The Sexuality Of African American Women

The Hip Hop music industry is infamous for being controversial. In the article Hip Hop’s Betrayal of Black Women there’s a debate on whether the exploitation and constant verbal slander of women should be acceptable just because it sales records. It presents the question that why is it that male poverty breeds sexism? Even though women may have lived in the same environment males still see women as the enemy in their music in an effort to sell records.

In Deborah E. McDowell’s essay Black Female Sexuality in Passing she writes about the sexual repression of women seen in Nella Larsen‘s writings during the Harlem Renaissance, where black women had difficulty expressing their sexuality. In her essay, she writes about topics affecting the sexuality of women such as, religion, marriage, and male dominated societies. In Toni Morrison’s short story, “Recitatif” there are examples of women who struggle to express their sexuality. The people in society judge women based off their appearance, and society holds back women from expressing themselves due to society wanting them to dress/act a certain way.

In the essay, “Hip-Hop’s Betrayal Of Black Women”(221), by Jennifer McLune, she vents her feelings regarding hip-hop songs that are rhythmically diminishing the value of black women. She provides example on how the lyrics are being voiced and how hip-hop artists do not seem to care. Kevin Powell in “Notes of a Hip Hop Head” writes, “Indeed, like rock and roll, hip-hop sometimes makes you think we men don’t like women much at all, except to objectify them as trophy pieces or, as contemporary vernacular mandates, as baby mommas, chicken heads, or bitches” (221). There have been apologizes for what the rappers have said but nothing to resolve the dehumanization of black women. McLune informs the readers that hip-hop singers belittle black women and make them invisible. Jay-Z, a popular hip-hop artist is brought to center stage by McLune. The essay shows the example of a part of Jay-Z song that says, “I pimp hard on a trick, look Fuck if your leg broke bitch hop on your good foot” (222). This lyric is a perfect example of how hip-hop artist have no remorse in the words they sing. The hurt feelings and loss of self-esteem black women suffer, is of no concern to the rappers. McLune expresses that those who are underground hip-hop artist follow the footsteps on being sexist and using crude words in their lyrics just because they yearn and dream of being in the spotlight. Upcoming rappers want to be loved like Jay-Z and other famous notorious rappers.

Schulman, Gary I. "Race, Sex, and Violence: A Laboratory Test of the Sexual Threat of the Black Male Hypothesis." American Journal of Sociology 79.5 (1974): 1260. Web.

Women have decided to consume hip hop regardless of the sexism and machismo of their rap artist spouses. Historically, black women who have sex with other women haven’t been recognized in the Black community. Also, the expectations are the same in hip hop culture because men reject lesbians. An example is the murder in 2003 of Sakia Gunn after she declared her lesbian identity to a group of males. We all know that in hip hop culture men predominate and precisely masculine. Women can achieve a higher professional success than men regarding no matter their sexual orientation. In other hand, women represent different controlling images like the whore, the mammy and temptress. Homophobia in hip hop is translated into forms of oppression, discrimination and violence for gays, lesbians and transgender. “Black women rappers interpret and articulate the fears, pleasures, and promises of young black women whose voices have been relegated to the margins of public discourse.” Their voices are in constant dialogue with the public and men rappers about sexual promiscuity, emotional commitment, infidelity, the drug trade, racial politics and black cultural history. If we pay close attention to female rappers, we will notice that they address questions of sexual power, economic opportunities and the pain of racism and sexism. Women rappers has been promoted as sexually progressive, antisexist voices because of “an understanding of male rappers as uniformly sexist.” Discussions of women

Throughout America’s history there have been many struggles with equality amongst the many racial identities that live in this “melting pot.” Acceptance of the many races is a continuous goal in the war on racism in America. Once accepted, many racial identities go under huge scrutiny by the media, society, and their other racial counterparts, etc. Black Sexual Politics by Patricia Hill Collins is a critical analysis of blacks in America and blacks as a race. The book analyzes this race on various levels, and these levels include, but are not limited to the following: the concept of “new” racism, gender ideology within the race, and the potential for progression of

Carla Stokes’ article made the claim that although hip hop culture has been a way for the youth of color to express themselves, it has led to the women of that group to have negative sexual scripts that created unhealthy sexual patterns. The author explained how hip hop culture preached misogynistic views of women and also glorified unsafe sexual behaviors. Girls who were involved in this culture since the 2000’s were very likely to build their web identify around their sexuality as opposed to other areas such as personality or interest. This lifestyle made girls appear innocent on the street but they expressed themselves sexually online to attract a partner. There were few categories, such as virgins, who were not concerned with associating

Misogyny in Hip Hop culture refers to lyrics, videos, or other aspects of hip hop culture that support, glorify, justify or normalize the objectification, exploitation or victimization of women. Misogyny in hip hop music instills and perpetuates negative stereotypes about women. It can range from innuendos to stereotypical characterizations and defamations. Overt misogyny in rap and hip hop music emerged in the late 1980’s, and has since then been a feature of the music of numerous hip hop artists.

“No other group in America has so had their identity socialized out of existence as have Black women… when Black people are talked about the focus tends to be on Black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women.” - Bell Hooks

Hip-hop began in the 1970s in the south Bronx of New York and served a cathartic purpose for the black community. People could explore issues such as the eradication of racism and equality, but since Hip-hop was created, the cathartic use has been abused through the increased use of misogynistic lyrics and music videos. Artists like Ludacris, 50 Cent and Eminem portray women nothing more than “ho’s”, “bitches” and “freaks”. Nothing more than sex objects; and yet, their biggest fan base is adolescents, this is dreadful as neuroscientists have discovered that the teenage brain still undergoes the same radical development as seen in childhood . Teenagers are easily influenced through their formative years ; as they are consuming music videos

In the world of Hip-hop, artists have the ability to shape the image and status of women in our society. Over time, these music videos have misrepresented women and portray them as sex symbols or material objects. In these music videos, women wear provocative clothing to pacify the desires of males further

During the documentary a scene was shot at BET’s Spring Bling and a young male pointed out that women are determined to be b****** or women by the way they dress. Sexism is an issue that to society is not seen as important compared to the large number of black males incarcerated. The issue should be just as important if not more because one in four African American women is raped after the age eighteen. Most women who are called a b**** or another demeaning name think that it wasn’t referred to them, and either way is still unacceptable. Hip Hop is not being represented by men, which is why the decision of their lyrics is said the way that they

The difference between gender and sex has become monumentally apparent in the past few centuries. Gender is more a way of life than it is the biological information given to you on your date of birth. Media, but more specifically, television has allowed for such exposure to these differences. In our society, lives are so easily put on exhibition; women and their femininity in particular are found as the primary exhibitionists. I believe that such exceptional evolutions in this digital age such as femininity, sexuality and flaunting deserve to be further researched and scrutinized.

The first article we will examine is Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze. This article takes a deep look into mainstream hip-hop music and explores the controversial topic of how women are conveyed in this genre. From Ja rule to Beyoncé, the authors pick popular artists to show how degrading the lyrics of popular songs can have on females and slightly pornographic undertone messages as well. The writer informs the reader on how women are viewed in the public eye as they are exploited publically in a sexual manner either as a stripper or prostitute. Mr. Cheeks describes a night out in the club in his song Lights Cameras Action; “I’m fucking with

(Weisstuch). The underlying message is that women live exclusively for the sexual gratification of men based on male power, privilege and preference. These images serve as a grim reminder that women are being exploited as sexual objects through rap videos. Therefore, the objectification of women through the means of rap music is a major influence in the exploitation of women.