So it’s fitting that she’s the guest speaker of the WEAM's first event in a new, booze-friendly initiative geared toward educating and community programming. "Parental Advisory: Sex, Music, and Censorship" takes place this Thursday, October 18, at the Miami Beach museum.
Melissa Blundell-Osorio, WEAM’s director of education, says "Parental Advisory" champions their program about attitudes and how they impact lives. “Attitudes toward sex and sexuality influence almost everything in our lives, including which laws are passed, what kind of clothes we wear, how we educate our kids, and, as we'll see during 'Parental Advisory,' what we're allowed to hear on the radio and see on TV in a music video.”
If Reskin is the star of the night, then racy music videos are her backup dancers. D’Angelo’s "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" and Fever Ray’s "To The Moon And Back" are among the controversial videos to be played for viewers from Reskin’s handpicked selection of those “breaking boundaries” from the '80s, '90s, and today. She’ll follow the showing with a talk about the origin of parental advisory, "ridiculous" words bleeped off radio
Home of hip-hop group 2 Live Crew, Miami has an unparalleled role when it comes to music and censorship, Reskin says. “They were one of the biggest players in the fight for being able to present themselves artistically as they wanted.” She’s planning to talk about the group that stirred up a discussion on lyrical freedom, thanks to a two-year legal battle against the American Family Association, which tried to take the 1989 album, As Nasty As
Reskin’s talk will offer more than riveting intel on the history of music censorship. She’s going to share “titillating trivia” that’s bound to make you chuckle: the time Prince wore "assless pants" and “basically threw a seven-minute orgy” on MTV, and how Paula Abdul’s “bondage-style” video for "Cold Hearted Snake" ironically featured a panel of censorship judges sweating at the sensuality of it.
More recent global guilty pleasure 50 Shades of Grey will even surface in her presentation. “One of the 50 Shades of Grey soundtrack songs is [by] the Weeknd and Nicki Minaj, and they censor the word panties. I was like, 'Are you freaking kidding me?'” Reskin says, laughing in disbelief. “There are sections in Nordstrom called ‘panties’ — what am I supposed to call them? There should be enough artistic license where you can say 'panties' instead of underwear, or whatever, and not have that censored — which is crazy.”
"Parental Advisory" is set to be a scene for playful learning. Complimentary drinks by Deep Eddy Vodka will flow freely, as attendees watch and listen to an exploration of sexuality through music. Reskin points out that she wants to "show people some fun videos" they haven’t seen in a while.
“The people I want to come are people who are curious about the WEAM museum, who want to have a saucy date night, and who want to check out a nice evening of racy programming.”
Update 11:53 a.m. Tuesday, October 16: A previous version of this story included a paragraph that contained off-the-record quotes.
Parental Advisory: Sex, Music, and Censorship. 7 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday, October 18, at the World Erotic Art Museum, 1205 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; 305-532-9336; weam.com. Tickets cost $10 via eventbrite.com, $20 at the door.
