Photo: Press
Two more UK universities have banned Robin Thicke's No.1 single from being played on campus, due to it's controversial lyrics and questionable meaning.
The track, featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams, has divided opinion and caused a fair amount of uproar since its release, largely due to its raunchy NSFW video and the lyrics which many argue are sexist and objectify women. Some have even gone as far to claim that the song is about rape - an argument which Thicke has branded 'ridiculous'. So far this week Robin Thicke's controversial, world-wide Number 1, 'Blurred Lines' has already been banned from Edinburgh and Leeds Universities, but now Derby and the Univeristy of West Scotland have joined the army of anti-blurred lines protestors in banning the song from being played on campus.
A spokeswoman from University of Derby told The Guardian: "All the students I've spoken too are really offended by the song because it promotes rape and lad culture."
The University of West Scotland have said that they have banned the track until the student council come to a full decision in regards to banning the song entirely from being played.
Watch the video for 'Blurred Lines' below:
Last week, the track was banned from playing on campus at Edinburgh University. Now The University of Leeds has done the same.
Speaking to The Independent, Leeds University student union officer Alice Smart, said that they made a collective decision to ban the track because it "undermines and degrades women".
"The reaction has been mainly positive," said Smart. "A few students are asking why, if we have banned this song, we aren't banning everything, but we've chosen this one as an example, because it's so popular."
Edinburgh University's SU barred the track from being played in any of the union's buildings - falling in line with the uni's Students' Association (EUSA) policy, called 'End Rape Culture and Lad Banter on Campus', in a bid to tackle "myths and stereotypes around sexual violence".
An extract from the policy slams anything which can be viewed to "trivialize rape" and "cannot be allowed by our union".
EUSA vice president Kirsty Haigh said: "The decision to ban 'Blurred Lines' from our venues has been taken as it promotes an unhealthy attitude towards sex and consent.
"There is a zero tolerance towards sexual harassment, a policy to end lad culture on campus and a safe space policy - all of which this song violates."
Thicke however, has always dismissed ideas that the track is sexist - telling The Today Show in the US that 'Blurred Lines' was part of a 'feminist movement'.
"When we made the song, we had nothing but the most respect for women and — my wife, I've been with the same woman since I was a teenager," said Thicke. "So for us, we were just trying to make a funny song and sometimes the lyrics get misconstrued when you're just trying to put people on the dance floor and have a good time, but we had no idea it would stir this much controversy. We only had the best intentions."
He continued: "It's supposed to stir conversation, it's supposed to make us talk about what's important and what the relationship between men and women is, but if you listen to the lyrics it says 'That man is not your maker' — it's actually a feminist movement within itself."
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