Negative Influence Of Homossexuality In The Hip-Hop Community

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The pivotal role that these disparaging remarks play in hip-hop politics speaks to the overall importance of heterosexuality in the hip-hop community, and only helps develop analysis on how inherently deviant a meaning is attached to gender norm violations and nonhetero representation (Hill, 2009). Homosexual slurs are used to denote more than an individual 's sexuality, rather they are markers of lack of integrity, failure, illegitimacy and phoniness (Hill, 2009). Penney (2012) writes that in order for the heteronormative hyper-masculine identity to be reinforced, the inferior, homosexual Other must be constantly disparaged and inferred through lyrics as a benchmark for legitimate membership to the hip-hop community. Negative representations of homosexuality through lyrics not only continuously reinforce oppressive attitudes towards the queer community, but further alienate queer audiences and artists from participating in the hip-hop culture and community in an active and meaningful way (Smith, 2014).
Lesbians in Hip-Hop as Heterosexual Male Fantasies Female rappers defy the simplistic, hyper-masculine space of hip-hop (Smith, 2014). Because of how women and femininity are portrayed in hip-hop (weak, passive, subordinate, and objectified), female rappers must go the extra mile to assert their …show more content…

Underground gangsta-rap group, Thug Slaughter Force, for example, performed a track entitled, "Tight Clothes?!" that spoke directly to this shift in hip-hop and made homophobic connections with it (Penney, 2012). Given more recent progress in this area, this type of inferential homophobia is becoming less visible, but still remains an undertone in more traditional forms of hip-hop music (Penney,

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