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Social media's influence on female body image
Rap music and the portrayal of women
Rap music and the portrayal of women
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It was the first time I had ever been to a party. I had just graduated high school, and did not have nor ever did have any sort of interest in going to a party. One of my fellow classmates had invited me to her party on the night of graduation, and I decided why not? I was told growing up that I would never have contact with most of my classmates after graduation ever again, so I wanted to have one last fun moment with the graduating class of 2013. I arrived at my classmate’s house around nine, and immediately was overwhelmed by the makeshift dance floor in the backyard, the loud, unfamiliar music, and the disco lights. Growing up, I had never been introduced to rap music, so I did not enjoy it as much as my fellow classmates did. It did not take long for the party to get started. Boys and girls alike started to make their way to the makeshift dance floor, immediately dancing on one another. I was absolutely taken away as girls that I had known for four years bent over and began to press their backsides up against boys, grinding on the boys as if it were an everyday activity as degrading music blared out of the speakers, as if they were not aware of the actual lyrics of the song. I was not sure what made me feel sicker to my stomach: the way the girls moved their behinds in ways that I found impossible, which I later learned was called ‘twerking’, or the misogynistic rap music that my classmates danced to. I have not been to a party since then, and I do not think I ever will go to one again. It did not take me long to understand why my parents never let me listen to rap music before: it is this misogynistic, or a hatred towards women, type of music. Rap music clearly portrays women in several, negative ways, such as re...
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Dickerson, Rachel. “America Objectified: An Analysis of the Self-Objectification of Women in America and Some Detrimental Effects of Media Images.” Stanislaus State University. Web. 12 Nov. 2013.
Oswald, Janelle. “Is Rap Turning Girls into Ho’s?” The Black Book: A Custom Publication. 3rd ed. Ed. Sam Pierstorff. Modesto: Quercus Review Press, 2012. 171-175.
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Within the booming business that has become the rap world, certain musical themes and issues are more prevalent than most. In addition to such topics as drugs, alcohol and police brutality, a dominant theme within rap music is the denigration and derision of women. Indeed, as the above lyrics to Akinyele's song “Put It in your Mouth” illustrate, many male rappers use violent and misogynistic lyrics to create an image of women that is both degrading and disgusting. The graphic and shocking nature of this particular type of rap causes it to be widely publicized, and thus it serves as a definition of rap for a majority of people today. However, there are a number of female artists within the rap music genre spreading messages of female empowerment and respect, not denigration. These female artists, often ignored due to the hype surrounding their male counterparts, use their lyrics to create raps which focus on life as women; dealing with issues of love, power, and discrimination. The face of women in rap culture is both multi-faceted and contradictory.
Music and what lyrics are placed in songs has had a lot of influence over my emotions not only when I listen to the song but when I think about the event that goes with that song. In this day and age music and media have more power to manipulate young minds than it did only a generation ago. The songs that people say are deep and meaningful are usually those that are easy to connect with. The six songs you have listened to are songs most people do not understand until they analyze the meanings of them. My own mother in fact does not like the music I listen to just because of the language and because she tends to see things as they are instead of the feelings and motivations poured into something.
“She ain’t nuttin but a hoochie mama…Smackin’ on your lips, put your hands on your hips…She ain’t nuttin but a hoochie mama…Oh I love those big brown eyes and the way you shake your thighs, acting like you’re so damn cute...” Rap music with lyrics like this play on the radio and in home stereos every day. Rap music pounds messages of sex and violence into the minds of young adults leaving behind their sexist and repetitive influential messages. Music has a very powerful influence on our emotions, moods, and behavior. Rap music influences teenagers negatively by increasing violent attitudes and promoting sexual aggression against women.
The article discusses the fact that hip hop “provides a lens [through which white students and faculty at institutions] interpret Black culture” and that because of this not only is the Black female’s view of herself being manipulated, but black males expect what is being promoted by hip hop culture from them, and so does every other person (Henry, West, & Jackson 238). A professor at North Carolina Central University spoke about how he dislikes how hip-hop has influenced the way his students dress, he said “ They look like hoochie mamas, not like they’re coming to class” (as cited in Evelyn
We are constantly surrounded by songs about that portray women in such a misogynistic way that after we are repeatedly exposed to it, we eventually believe that it must be true to reality. In a study done by Cundiff, she concluded that the more college-aged students listened to rap and hip-hop music lyrics, they began to believe more and more of the images and scenes portrayed in the songs. This is also extremely problematic because it shapes college-aged peoples opinions about important issues like sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse as noted in her article. “Lyrics significantly shapes audience attitudes toward the issue of domestic violence. This supports the finding that “misogynistic music also serves as a means to desensitize individuals to sexual harassment, exploitation, abuse, and violence toward women” and “legitimizes the mistreatment and degradation of women” (Adams & Fuller, 2006, p. 953).
Hip hop has permeated popular culture in an unprecedented fashion. Because of its crossover appeal, it is a great unifier of diverse populations. Although created by black youth on the streets, hip hop's influence has become well received by a number of different races in this country. A large number of the rap and hip hop audience is non-black. It has gone from the fringes, to the suburbs, and into the corporate boardrooms. Because it has become the fastest growing music genre in the U.S., companies and corporate giants have used its appeal to capitalize on it. Although critics of rap music and hip hop seem to be fixated on the messages of sex, violence, and harsh language, this genre offers a new paradigm of what can be (Lewis, 1998.) The potential of this art form to mend ethnic relations is substantial. Hip hop has challenged the system in ways that have unified individuals across a rich ethnic spectrum. This art form was once considered a fad has kept going strong for more than three decades. Generations consisting of Blacks, Whites, Latinos, and Asians have grown up immersed in hip-hop. Hip hop represents a realignment of America?s cultural aesthetics. Rap songs deliver a message, again and again, to keep it real. It has influenced young people of all races to search for excitement, artistic fulfillment, and a sense of identity by exploring the black underclass (Foreman, 2002). Though it is music, many people do not realize that it is much more than that. Hip hop is a form of art and culture, style, and language, and extension of commerce, and for many, a natural means of living. The purpose of this paper is to examine hip hop and its effect on American culture. Different aspects of hip hop will also be examined to shed some light that helps readers to what hip hop actually is. In order to see hip hop as a cultural influence we need to take a look at its history.
SEX, HOMICIDE, MONEY, these are some controversial things rappers must rap about to get "Mad loot" (money). Its bad enough we grew up in a era where the slightiest thing could upset any one,like teaching masturbation in public schools or teaching about the creation of the world in christian point of view. We, the society are trying the screen everything, to protect are children from being harm. But its harm we are inflecting on are soon to be leaders of the world,for example tring to banned sex education from the schools,screening the TV from harmful life scaring scenes of nudity,music being edited because of the used of the word "NIGGER" "BITCH" "JEW" "HOE" etc. Now rap singers are just telling stories about drug dealing, getting beat up by police officers,gangland slaying. Poeple don't like them ,because they give people ideas or we just can't admit how bad society is becoming. Shaking are head looking the other way saying this is not hapening right now. Stories that scare the hell out of people. Rappers rap about situation that happen to them in some point of their lives. Lots of rap music performers grew up in poverty,were violence surrounded them,were violence was the solution to the problem. Rap performer just sing about songs with message that not all people live perfect lives with perfect familys. Some rap singers are actually grateful for getting off the streets , and doing something with their lives. Some don't
The purpose of this paper is to describe the extreme damage caused through sexualization in the media. The question at hand is, what are the damaging effects on women that is influenced through the media? This of course meaning, exactly what are the impacts on daily life that women suffer as a result of sexualization presented in everyday media. Therefore, this would lead to the hypothesis that the media is influencing the sexualization of girls and causing the negative effects and that the null-hypothesis would then state that the media does not effect the sexualization of girls and has no effect on them. This is an increasingly important issue because even more so today, “…a narrow (and unrealistic) standard of physical beauty is heavily emphasized. These are the models of femininity presented for young girls to study and emulate” (CITE APA). Sexualization doesn’t affect one, but multiple aspects of a person’s life, including, “…cognitive functioning, physical and mental health, sexuality, and attitudes and beliefs” (CITE APA). The information presented in this paper will reflect on females (both in sex and gender), have above average access to media, are middle
Objectification theory has been proposed as a standard for understanding the effects of living in a culture that sexually objectifies women (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997). Objectification occurs when a person’s body is treated like a separate entity and is evaluated on its own merit, without consideration for the rest of the person. When an individual is sexually objectified, they are treated like an object that exists only for the pleasure of others and objectification theory asserts that women are uniquely subject to these types of experiences, especially in Western culture. Self-objectification (SO) leads the individual to create a third person perspective in their minds that they use to compare their physical selves to and in turn causes them to see themselves as an object instead of a whole person. SO also creates a form of self-consciousness, causing a habitual and vigilant self-monitoring of outward appearance.
Music is one of the most powerful and influential language which to many people in
According to Robin Gay and Emanuele Castano (2010),“Objectification theory, … argues that women are particularly likely to internalize a societal view that sees them as sexual objects. The result is self-objectification, through which the self is viewed from an external perspective, as a physical body, rather than from an internal perspective, which emphasizes one’s inner states and abilities” (p.1). Essentially, self-objectification starts from having integrated society’s views that sees them as a sexual object into one’s own view and perception of oneself and the
Hip Hop music is not just written to attract male audiences or any specific race, the music is written in hopes that it reaches as many people as possible. People are influenced and impacted differently, males and females listen to music, but identify in different ways. Black young adolescent girls and female college students are impacted by Hip Hop to develop their identity, build their self-esteem and political awareness. In addition, according to Henry (2008) “the overt and pervasive disrespect and denigration of Black women within contemporary hip-hop culture has suggested as being devastating to the psyche and identity development of Black women.” Some professors in colleges and universities believe that some students tend to have more focus on rap lyrics and appear to be academically disconnected from scholarly activities (Coomes, 2004; Stewart, 2004). Professors blame the music for the moral decay and intellectual disengagement of Black female students (Evelyn 2000). It is undeniable that Black women occupy a large stage within the Hip Hop world and play a role for many young Black college students to follow. It impacts that way they dress, and their tolerance for abuse in their relationships. In essence, messages conveyed through popular music lyrics may become integrated into the psyche of those young Black women, and it could be tied to achieving an unhealthy
Rap music and the message it sends has been embraced by African American youth since the beginning of its time. Sex has always been what attracts the most consumers no matter what product is being sold, music is no different. In the case of rap music, sex is one of the most controversial topics that have effects on both the female and the male population. The exploitation of the African American female comes in many forms from simple lyrics in a song, to having women half naked dancing in a music video. Many rappers over the last thirty years promote the dehumanization of women’s bodies. These songs paint images of women being nothing more than sex toys and play things for men simply because they
Hip Hop music is here to stay, as a matter of fact, if nothing else about hip hop music remains, the beats will go on and on. It was the year of 1979 when a new form of music entered the scene. Excitement filled the air whenever the songs were played; furthermore, it has been the beats that captivated everyone. It didn’t matter where you were, are what you were doing the beats commanded your attention. Insomuch that, a new phenomenon swept through the land, taking by storm even the youngest of hearers with its captivating beats.
The Effects of Hip-Hop Music on Today’s Youth Does hip-hop music effect today’s youth in a positive or negative way? The effects of hip-hop music have been disputable following the time when its rise into the social standard in the late twentieth century, but hip-hop music is not just one sided but can be both positive and negative in today’s youth. What is hip-hop about? Assuming that you address hip-hop fans, the term alludes to more than simply a musical type - it incorporates an entire society, including dance structures, graffiti symbolization, and fashion (Selke INT).