Same Love: Be Their Voice Hate, a passionate dislike for something or someone, has taken part of every war in the world, whether it is a political or civil one. Macklemore, the rapper of the song “Same Love”, uses powerful lyrics and imagery in many of his songs. It is in “Same Love” that he raps about a social issue that the world has been dealing with since, some could argue, the beginning of time. In the song “Same Love” he uses his rap to speak to everyone who can make a change in this world. “Same Love” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis bring awareness to the unjust issue of homophobia by giving people the information they need to obtain a voice and stand up for humans who have had their rights stolen. In a video on Youtube, Macklemore talks …show more content…
He felt personally attacked by these assumptions as a young child and speaks about it in his song: “When I was in the third grade I thought that I was gay/‘cause I could draw, my uncle was, and I kept my room straight” (Macklemore Ln 1-2). There are a couple of prejudices in these lyrics. He is giving you the idea that men who like art are thought of as gay and that men who do things that are associated with women tendencies, such as keeping their room straight, are also gay. These are a few examples of how people typically try to identify a gay man. He continued these lyrics with “…bunch of stereotypes all in my head/a preconceived idea of what it all meant/for those that liked the same sex/had the characteristics” (Macklemore Ln 6,8-10). He is explaining here that society believes that gay people have certain characteristics that make them who they are. It is this kind of judgment that makes people not want to be linked to these stereotypes. With imagery, he shows a father and son playing football happily in their front yard. This is the normal idea of what a boy should grow up doing. He also shows two young girls playing with dolls which is another idea of gender roles. If someone sees a boy playing with a doll, they are likely to think it is wrong because society thinks that that would make them gay and that that is not right. In “Same Love” Macklemore …show more content…
Gay, Faggot, Dyke, and Butch are a few examples of gay slurs that society has used in negative light. “’Man, that’s gay’ gets dropped on the daily/we become so numb to what we’re saying/call each other faggots…/gay is synonymous with the lesser” (Macklemore Ln 35-36, 39). These lyrics identify how we as a society make the idea of being gay a bad thing. When he says that gay is synonymous with the lesser, he is saying that society thinks that because you are gay, you are lesser than everyone else. It’s the same idea that woman and black people have gone through in history. Black people were believed not to have a choice because they were below white men and the same idea went for woman as well until people fought for their rights. He wants us to realize that this war for gay rights has already happened in different forms: “It’s the same hate that’s caused wars from religion/gender to skin color, the complexion of your pigment” (Macklemore Ln 40-41). He also adds imagery to this statement by showing images from the past of a black and white woman running at the beach and laughing together and the American flag flowing. The image of the flag is shown because it is supposed to represent freedom but for a homosexual person, it restricts them from being who they
Pascoe is inferring that the word “fag” is used a lot to describe feminine qualities within highschool boys. The way she developed the main point was very simple to understand. The author use examples, scenarios, and the answers of male high school students to contribute to the main point. Including examples, scenarios, and real answers from high school students strengthened her position. When Pascoe says, “ But becoming a fag is as much to do with failing at the masculine tasks of competence, heterosexual prowess, and strength or in any way revealing weakness or femininity as it does with a sexual identity”( Pascoe 210) , she is showing her viewpoint of the subject. She then later gives the example of the “Eminem Exception”. Eminem is a famous white rapper who uses the word “faggot” in his music. He claims that he uses
“The unprecedented growth of the gay community in recent history has transformed our culture and consciousness, creating radically new possibilities for people to ‘come out’ and live more openly as homosexuals”(Herdt 2). Before the 1969 Stonewall riot in New York, homosexuality was a taboo subject. Research concerning homosexuality emphasized the etiology, treatment, and psychological adjustment of homosexuals. Times have changed since 1969. Homosexuals have gained great attention in arts, entertainment, media, and politics. Yesterday’s research on homosexuality has expanded to include trying to understand the different experiences and situations of homosexuals (Ben-Ari 89-90).
When young and experimental, everyone remembers their first love and what it meant to them and how it shaped them. They are often fond memories of purity or naivety, however, sometimes, those experiences are haunting and leave permanent scars in people's hearts. “Coleman (1993)” tells the tragic love story of a female speaker and her lover. They appear to live out happy lives while keeping to themselves however, are separated later in the poem by a group of white boys who decide to murder her lover on a whim. Her interactions and thoughts about Coleman shape the fundamentals of the poem to the point that he is the driving force of this poem. His being is the purpose of Mary Karr’s piece of writing and her time with him and without
In an effort to legitimize all subcategories of sexuality considered deviant of heterosexual normatively, queer theory acknowledges nontraditional sexual identities by rejecting the rigid notion of stabilized sexuality. It shares the ideals of gender theory, applying to sexuality the idea that gender is a performative adherence to capitalist structures that inform society of what it means to be male, female, gay, and straight. An individual’s conformity to sexual or gendered expectations indicates both perpetration and victimization of the systemic oppression laid down by patriarchal foundations in the interest of maintaining power within a small group of people. Seeking to deconstruct the absolute nature of binary opposition, queer theory highlights and celebrates literary examples of gray areas specifically regarding sexual orientation, and questions those which solidify heterosexuality as the “norm”, and anything outside of it as the “other”.
homosexual liberation. Some have demonstrated their anger and concerns about prejudice against homosexuals in both riots and artistic forms. Therefore, these people seek to prove to the heterosexual world that homosexual ‘deviancy’ was a myth.
I began to connect his upbrings in these sections. He also reminds the listeners that through coming together we can conquer all repeatedly. Though his album questions many situations that many seem sad and/or controversial, he constantly reminds listeners that the answer to all these hardships in the world will be better in the light of god. In many of songs, Marvin trails off into what resembles small sections of call-and- responses that are done in church sermons. Through extensive research we know that his love for music and origins of influence began as a young child of a Minister in a church, which have encompassed Marvin Gaye’s whole being into one album. I believe strongly that this album best represents his upbringings and influenced all in one which in turn wholly shapes and entails who the Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. truly
For years, LGBT issues weren’t as accepted as it is now. Many things in the media, books, and music excluded Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people, and the few that did, didn’t help the movement as much. You have books that kill off lesbian characters, gay men were stereotypicality feminine, nobody believed in bisexuality, and transgendered people lived their lives as drag queens. The lives of LGBT were kept a secret, nobody knew what would happen if this secret was revealed. Now, we have gained knowledge and started treating LGBT in the media better, not as great as it should. The song, “Born This Way”, by Lady Gaga brings the issue of pro-LGBT and self-love front and center for the world to listen when analyzed using a cultural lens.
“Everybody’s journey is individual. If you fall in love with a boy, you fall in love with a boy. The fact that many Americans consider it a disease says more about them than it does about homosexuality”. -James Baldwin. In his impressionable quote Baldwin voices the prominent yet tacit unacceptance of Homosexuality. Baldwin indicates that homosexuality or queerness in America is equated to an incurable disease or illness has been a conventional theory that it reveals an attitude of intolerance within American society . This widespread notion has held an augmented presence most notably in the African American community.(Crawford et al. 2002:179-180). In a thorough yet, animated analysis of Floyd, Ayana Mathis reviews popular receptions of Homosexuality and Queerness in the African American community. The characterization of Floyd unveils the ostracization that homosexual Black men face which generates a deceptive performance of hypermasculinity. This false performance is displayed through masking emotion and unveiling an attitude of contempt for anything dearth to the ideology of masculinity while perpetuating Homophobia.
Within the early 1990s there is a rise in queer culture that many people did not know for what it was. At first, the United States thought it was problematic because it was an invasion on the home-front and the country is trying to figure out its own identity culturally, which led to the “culture” wars. The idea of culture wars was that historically U.S. had problems defining itself culturally through popular media such as music, television, and film. Music was a popular medium that the U.S. tried to define itself culturally, but the music video of Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” where she is combining explicit sexual references with religious idols. In addition to this being gay was not accepted within the early 1990s and was problematic because it was not widely accepted by the general public. Within the early 1990s it is represented through queer culture which is similar to gay, but was different at the same time. Taken from an anthropological approach Michael Moffatt references from Kath Weston’s book about gay culture being entirely different from how we normally perceive it (Moffatt). In the state of “California gay and lesbian c...
In Aldrous Huxley’s A Brave New World, pleasure is the main driving force in life. The government uses tools such as the wonder drug soma and the endorphins naturally released during and after sexual intercourse to keep the minds of their well-tended flock off of matters that might concern them if they had not previously been conditioned to resort to a vice the moment that they begin to conceive an ill thought. Lenina 's adulation of John, the Savage, is perhaps one of the more obvious triggers of soma usage within the novel. Lenina does not understand John 's concept of love, and attempts to show her affection in the only way she knows how, and that is by having sex with him. She thinks this is a normal act, but for him, it is sanctity. John believes that one should only express their passion through sex if they are married as is the custom on the reservation. This leads John to call Lenina many obscene names and to send her into the tender arms of soma instead. She merely wishes him to reciprocate her advances, which she would take as meaning that he was happy to be with her. She simply wants the both of them to be joyous in their carnal revelry but “Happiness is a hard master – particularly other people 's happiness. A much harder master, if one isn 't conditioned to accept it unquestioningly, than truth” (Huxley 227, Brave New World). John and Lenina are very different people however, as Lenina tells Bernard “I don 't understand … why you don 't take
In “Dude, You’re a Fag,” multiple boys that were interviewed said they “didn’t like gay people” and were disgusted by gay men but lesbians were “good” (Pascoe). These boys only viewed female homosexuality as “good” because of its place in the heterosexual male fantasy and not because they approved of homosexuality as a legitimate and accepted sexuality (Pascoe). The binary gender system creates a male dominated society that allows for only female homosexuality to exist because even through it goes against the strict normative heterosexuality it can still be a source of pleasure for men. Male homosexuality, however, is not accepted because in a male dominated world it is associated with not being masculine. Through the use of the slur “fag,” people demean and emasculate boys and men (Pascoe). The use of “fag” against someone does not imply that they are homosexual; instead, Pascoe’s study and interview of high school age boys shows that it is used to say that a person is not masculine and therefore not conforming to their gender roles. Even though women can be sexually fluid and have intimate relationships with other women, it is not viewed as legitimate sex because there is no penis involved. Women are allowed by society to have sex with whomever they want, as long as they are still able to perform their gender role as wives and birth givers. In contrast, in
Homosexuality has existed since the beginning of recorded human history and yet, attitudes towards gay and lesbian individuals vary extensively. Some societies tolerate them; others openly welcome and encourage them; and most blatantly condemn them (Bates, 46). Throughout our country’s history, homosexuals have been misunderstood and discriminated against, leading many to acquire an irrational fear of gays and lesbians. Known as homophobia, this fear has prompted heterosexual individuals with a feeling a superiority and authority when using the word “homosexual” interchangeably with the words pervert, faggot, sodomite, and so on. Homophobes typically perceive homosexuality as a threat to society. Nonetheless, the Gay Rights Movement has achieved impressive progress since 1973 when the American Psychological Association (APA) eradi...
“Same Love” by Macklemore is a song that tackles a tough social issue and the importance of the issue in a very successful manner. I have great respect for Macklemore for choosing such a controversial and important topic, when his celebrity status is still relatively new and in the limelight. He saw that he had the power and media’s attention, so he took that opportunity and used it to make a positive statement.
In 2011, The Heinz Foundation commission a study entitled, Portrayal and Perception and it found that media bias existed and concluded that a disproportionate amount of Pittsburgh news coverage of African American men and boys focused on crime. The information retrieved from the study is less about sexuality or crime but that a bias toward a race and or a culture exist in such a pervasive manner that influences behavior on a number of different levels. It’s impossible to ignore the connection between the media and societal bias, it can’t be overlooked or minimized. It’s no secret that within the queer community that biases exist that can be quite difficult for a non-white male to overcome. By acknowledging the struggle within the gay community is to admit decades of exclusionary practices that prohibit gay blacks from being socially accepted within a small segment of society that affords openness and acceptance of ones sexuality. However, to a larger more dynamic struggle with race and gender related issues in our society goes unanswered because we refuse to admit that a problem exist. It would go a long way in tackling the problems, it we would simply admit that something is amiss. Being a champion for fairness and diversity in this complex universe takes real courage considering that the atmosphere is dominated by white males. Whether gay, queer or straight these striking similar community is similar in this
...viant, thus marginalized even demonized. While in recent times there has undeniably been a greater sense of acceptance toward homosexuals, there are definitely generalizations that tend to hinder the overall perspective on identity. The issue of sexual identity and gender has recently been brought to the forefront of social discourse due largely to the major activism of the LGBTQ community and countless progressive institutions. Through the recognition of the gender binary one can see that there are an array of preferences for being and behaving. Rather than having to follow traditional roles people should be able to be masculine, feminine, androgynous, aggressive, vulnerable, or indifferent. The issue is not necessarily diversity, but rather openness to gender possibilities and the freedom to experiment and shamelessly explore facets of one’s individual expression.