Imagine if you were a small child who was placed in a room where you could not see or hear--and you were placed there permanently. This happened to Helen Keller when she was just a year and a half old--she caught scarlet fever, an illness that left her deaf and blind. Her story is referred to in our book Witness, a novel about the Ku Klux Klan coming to Vermont. I spoke with the students about dismay when I heard the lyrics from a popular song (even my four year old granddaughter knew the some of the lyrics). Here's what a recent article has to say about this song:
A catchy new pop song that references Helen Keller is being played all over the local airwaves, but it's also creating quite a controversy.
The music video for the song titled "Don't Trust Me" shows band members from "3OH!3" wearing wrestling attire and dancing in their underwear with scantily clad young women.
But for parents, the lyrics are even more disturbing than the outfits. Near the end of the song, the band sings, "Shush girl. Shut your lips. Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips."
"Helen Keller embodies the achievements of generations of us, whether or not we have a disability. This lyric perpetuates the stigma of disabilility," says Cleveland Sight Center Executive Director Steve Friedman.
Friedman says the song's lyrics aren't just offensive to those with disabilities. "It's perpetuating the sexualization of women, the objectification of women.
