Is Nirvana's "Polly" misogynistic?

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Getting back to Nirvana: Their music was genius -- it's simplicity cut to the core, it's chord changes and lyrics, especially with Cobain's raw voice, evoked strong emotion. In short, it did exactly what great music is supposed to do.

Yes, those lyrics to "Polly" are disturbing to me. They should be. They are supposed to be disturbing. Yes, indeed.

Judging his lyrics as "misogynistic" is unfair. He used exactly what society gave him as subject matter. Lots of his songs were like that. Listen to "Floyd the Barber" about a molestation. Cobain absorbed all that horrible stuff and turned it into songs that gave us goosebumps and made us sing out loud with tears running down our faces. He channeled all that into his music. He felt the pain. God rest his soul.
 
P.S. "Rape Me" could be the flag-bearer for today's "Me Too" movement. It encapsulates all the conflicting emotions and decisions that women have made forever, doing those things in order to survive.

"I'm not the only one, I'm not the only one..."

Sing that one out loud. You know what he's talking about. Yeah, it feels good to get it out. Thanks, Curt.
 
I never knew the background to the song. I guess it fits in with Kurt Cobain’s fetish for the dark, disturbing and abnormal. It is misogynistic in that, even without the context, violence is being committed against a woman. It’s not misogynistic in that, and this was the way I thought of it before, it describes a personal toxic relationship with one woman, ie. it’s clear that he’s not talking about all women, or most women.

Lurk said:
Assuming victimhood is the opposite of equal treatment. The #MeToo frenzy disturbed me because apparently if a crime is hard to prove given time, etc., then there is almost no burden of proof, at least in the eyes of the media.
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The way I think of this is, there has to be public outcry first before criminal legal action can be taken and even that really, is not the purpose of the movement. Rape, the nature of the crime itself, is disempowering and it is shaming. Most people who are victims to it, and I include men here, will have a reaction of wanting to bury it. Those who do seek justice are then faced with a legal system that is very often not on their side.

What the MeToo movement brings is a “safe” way for rape victims of powerful people to speak out, together, and find power in their voices. Because you have to remember, the rape has already happened. The only people involved are the rapist and the victim. Being able to find solace from that situation, knowing that they are not alone is, is a relief for the victims. It also somewhat empowering because while it’s easy to discount one voice, it’s much harder to discount five, ten, a hundred. In the case with Harvey Weinstein, it goes even further in that he’s now actually being charged. It’s a criminal prosecution which wouldn’t have happened without the public outcry.

Of course, abuse of the public’s trust can happen and the movement can be used. But, that doesn’t mean we, as the public, should ask these victims to be silent. What we should ask for is better investigative journalism to help understand what is going on in each of these cases.
 
Oh God, this thread. It was ill-conceived; I mean, the title is misleading. I only meant to use the song as an example. This thread was never about Nirvana. I don't think the song is misogynistic. I was testing to see if anyone took it that way, basically looking for examples of extremist thought that just become ridiculous.
 
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