It’s that time of year again, where social justice advocates hate on the classic Christmas tune “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.”
The traditional duet, written by Guys and Dolls writer Frank Loesser in 1944, was performed by Loesser and his wife, Lynn Garland, at Los Angeles parties. The song eventually became popular in the late part of the decade, when it was featured in the movie Neptune’s Daughter.
In recent years, however, the romantic courtship tune became a “rapey” song, thanks in part to some misplaced, hysterical outrage linked to the Me Too movement. But as the song becomes “toxic,” radio stations are removing it from their Christmas playlists, perhaps afraid of being attacked by the mob.
But, this approach to “Baby It’s Cold Outside” has little to do with protecting women. What it proves is that the younger generation completely misses the point, because of its overall ignorance of basic economics.
When the song came out, it was seen as what it is, a play in courtship. The woman in this story holds all the cards, as the man tries to engage as best as he can to, persuade her to stay the night.
But why is she holding all the cards?
Look no further than when the male singer shows obvious signs he is craving for what she offers as a woman, remarking that her “lips look delicious,” all the while she serenely declares that her sister, well, she’ll be suspicious, while her brother will be there, standing by the door.
The Economics of Courtship
As Donald Symonds explains in The Evolution of Human Sexuality, sex is a female resource.
Female sexuality, by nature, is shaped by certain restraints that make it scarce. And as Andrea O’Sullivan (nee Castillo) once explained, that means their sexuality is naturally more valuable. In addition, the added costs of female fertility, such as the toll it takes on women’s mental and physical health, all force women to care for their sexuality in a way men don’t.
Unlike men, whose sexuality is readily available and therefore cheap, women naturally serve as the suppliers of sex. So it’s only natural that, for them, sex comes at a cost.
For men to find what they desire (demand), they must then offer women something that, to them, is more or at least as valuable as what female sexuality has to offer (supply). This sets the stage for the type of courtship and romantic play we see in “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”
As a scandalous conservative commentator and notorious punk Gavin McInnes once explained, people who are offended by the classic Christmas duet are also disgusted by romance, as it stands as nothing but the result of a real-world economic transaction in which sex is the currency and the woman is the one with all the goods.
To third-wave feminists, the fact women hold this power is sickening because it implies that they are nothing but “meat” and that they serve no purpose but to satisfy men’s hunger. But by looking at this dynamic from this perspective, they ignore that the woman really is the one dictating the rules in “Baby It’s Cold Outside.”
After all, she’s the one enumerating the several reasons why she knows she shouldn’t give in to his courtship that easily, while all he does is to try to convince her by using external factors — the weather, the fact she could get sick walking in the snow, and, of course, the flickering flames in the fireplace.
What this song implies is that men are just doing all they can to offer women something of great enough value so they may stay. And that, most often than not, they fail.
In “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” the woman is “playing tough” because, perhaps, she already likes him. Still, she intuitively knows he should work harder for her — otherwise, what would that say about how she sees herself?
In the end, this song is an ode to women, and a reminder they have all the power when it comes to romantic transactions. And yet, social justice advocates want this song gone, because “it’s not something I would want my daughter to be in that kind of situation,” as a radio station host told reporters when defending the decision to ban the song.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is the very definition of foolishness.
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