Misogyny, objectification of women, and sexual assault, defined as “unwanted sexual contact, which includes sexual touching as well as rape (Matlin, 2012, pg. 294) is all included within this song. These themes are evident in the lyrics that read “Baby I 'm preying on you tonight, hunt you down eat you alive” and “maybe you think that you can hide, I can smell your scent for miles.” These lines imply that the stalker will not stop tracking her down until she is found, no matter what the woman does to hide or protect herself, because of this expression of an active and determined pursuit. “Maybe you think that you can hide I can smell your scent from miles” implies that she will inevitably be found by her stalker eventually, as this may encourage Levine compares a woman’s anatomy and her being like that of a drug, such as its effects and purpose only lasting temporarily for an instant gratifying high. “We get along when I’m inside you,” clumps the woman’s own individuality and personal consent with the man’s. In this case, a woman can be described as a negative because of her lack of power, while a man is a positive, and positively powerful, and therefore, a 1 negative plus 10 positive, a scale of men and women’s power, still equals a positive, and thus, interpreted as a yes in a question of consent. The line, “you can find other fish in the sea, you can pretend it 's meant to be but you can 't stay away from me” implies the stereotype that women are indecisive because of their supposed irrationality and moodiness. Then he says “taking me down, rolling on the ground” which again seems to romanticize aggression, in this song about sexual assault and stalking. “I love your lies” sounds like Levine is slut shaming a woman for not being interested or submissive to his forward ideas and expectations of what a romantic and sexual partner should
Trina’s intent was to create a song that liberated women from the double standards and stereotypical views placed upon them. Her song however can cause harm to young women that listen to take this song to heart. Instead of liberation, we are moved further down into the hole of degrading and devaluing women. Trina should’ve sent the message that these things were wrong. Instead she endorsed and encouraged them.
Misogynistic Confinement Yellow Wallpaper depicts the nervous breakdown of a young woman and is an example as well as a protest of the patriarchal gender based treatments of mental illness women of the nineteenth century were subjected to. The narrator begins the story by recounting how she speculates there may be something wrong with the mansion they will be living in for three months. According to her, the price of rent was way too cheap and she even goes on to describe it as “queer”. However, she is quickly laughed at and dismissed by her husband, who as she puts it “is practical in the extreme.” As the story continues, the reader learns that the narrator is thought to be sick by her husband John, yet she is not as convinced as him.
“Wrecking Ball” is pop ballad sung by the American recoding artist Miley Cyrus. Once known and adored by many as “Hannah Montana”, Cyrus shed her childish shell and adopted a sexualized and edgy persona for her fourth album, Bangerz, which “Wrecking Ball” is the album’s second single. The song starts with a quiet and minimalist synthesized keyboard instrumentation which is immediately met with the anguished vocals of Cyrus. Even in the first 30 seconds where only 26 words were sung, the topic of the song is quite evident: a failing relationship. Cyrus starts by crooning “We clawed, we chained our hearts in vain, we jumped never asking why, we kissed, I fell under your spell. A love no one could deny” which could be interpreted as two lovers fought to be together and succeeded in doing so but it was ultimately useless as denoted by “we chained our hearts in vain”. As the song progresses the minimalist keyboard continues creating an open environment in which Cyrus’ emotive vocals can shine. When the refrain is introduced Cyrus’ vocals and the keyboard instrumentation briefly disappear and when they reemerge they are joined with booming percussion that hits sharply, then slowly dissipates. Cyrus’ vocal delivery also changes from the softer, anguished sound to a powerful, almost vindictive roar which quickly returns to the soft delivery with a quiver as Cyrus sings “Yeah, you, yo...
1980’s pop star Prince Rogers Nelson, better known by his pseudonym, ‘Prince’ is a recording artist whose image and songs are perceived as provocative and explicit. Prince’s songs, such as ‘Kiss’, ‘Soft and Wet’ and ‘Head’ were viewed with controversy, as the topic of sex in the 80s was not as openly accepted and direct as it is in present day media. Released in 1983, ‘Little Red Corvette’ was Prince’s first song to make Top 10 charts in the US. It can be argued that the song’s denotation describes an overly sexualized woman whom Prince feels is ruining her life with her promiscuity. The topic of sex is softened and disguises the explicit nature of the song, making it subjective to the individual listener so people are able to interpret the song in their own way based on existing knowledge. The lyrics can be interpreted differently according to age of the listener, for instance, a mother between the ages of 30-50 years old and her daughter around the age of 10-15 years old, both living in the USA during the 1980s. Both mother and daughter will have opposing thoughts on the sexual metaphors and euphemisms that raise the topic of sexual influence, awareness and knowledge, and the effect they actually have on the listener.
Virginia Woolf once said,“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” These insightful words, of English modernist and feminist writer, seem a perfect summation of the enduring oppression and silencing of women in society. A paramount theme and notion present in fellow feminist playwright, Susan Glaspell’s Trifles. Glaspell’s 1916 one act play explores notions of gender, justice, and freedom; through her command of the English language and rhetoric.
The Blurred Lines music video is truly a work of misogynistic art. The video highlights three young and vacant looking women wearing nothing but nude colored thongs posing and performing infantile actions such as riding a bike or licking an ice cream cone. Accompanying them are three grown men, fully dressed in tailored suits, standing around casually while they watch and touch on the scantily clad women that stomp past them . The set is a plain pink backdrop with props like stuffed animals and alphabet blocks. Robin Thicke understands the blatant misogyny of his video, stating that it is “a pleasure to degrade women” in his interview with men’s magazine GQ. He goes on to claim that as a man that is happily married he is the perfect person to degrade women in jest of the popular culture . He believes that his song is a “feminist movement within itself” because it urges women to free themselves from their square, monogamous sex lives and have ...
When you think of ancient Greece, you probably think of togas, polytheism, epic heros, and olives. But do you how women were treated or veiwed? There is quite a lot of evidence displayed throughout manyplays, epics and other documents. Oedipus the King and The Odyssey are two ancient Greek works of literature that exemplify their society perfectly. Ancient Greece was a patriarchial society where women were treated as objects and sex symbols and misogyny was often present.
De la Cruz starts off her poem calling out men for laying misplaced blame on women. She begins stating, “You fight their stubbornness, then, weightily, you say it was their lightness when it was your guile.” De la Cruz directly infers men force themselves on women, proceeding after to blame the woman for seducing them. She implies the men don’t own up to their lust, instead they shift the focus away from themselves in a form of self preservation. De la Cruz belittles men claiming, “In all of your crazy shows you act just like a child who plays the bogeyman of which he’s then afraid.” De la Cruz implies men play a game
Expressing the hardships brought forth by unrequited love is one of the most commonly conveyed themes by popular music artists in the contemporary era. The record “Grenade” by Bruno Mars is no exception to this trend. In the song, Mars proclaims his relentless love for a girl, speaking directly and exclusively to her. Unfortunately, as a victim of unilateral love, he is inferior in the power relationship. Both in the lyrics and the video of the song, the girl possesses the dominant ability to manipulate Mars’ emotional and physical well-being either negatively by being apathetic towards his love, or positively by opting to return his affection. From such a position of inferiority, Bruno Mars employs rhetorical strategies such as literary devices,
There are many instances of degrading and misogynistic lyrics in country music, both historically and contemporarily. There are differences in the lyrics of this genre based on the gender of the artist: gender roles, hypersexuality, and in the resistance or conformity to rigid gender-based stereotypes. The main points of my argument will include how country music lyrics have historically and contemporarily conformed to and defied gender roles and misogynistic stereotypes. This paper will then examine how men are portrayed as sexual oppressors and exploiters to women. As well, I will discuss the lyrical differences between men and women in this genre, including the limiting role of women as objects as opposed to subjects. Next, this essay will address in my paper the unhealthy environment country music lyrics creates for women. Country music lyrics currently and historically portray stereotypical gender roles, and women have limited roles within country music songs as subjects and objects.
Among the 10 songs that were analyzed in 2016, some of the most common terms that were used to refer to women were “baby”, “broads”, “bitches”, “side bitch”, “lil mama”, “baby mama”, “wifey”, “hoe”, “girl”, “lady”, “woman” and “PYT” (Pretty Young Thing). Each individual song used either two or three of the listed terms when referring women. Furthermore, each song analyzed during this period contains lyrics that were directed towards women in positive ways (labeling them as “Queens”) and negative ways (viewing them as sexual objects). In addition, there were also song lyrics that referred to the way the male character perceives himself. One contradictory example is when artists make character comparisons with men who are stronger or more successful than them, while other artists dictate that their character is original and cannot be mirrored. Specifically, in his song “Panda”, Desiigner makes a hypermasculine reference towards himself in the line: “Man I’m the macho like Randy”. Randy Mario Poffo, also known as “Macho Man”, is an American professional wrestler who has been labeled as one of the greatest pro wrestlers in history. In the song “Broccoli” by D.R.A.M., the male artist’s lexicon perpetuates hegemonic masculinity through his demonstration of competitiveness, dominance, assertion of power
Women had to fight for their rights to vote and hold public office. In many countries women are looked at as objects and still don’t have equal rights and this song brings light to this topic.
1. My result for hostile sexism was between zero and one, while my score for benevolent sexism was between one and two. My scores were closest to the average female and male in England and Australia for benevolent sexism. However, my hostile sexism was very low compared to all the countries that were listed. My scores surprised me, because I did not expect my benevolent sexism score to be closest to England or Australia. More simply, I did not expect other females and males to have similar scores, so the graphs were shocking. My results were furthest from Cuba, Nigeria, and Syria. My scores for hostile and benevolent sexism were very low compared to average women and men in Nigeria, Syria, and Cuba. I was not surprised by these results, because these countries are known to practice traditional gender roles. In other words, I was not surprised that
"Women should stay at home taking care of children." "Women should never disrespect a man." "Women who dress in skimpy outfits are asking to be harassed and cat called." These previous statements demonstrate misogyny. Misogyny is the hatred of women who do not conform to certain beliefs or practices on how woman should behave. These beliefs are centered on the idea that women are inferior to men. Now, not all misogynists hate all women. Misogyny is the hatred of specific women who do not conform to misogynist beliefs. For example, a misogynist can have the upmost respect for housewives, while one the other hand hating women who have a desire to better their career rather than have a family. Misogyny can have detrimental effects on anyone acting
The lyrics of music play an important part of interpreting the meaning of the song. The roles which women have been allowed by the society to embody have changed drastically. Women may question their roles because of what they see portrayed by popular culture or media. Change in female’s identity can be seen in how women are viewed or how they portray themselves in popular culture specifically through music. In general, music continues to...