Ever since I was little, I have always loved the song “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” Written in 1944 by Frank Loesser and first performed in the 1949 film “Neptune’s Daughter,” this call-and-response duet is undoubtedly a holiday classic. My personal favorite version is the Chris Colfer/Darren Criss cover from Glee, but it’s a tough choice because the song has been replicated so many times by the likes of Lady Gaga, Rufus Wainwright, and Michael Bublé. You could say “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is (and has always been) the ultimate holiday duet and I’d totally agree with you. However, this is 2017.
“Baby It’s Cold Outside” is dead to me.
Go ahead and call me a Scrooge, but this holiday season I can’t get behind a song that promotes the use of coersion to convince a partner to stay. As I’ve gotten older and realized what lines like “Say, what’s in this drink?” and “What's the sense in hurting my pride?” actually mean, I’ve come to like the song less and less. I mean, really, imagine yourself in the situation presented in the song and don’t tell me you wouldn’t be freaked out. First of all, it’s probably not THAT cold outside if you want to head out for the night. More importantly, this person’s coercive approach toward getting you to hang out a little longer is creepy, rude, and even abusive. If you were able to get out, you’d totally go and tell your friends how freaked out you were and never talk to that person again because he/she is a creep. But imagine if you didn’t?
If 2017 has taught us anything, it’s that plenty of women and men from all walks of life actually don’t get out of these types of situations. Consider the line "At least I'm gonna say that I tried," except trying was all you could do and it ends up haunting you for the rest of your life. The onslaught of recent claims regarding sexual harassment and sexual assault in virtually every industry and demographic has been overwhelming. Thankfully, this is causing society to evolve in a direction where date rape, gender norms, and not asking for consent aren’t cool.
However, gender norms are still prevalent and rape culture is still everywhere. I cringe every time I turn on my car radio and “Baby It’s Cold Outside” is playing on the Christmas station because, quite frankly, rape culture and the holidays pair like toothpaste and orange juice. Together, they turn your stomach. But, if we (gently) start to remove “Baby It’s Cold Outside” from our holiday playlists, we’d be removing a sizable thorn from our rape-culture-loving society. Sounds like a Christmas miracle, no?
This version, recorded by Lydia Liza and Josiah Lemanski in 2016, unintentionally went viral by giving a MUCH more desirable take on “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” This cover proves that that you actually CAN make a catchy song out of a healthy, consensual relationship and shows that it’s fine if the woman wants to leave. Regardless of which party you are in real-life “Baby It’s Cold Outside”-type situations, the other party’s wants should be respected, but the party who’s looking to leave a situation must always get what they want. So, while I do enjoy a traditional version of “Baby It’s Cold Outside” for the vocalists ONLY, this version takes the cake, and I definitely wouldn’t cringe if it came on the radio in my car around the holidays.
