Reflecting on the online infamy of 10-year-old rapper "Lil Poopy," Clutch magazine's Janelle Harris wishes we'd encourage boys to respect their bodies and sexuality the way we do girls.
There's no valid reason why a 10-year-old boy should have his hands, or any other part of his tiny little person, on the rear end of a grown woman. There's no valid reason why a grown woman should allow a 10-year-old boy to inappropriately put his hands on her rear end. And yet we've seen the debauchery play out just like that, in the YouTube videos and online infamy of Lil' Poopy, an unfortunately named prepubescent rapper who is grabbing cheeks and bringing the ruckus, one booty smack at a time.
Dethroning other pocket-sized offenders like Lil' Wayne and Luda for the title of hip-hop's smallest misogynist was easy. Silencing the backlash against his dad, Luis Rivera, might be a little harder. The Brockton, Mass. police have (rightfully) filed a complaint, inciting the state's Department of Children and Families to investigate Poopy's father for possible abuse or neglect. First thing defenders say — after slapping him high-five for palming the rump of gals ostensibly old enough to be his babysitter, if not his mama — is that no one involved in this hotmessness has violated any laws. In fact, it's within his little 10-year-old First Amendment rights to be able to artistically express himself.
Mmm. That may be true. But anyone worth their moral salt knows that sometimes what's legal permissible and what's ethically upright doesn't always jibe. And they ain't jibing in this case.
Read Janelle Harris' entire piece at Clutch magazine.
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