Melbourne, March 21 (ANI): Australian MP Greg Donnelly has blamed celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce for making men think women are "fair game" for rape and abuse by promoting "raunch culture".
The Labor Party leader used a sexually explicit language in the Parliament debate about International Women's Day.
He alleged that the likes of Lady Gaga redefined gender relations by "horrible coarse, sexualisation" of young girls.
"Young boys may start to think that women and young girls are fair game and that they can go to a party on the weekend, get loaded up with grog and that it's their right to ask a young girl for a head job or for anal sex or to push a young woman up against a wall and have sex," the Daily Telegraph quoted Donnelly, a right-wing Catholic, as saying.
He said to the house: "I refer to Lady Gaga. I am not going to offer any philosophical reflection in any significant way on Lady Gaga, but I will make a couple of comments. On the weekend I was invited-I am not sure that is the correct word to log on to Lady Gaga's well-known song Telephone.
"I did download the lyrics. I was tempted to bring them into the House but I thought that might be taking things a little bit too far and I might be told to resume my seat. At first blush I did not think the lyrics were particularly offensive, although I suspect that if one has a somewhat warped mind, one could read all manner of things into certain words. I suppose one can read warped things into anything if one sets one's heart to it.
"I will put aside the lyrics for the moment and go direct to the film clip that accompanies the song, which is about nine minutes long. Members can Google this and see it on YouTube. I encourage every member in this House to see the clip. And I do not mean just any clip; I mean specifically the official, explicit version of the clip, which runs for about nine minutes."
However, Liberal MP Catherine Cusack argued against Donnelly's claims.
She said: "He is trying to say the hypersexualisation of girls gives guys an excuse to treat girls as sexual objects, and that is the cause of violence against women, which is disgraceful. It's a perverted theory and it appals me."
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