"Awhooooo" Let's put on our thinking caps shall we?

I recently came across an article written in response to a comment Shakira made in an interview with the Associated Press. The reactionary piece was written as a means to stir up topics regarding women, prince charming, “the one” and rescuing.

The attempted rant on Shakira’s comment is barely worth critiquing. I was more saddened by how her quote was taken out of context and the 100 plus enraged comments written by women about another woman’s take on women and love and relationships. Many felt personally appalled by the usage of the word rescue. One word, rescue. They felt as though Shakira was speaking on behalf of them and many decided to insult the very successful Grammy wining artist’s intelligence as well as empower themselves and deny the idea that they will ever need to depend on a man to “rescue” them.

Shakira was simply trying to identify with women and all their struggles in romantic pursuits. Rather than take the time to read the interview

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MUSIC_QA_SHAKIRA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

many women simply lashed out at a half baked idea regarding Shakira’s statement of,

"It's very much a common thing for women my age, at least my friends, to be in
search for the right man and to be somehow dreaming of the prince who's going to
come in and rescue them,"

the user post featured on Yahoo failed to include the second part of Shakira’s quote that stated,

“Some of these songs either reveal my own daydreams or fantasies, but some of them have to do with my girlfriends' experiences and things that they go
through."

Shakira was trying to state how she is using the search for true love as inspiration for her lyrics.

“I'm all set. But unfortunately not everyone out there is and it's tough to
date, to be out there and so I kind of wanted to portray that other side of women's reality and "Did It Again" is about making recurrently the same mistake which is something us women tend to do because of our emotional nature, that emotional, romantic and dreamy nature."

Ya see? I just thought I would defend the singer who is being blabbed about by those who feel invincible via a yahoo discussion. I feel when you do find the one in a sense you are being rescued. You are saved from having to go on dates and look for someone you identify with and have chemistry with, you are liberated from having to wonder is there even someone out there for me? Because you are finding out that there is. And so what if women secretly want to be rescued? There is nothing wrong with the realization that one can’t do things all on their own. I believe in Disney, I don’t mind the romantic fairy tale ideas, because that is what fuels my faith in true love, one just has to realize how dreams effect their life and find a balance between realistic ideas and hopes of true love and what is attainable.

"I wanted to make sure the fantasy was very latent and fresh in the songs. I
think that sometimes music today can get pretty straight forward, and blunt, and
I refuse to let metaphors die. And I refuse to let fantasy in music die. I admire so much people in other decades like David Bowie and Michael Jackson, people who were in touch with their own inner child and also their own fantasies and dreams, and they sort of portrayed that in their songs. And I felt inspired by that and let my imagination fly, and let my songs be the butterfly catchers.”

I feel some of these women need to be knocked off their high horse because with views like that they may give off the impression that men and feeling love is something they do not need or are too good for. It is nice to see some posts by grounded people who recognize how silly the interpretation of Shakira’s quote was, these posts made me smile and I am glad that some women didn’t get sucked into the uproar the green tea drinking yahoo-er was trying to make(And I mean maybe some of the meanies on yahoo are a bit jealous seeing as how Shakira has been with a man for almost ten years now, that and she is Shakira, I mean have you seen her lately?! Very good lookin lady. ) So if ya want a good laugh at women who take things far too seriously and are verging on feminism: http://http//shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/user-post-shakira-thinks-women-want-men-to-quot-rescue-quot-them-for-real-548392/

.........................................................................................

· “I think "rescue" was meant in the way like a knight in shining armor or prince charming, just emphasizing the idea of "the one". Not physically rescuing you. I don't think Shakira would think women are dependent on their male counterparts.”

"I honestly think some of you are over thinking this abit for starters."

"I like Shakira and her music. I am fully capable of thinking for myself whether or not I want to be rescued. But Thanks Ladies for the laugh. It really doesn't take much for you to get all riled up over someone else's beliefs, does it?” “The "one"? yes. Got him. "Rescued"? In a sense. He rescues me from the worse aspects of myself by encouraging me to be (and sometimes insisting I become) the best me possible. We've learned so much from each other, but of course we're both willing to meet our faults head on - most of the time. I wasn't rescued from being single or unloved, I was rescued from my own mediocrity. Each one rescued the other.”

· “Shakira said women her age dream to be rescued as in fantasize! WHy are you taking her words so out of context? Boring post bordering on sensationalism...”

"Maybe I'm wrong here, (and no I'm not defending Shakira because I like her music) but I think this article is taken too seriously, well at least her quote was. I don't think she meant to say "rescue" as in, you need a man in your life or you're doomed. She said "prince charming" and then rescue, as in trying to set the example of the classic fairy tale where a prince saves you from the castle, etc. That's a rescue.. err, and I think that's what she meant to say. Finding true love and that person who truly cares who for you is hard, but deep down inside many women and especially teenage girls dream about finding their own prince and this perfect guy. Is this realistic? No.. but women still fantasize about finding their one truly love/prince to take them away. So in other words, as much as I agree with everyone saying "Oh you don't need a man to complete you, yadda yadda" I think she meant to say something sweet and possibly phrased it wrong."

"It appears to me that the author of this article is taking a comment Shakira made about her personal experience and extrapolating it to conclude that Shakira is making a comment about ALL WOMEN in general.

[Shakira says, "It's very much a common thing for women my age, at least my friends, to be in search for the right man and to be somehow dreaming of the prince who's going to come in and rescue them.”]

"...at least my friends..."

She wasn't making some profound, global assessment of women's dreams. She only said that it's not uncommon for women her age to want to be '"rescured..." From my personal experiences even, I'd say she's right."