The other day I was in the car with someone who decided to pop in a popular rapper’s cd and I must be honest, I was very disgusted by what I heard in those songs. Besides the use of every single profane word known to man, what was most alarming was the way that he referred to women. During this car ride I had the luxury of hearing this artist refer to women as “b*tches, hoes, and sluts. I sat there wondering when it became okay for this to exist. Nowadays, in hip hop music, it seems as though it is the norm to objectify and disrespect women. As an African American woman, I am disheartened by this because we are SO MUCH MORE than what is being portrayed in these songs. It is disrespectful and offensive to label a woman with such derogatory words and essentially reduce her worth to nothing. I cannot help but wonder how the rest of society would view women, (and even men), of this culture after hearing songs like the one that I heard. What some fail to remember is that music is not just a representation of the artist who delivers it; it can also become a representation of an entire group of people; whether some like it or not. I understand that it is not all of hip hop music that falls within this category, but it is safe to say that too much of this genre consists of distasteful material. While ideally some would like to see music such as this completely eliminated from the industry, it is noted and understood that one cannot control the artists who create it. Nor can one control the women who volunteer to be in these videos and serve as reinforcement for the poor behavior displayed by various artists. However, what can be done in order to help decrease the negative exposure of women, (of all races, backgrounds, and ages), in the music industry is to portray them in different aspects. Music that labels women as being b*tches or uses them as sexual objects should not be the definition of what hip hop music (or any other genre of music), is.
How do you feel about the way that women are portrayed in hip hop music? What about other forms of music? If you could, what would you do to change the way women are portrayed?
Let me know your thoughts!
-Jessica
*I would like to point out that I am fully aware of the fact that many other genres of music consist of offensive material. However, those particular songs that I heard served as the inspiration behind this post.*
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