It would be nice to assume that in the 21st century there aren't male 'celebrities' on national TV, slut shamingwomen. But to assume makes an ass out of you and me.
On Saturday night, Amber Rose appeared on *It's Not You, It's Men *an American TV chat show all about sex, love and relationships hosted by Tyrese Gibson and Rev Run. During a discussion about consent, Tyrese produced an astoundingly ridiculous metaphor, saying that 'If you see a basketball player, and he's known as a basketball player, when you see him you're going to be like "yo lets go play ball!"' So according to Tyrese, if a girl is wearing something short or 'provocative' she's 'fair game'. This was said on an actual TV programme airing in 2016.
Amber Rose swiftly shut him down letting him know that this isn't the same thing, yet he went on to say that people who grope or touch others do so because '...it's the energy that's being sent out there which creates that kind of response'. Great bit of victim blaming there. Nice one, Tyrese.
Amber Rose then went on to explain that no means no, regardless of the 'context'; 'If I’m laying down with a man - butt-naked - and his condom is on, and I say, "You know what? No. I don’t want to do this. I changed my mind", that means no. That means fucking no. That’s it... It doesn’t matter how far I take it or what I have on, when I say no, it means no.'
Exactly. And you hope that they're considering that point but then Rev Run pipes up with the victim blaming again and mentions a phrase that he's heard: 'Dress how you want to be addressed' which, staggeringly, gets a clap from the audience.
It's great that women are being given a platform to discuss these kinds of issues, but it's terrifying that these views are actually held by men and being broadcast on national television, when you'd hope they're educated and liberal enough to know that what they're saying is ridiculously antiquated and misogynistic. Lets hope that her words, at the very least, encourage them to reflect on their statements and, eventually, change them.
You can watch the full clip on AOL here.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.