyone to view the video of all of these naked models dancing around a well-dressed man, implying that if you are a rich man then all of these women are bound to want you and get naked for you, which is just not true. The attitude that is taken from the video is that all women are sex objects. It is disgusting that we are still at this point in our culture.

A popular claim in defense of “Blurred Lines” is that it is just a song. Why yes, it is a song, but it is also a message that is sent to millions of people. The message and specifically the lyrics are found everywhere in rape culture. Men say lines like “you’re a good girl” and “I know you want it” to reduce a woman’s worth and strength. The fact that they are being used in this song as a “joke” is sad.

The song is not a “feminist movement.” All Thicke does is sing a song about how women want him, and it does not deserve everyone’s attention. Hopefully its quick rise to fame will quickly become irrelevant.