As another holiday season passes, an influx of controversy surrounding the classic Christmas song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” has, yet again, resurfaced. Each Christmas, for seemingly the past several years, spectators from around the world have chimed in to share their opinions, and disdain, regarding the lyrics of the Christmas classic.
In the wake of the #MeToo and Time’s Up eras, many people have found that the lyrics of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” portray a troubling conversation between a man and a woman—a conversation in which a man is forcing a woman to stay with him at his house.
Although the song and its lyrics are portrayed as flirtatious and playful, many argue that the lyrics come off as inappropriate and even triggering to those who have experienced sexual assault. Radio stations across Canada and the U.S., including the CBC, went so far as to ban the song from their holiday playlist. Personally, I find all the controversy surrounding the song to be quite outlandish.
The song was first released over 70 years ago, in 1944, during a period when people were much less socially aware of topics related to consent and, therefore, should not be facing such intense scrutiny today, as we are aware of the large time gap between now, and then.
There is nothing wrong with exploring differing public opinion regarding a song perceived as problematic, but I believe everyone is missing one big piece of the puzzle. Have we become so sensitive as a society that we need to be constantly sheltered from the past?
If this old song truly is problematic and insensitive towards women and victims of assault, would it not be more effective for crusaders to use the song as an example of misconduct in a much larger problem, rather than suppressing it completely and pretending as though it never existed? I think so.
Without history, how would we have learned what is right and what is wrong? Should we, as a society, erase any and every trace of our history, which does not align completely with the views and opinions of our culture today? I say, no! By doing so, we risk pretending these events never occurred. Do not hide people from our history.
The second issue I have with this controversy is the subjectivity of it all. Today, when things are deemed offensive or insensitive, action is almost always taken to ensure that the “thing” is shut down immediately.
But, how and who will decide what is offensive and what is not? Is there a spectrum? A unit of measurement? Many popular rap songs contain lyrics filled with blatant references to drug and alcohol abuse. To many, songs that talk openly about drug use are insensitive and touchy—often, they would prefer not to hear about these topics on local radio on their way into work.
Many people the world over have been adversely affected by drug and alcohol abuse. So, should we ban all rap songs which glorify drug use? It is a gray area and one heck of a slippery slope—one which if we were to slide down, I’m afraid would be very difficult to climb back up.
This controversy needs to start a conversation, but rather than being centred on how offensive everything is today, it should be a discussion focused on growth and learning. Rather than policing language, we need to work on building a thicker skin by letting words be what they are: simply words.
The controversy surrounding this old holiday song is just a small part of a much larger problem we are facing recently. How are we, as a society, going to deal with offensive speech not only of the past, but of the present, as well?
How do we measure what is right and wrong, in a day and age when diversity of opinion is so strong? And, are we going to let people learn from past mistakes, or censor evidence of those mistakes and shun the perpetrators? Do we simply shut down and monitor everything, or let everything go and people do with it as they please?
These are major and valid questions which need to be answered; a pressing issue far beyond censoring “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”
