Ain't No Other Man

With all the talk of "the perfect man" in respect to Castiglione's The Book of the Courtier, I thought of Christina Aguilera's single "Ain't No Other Man."

Ain't No Other Man

At first I thought of this song simply due to the refrain, which talks about THE man among men, who outshines all the rest, as the much-debated courtier does in Castiglione's famous work. Watching this music video, however, I couldn't help but think about the courtly lady.

Although Christina is about as far from being the quite, polite woman that was described by Castiglione, this video does raise some interesting questions about how little has changed in our society since the Renaissance.

Women are still using their sexuality as a weapon of sorts. Rather than relying on her voice to sell the song, Christina is rather scantily clad and dances seductively. Is this an indication that after all these generations and women's rights movements, under the surface that shows the advancements of women since the 1500s, women still must rely on their sexuality to get them anywhere? Even if they are talented, intelligent and hard working?

Well, this took a rather unexpected turn. From the perfect man to the imperfect image of women. Interesting.