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... ... middle of paper ... ...e Issue of Sexual Violence.” Elon University. Web. 13 Nov. 2013 “Definitions." Arrows For Change May 2005: 15. General OneFile. Web. 13 Nov. 2013 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. Rihanna. “Birthday Cake.” Youtube. Youtube, LLC. 18 Nov. 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013 Sontag, Susan. “Beauty.” The Black Book: A Custom Publication. 3rd ed. Ed. Sam Pierstorff. Modesto: Quercus Review Press, 2012. 34-36. Szymanski, Dawn M., Lauren B. Moffitt, and Erika R. Carr. “Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory and Research.” APA, 2011. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
In his most recent album, Kanye West raps, “Now if I fuck this model/ And she just bleached her asshole/ And I get bleach on my T-shirt/ I 'mma feel like an asshole.” He suggests that it is the girl’s fault for getting bleach on his tee shirt, which she only did to make herself more sexually appealing. This misogyny in hip-hop culture is recognized to bring about problems. For instance, the women around these rappers believe they can only do well in life if they submit themselves to the men and allow themselves to be cared for in exchange for physical pleasure. In her essay, “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hoes”, Joan Morgan argues that the same rap music that dehumanizes women can be a powerful platform for gender equality if implemented correctly.
In the article “ From Fly to Bitches and Hoes” by Joan Morgan, she often speaks about the positive and negative ideas associated with hip-hop music. Black men display their manhood with full on violence, crime, hidden guilt, and secret escapes through drugs and alcohol. Joan Morgan’s article views the root causes of the advantage of misogyny in rap music lyrics. In the beginning of the incitement her desires shift to focus on from rap culture condemnation to a deeper analysis of the root causes. She shows the hidden causes of unpleasant sexism in rap music and argues that we need to look deeper into understanding misogyny. I agree with Joan Morgan with the stance that black men show their emotions in a different way that is seen a different perspective.
Music is one of the most powerful and influential language which to many people in
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.
Women have consistently been perceived as second-class citizens. Even now, in times when a social conscience is present in most individuals, in an era where an atmosphere of gender equality 'supposedly' exists, it is blatantly apparent that the objectification and marginalization of women is still a major social issue. In reality, progression in terms of reducing female exploitation has been stagnant at best. Not only is the degradation of women a major problem that to date has not been eradicated, but it is actually being endorsed by some music celebrities. There are a growing number of people who purchase rap albums that support the fallacy that women are mere objects and should be treated as such. As the popularity of rap continues to climb at unprecedented rates, so too does its influence on the perception of women. In the vast majority of hip-hop songs, the depiction of women as sexual objects, the extreme violence directed towards them and the overall negative influence these lyrics have on the average adolescent's perception of women make rap the absolute epitome of female exploitation.
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black women. As hip hop music continues to become more popular, the sexist messages presented in lyrics and music videos are becoming more common to the everyday public, including young black girls developing a self-image. Instead of these girls being exposed to healthy, positive role models who encourage individuality and that there is more to a woman than her body they are given hip hop video models whose only purpose is to look sensual on screen. The strong women that do exist in the hip hop genre are pushed to sexualize themselves or their lyrics to sell records or stay relatively unknown. Although Perry’s arguments are logical, I believe that she is creating a slippery slope of logic. A genre of music cannot destroy the self-image of black women that has existed for generations.
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
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
In the RUN DMC days, Reverend Run and the gang always rapped about different life experiences. Hip-hop was fun, refreshing, and new. There are a lot of innovative artists still keeping hip-hop fresh and exciting such as Kanye West, Common, Mos Def, and Lupe Fiasco. For example, in a song entitled “Hurt Me Soul,” Lupe Fiasco says “I used to hate hip-hop... yup, because the women degraded. But Too Short made me laugh, like a hypocrite I played it. A hypocrite I stated, though I only recited half omitting the word "b****," cursing I wouldn't say it. Me and dog couldn't relate, until a b**** I dated. Forgive my favorite word for hers and hers alike, but I learnt it from a song I heard and sort of liked.” Lupe’s concern for the current state of hip-hop is in his music; he continues to spread the message in order to influence his listeners. In the beginning, capitalism had not gotten to the heart of rap, but as it became more mainstream, women began to show up more and more in videos because that’s what sold. Commercialization of hip-hop has sold out women. The majority of songs that have been on the Billboard’s Top 100 List, demonstrate that this is the case. Songs like Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” and Ludacris’ “What is Your Fantasy” attest to the idea that sexual content garners higher sales. Such catchy songs teach listeners to accept false impressions of women, but how to push back against the profit that feeds
The question I’m setting out to research for this paper is whether or not Hip Hop promotes misogyny and violence. This question implies several further questions that must be answered in order to come to a conclusion, these questions being, what is Hip Hop, what is misogyny, and what is violence? To answer these questions, I’ve chosen these six sources using the John Jay database, and I will explain what each source reveals and how it relates and answers my questions that will, ultimately, help to draw a conclusion in the finalized research paper.
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
Will sexism ever come to an end in today’s society? Are women going to let men step all over them? Jennifer Mclune discusses in her article, Hip-Hops Betrayal on Black Women, how black male singers objectify and degrade black females in the music industry. The purpose of this article is to show how black women are being deceived in the hip hop industry and being used as sex symbols instead of showing them for their true colors. Mclune (2015) voices her strong argument in attracting her audience by using ethos, tones, and the use of word choices.
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.
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
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