June 12, 2025
Kilby Block Party 2025: George Clanton and TV Girl are Weird
By: Elizabeth Griffee
Embedded Files
Virginia-based musician George Clanton was one of the larger artists playing Kilby Block party in 2025, but his Lake Stage set was scheduled for an early afternoon spot. This did not stop the renowned producer and songer-writer from drawing a large and extremely enthusiastic crowd of fans who screamed his lyrics and moshed to the electro-pop beats. I did not enter the festival on Saturday until the very last song of Clanton’s set, just in time to watch the crowd erupt as he brought his paramount collaboration, Brad Petering aka TV Girl, on stage.
George Clanton and TV Girl’s surprise performance of their most-streamed song, Summer 2000s Baby, was electrified by genuine audience surprise and authentic on-stage chemistry. However, there was a deeply uncomfortable and impossible-to-ignore detail that made me and my friend, who were initially overjoyed to see part of Clanton’s set, abruptly leave. Petering entered the stage with a gigantic pokemon-eque sex doll. The bright-yellow blow up appeared to be Picachu if he was a hyper sexual caricature of a woman, sporting a tail and pointy ears but also comically large breasts with pointy nipples and exaggerated thigh and ass proportions. Petering ran onto stage holding the human-sized doll by nothing but its bright yellow breast as he screamed into the microphone. Throughout the rest of the set, Petering and Clanton took turns groping the doll and miming sexual acts, passing it back and forth by its large breasts as they fondled it’s hyperbolic proportions.
Although I anticipate that my opinion on this performance will not be popular, the most jarring aspect of Clanton and Petering’s stunt was how happy the crowd was with it. A scan of the audience around me revealed hundreds of men, both old and young, who appeared to find the conspicuously public act of objectification entertaining. This was a moment that made me feel disturbed and shaken. Misogyny is quite often the most widely accepted and culturally normalized form of oppression.
Hypersexualization and Objectification: How Symbols Harm Women
Hypersexualization and Objectification: How Symbols Harm Women
Sex dolls are one of the highest forms of the alienation and objectification of women’s bodies. They are one of many inventions that allows for men to get as close to owning a female body as possible. Sex dolls are a 1:1 analogy for how the patriarchy dwindles women down to sexual objects. The substitution of a woman for a doll does not scapegoat the woman from harm. Rather, it makes harm infinitely more available and acceptable. A 2022 study published in The Journal of Sex Research linked sex doll ownership and hostility towards women. A 2021 Unicef study linked the hyper sexualization of women’s bodies in other forms such as TV, movies and advertisement with worldwide violence and exploitation against women.
The representation of women in the media as sexual objects is ridiculously common and incredibly harmful. The Unicef study found that women are represented as sexual objects in men’s magazines 76% of the time. This actively increases men’s violence against women while decreasing the likelihood that women will seek help for this type of violence. The commodification of women’s bodies and the industrialization of sex uses technology to create more ways of exploiting women, not less.
Lonely men are not inherently dangerous, but lonely men who feel entitled to women’s bodies are. Objects like sex dolls and their normalization in media bolster the cultural notion that men are entitled to women’s bodies. The idea that it somehow protects women from violence to assure no man remains sexless is key to the ideology that women must do whatever it takes to make sure men can always have sex; this counteracts itself as the latter perpetuates the violence which the former claims to absolve. The myth that male sexual outlets prevent violence against women is further debunked with numerous studies that have linked pornography consumption with male violence and female sexual exploitation. Additionally, men who have a lot of sex and suffer no trouble when it comes to getting with women are oftentimes the most renowned and violent predators- look no further than celebrity rapists such as the recent case of Sean Combs aka Diddy.
Sex in Music
Sex in Music
I am aware that it was most definitely not the intention of Clanton nor Petering to promote sexual violence against women during thier Block Party set. However, I do not think it should be acceptable for two middle aged men to essentially go through the motions of sexual violence with hundreds of people watching. It is counterintuitive to both women’s liberation and art to be prudish and stigmatize sex when it comes to music. Sexual themes and ideas are ample in music and more-often-than-not enhance performances when incorporated. Some of my favorite artists of all time are renowned for the sexual themes that they incorporate into their artistry- Meaghan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, Troy Sivan, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj- the list goes on and on as sexuality is crucial to music. I also love attending drag shows, an art which centers men embodying exaggerated caricatures of women.
There are key differences that separate these acts from something objectifying and violent. These artists take radical ownership of their sexuality which is constantly stolen, stigmatized and used against their character. Drag is a performance art with deep historical roots that functions as a form of queer liberation and a commentary on gender as a construct. I have no issue with men dressing as women because dismantling the gender bianary’s rigid constraints robs the patriarchy of its primary tool enforcing women’s oppression. Gender exploration and radical sexual acceptance are the actual healthy sexual outlets that lead to lessened violence against women.
If the addition of a gigantic sex doll had any link to the music or artistic thought behind it the message was incomprehensible and negated by the much clearer themes of misogyny as the grown men excitedly rubbed their hands across the figure’s enormous breasts. Clanton and Petering’s song, Summer 2000s Baby, is about nostalgia and yearning for your childhood. The lyrics read:
Summer 2000 babyLet's go completely crazyDon't be shy, just jump on inAnd let the party begin
Perhaps the pair was attempting to replicate the feeling of a crazy summer party and juvenile rowdiness through the groping of a giant sex doll (although Petering and Clanton were 12 and 10 years old in the summer of 2000, respectively.)
I Don’t Trust TV Girl: Men Who Sing about Women
I Don’t Trust TV Girl: Men Who Sing about Women
For Petering, themes of nostalgia for youth are expected. KBP 25 was the third time I have seen TV Girl live, and each time I have developed more distaste for their music because of Petering’s personality. The 35 year-old seems to have a strong case of Peter-Pan syndrome as he repeatedly tries to appeal to his young audience while also clearly resenting them. In a 2024 interview, Petering described his audience as, “Consisting mostly of chronically online teenagers…,” saying, “...but no fanbase is perfect and it’s nice to be liked by someone I guess. Mostly I try not to think about it and just do my own thing.” In response to his fans making sarcastic satanic panic jokes after he posting a corny TikTok in which he states that he sold his soul to satan for his mid-range success, “I grew up with irony and sarcasm being the primary cornerstones of my sense of humor, and that seems completely lost on the younger generation.”
The resentment that Petering clearly has for his TikTok rise to fame translates to his condescending and out-of-touch attitude while performing, as he awkwardly jokes about vaping and rips his shirt off in a way that somehow feels neither earnest nor ironic. The TV Girl founder and lead man is also no stranger to allegations of misogyny. His music and artistry have repeatedly been criticized for creepy lyrics and reductionist viewpoints surrounding women. The name ‘TV Girl,’ paired with the band’s prominent (and rarely credited) samples of iconic women in Hollywood Films and old girl groups such as the Yeastie Girlz has caused surprise for many listeners who understandably assume that the band, entirely composed of middle-aged men, features women.
The band also uses images of women in their album art, stage dressing and merch. This has caused a bait-and-switch situation for many listeners who have criticized some of the band’s most popular songs for lyrics and themes that go under the radar with the common assumption that the band heavily features women. Petering has a pattern throughout his discography of mostly writing about failed relationships with nameless women who are sanctified yet villainized, falling into a trope that is all-too-common with male indie musicians. Women are reduced to love objects (romanticized sex objects) that are larger-than-life yet completely expendable. This trope, coined in film as the, “manic pixie dream girl,” fabricates a woman entirely based around the male gaze and then demonizes her for not matching the expectations of male entitlement. In TV Girl’s 2014 song, Louise, Petering sings about the story of a french girl, Louise, who climbs into bed with a man but proceeds to tell him she could never love him. The lyrics proceed align the song with the romanticized yet demonized, just-out-of-reach perfect women trope,
She came from across the countryJust to stare into her phoneShe came to the same apartmentShe only wanted to be left aloneAnd she could catch anybody's attentionBut it never won her friendsLove could kick you out on the streetsBut it never paid your rent
These “manic pixie dream” girl songs are written about male heartbreak and are defined by the resentment imposed upon women for causing male suffering, further imposing the exploitative notion that men are entitled to women. Petering’s response to his fan’s accusations of misogyny have been obnoxious. In 2023 he Tweeted, “Please do not call me a misogynist. I identify as a nihilistic misanthrope and i ask you please respect that.” This essentially reads to me as, “I don’t hate women, I actually hate everybody and everything equally.”
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