I am stunned that a song that has (for as long as I have known of it) been regarded as an anthem for victimized women could be covered by a boy band and have the public respond positively. This morning I saw this picture on tumblr:

and I swore it must be a joke. But Youtube confirms, this all-white, all-male singing group has decided it is perfectly okay to cover “Torn” AND to alter the lyrics so that it becomes a song about heartbreak instead of a song about sexual assault and being victimized by men.

The song was originally by Ednaswap, and was covered by Natalie Imbruglia. The lyrics were written by Anne Preven. Traditionally, this song has been a song by women for women. It tells the story of a woman who trusted a man and ended up getting seriously hurt. The lines “I am cold and I am shamed, lying naked on the floor” are generally thought to reference rape and the shame/shock/mental and physical paralysis that comes with being sexually assaulted. The other lines in the song reference the power that the man holds over the women “He came around like he was dignified, he showed me what it was to cry” shows how it wasn’t some scumbag guy that emotionally and physically abused her, but someone who seemed like an upstanding, powerful person.

One Direction changed the lyrics to this song, which is possibly the most upsetting part about their cover. Instead of saying “he” and “man,” they use “she” and “girl.” This completely delegitimatizes the song. No, One Direction, some girl did not show you what it was cry. In the original song, the crying is real, true, heart-wrenching tears of abuse, of having someone violate you, of being beaten down emotionally and physically and then essentially being left for dead, of finding yourself completely powerless. Your little girlfriend leaving you and breaking your heart does NOT mean you know how to really cry. And dude, why the hell are you naked on the floor? It’s not like she ripped your clothes off and sexually violated you. It’s not like she beat you and left you in a bruised heap on the carpet. Why are you shamed, really? Because you fell for a girl who didn’t love you, who left you? Because the traditional boy-leaves-girl power dynamic was switched? It’s certainly not because you were powerless to combat physical or sexual abuse. “Nothing’s fine?” Seriously? You got your little heart broken and suddenly nothing is fine? Do you know what it’s like when nothing is fine, when you are emotionally and physically broken, when you have been violated, when you know that when you get up off that floor the world is going to call you a slut, blame you for being so trusting, think you are weak or stupid, and ask you to validate your own abuse?

One Direction has used their male-privilege to dominate a song about the victims of a male-dominated society. It’s disgusting. Their mutilation of the lyrics silence the meaning of the song and thereby silence women who have been victims of the kind of emotional and physical abuse that the song speaks to and about.