Top 5 Beloved Cultural Icons Way More Misogynist Than Trump

Trump

by Kitty Testa

While many of us would prefer to discuss Donald Trump’s police-state leanings and the folly of his economic ideas, most of the country would rather talk about his bragging about kissing and grabbing women. While this could open a serious discussion about why rich and powerful men feel an entitlement to treat women as sexual objects, and to examine why this is a feature of nearly every human civilization, such an exercise would undermine the point of their manufactured outrage entirely: Trump is bad because he abuses women.

And yet our popular culture unapologetically glorifies other misogynists and sexual abusers. Here are five examples that should give you pause before you blush like a Victorian grandmother over Trump’s shocking boasts.

 

1. Led Zeppelin and almost every other classic rock star you’ve ever heard of

Dec. 12, 2012 "When I was in high school, I had a friend who had Bose 901 speakersÐat the time the best speakers on the planetÐand when his parents were gone, he would invite me and other friends over to blast Led Zeppelin songs so loud that the windows in the almost rattled. So when the President was chatting with the surviving members of Led ZeppelinÐJohn Paul Jones, Robert Plant and Jimmy PageÐduring intermission at the Kennedy Center Honors, those long ago memories came flooding back." (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

Trump doesn’t hold a candle to the boys who brought us “I wanna be your back door man.” In fact, the heroes of 1960s and 1970s rock and roll were abusive to women and underage girls in song and in deed. In the movie Sunset Strip, Sharon Osbourne described the horrendous treatment of female groupies by the male rock stars (especially members of Led Zeppelin), including putting cigarettes out on them.

An entire groupie culture of sexually available women developed around the rich and famous rock stars. They became the subject of songs and were even featured in Rolling Stone. Dire Straights wasn’t kidding when they sang, “I get money for nothing and my chicks for free.”

I recall reading an interview with Jackson Browne back in the 1970s where he complained about groupies screwing the band in the pool and not “douching” often enough. Browne also went on to be abusive in his relationship with actress Daryle Hannah.

If Trump’s remarks offend you so deeply, you might want to stop listening to classic rock.

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