Women Shredding The Veil: Race And Class In Popular Feminist Identity

If they see rappers calling females out of their name with big chains and expensive cars throwing all their money in videos, then they look up to the guys they see in those videos and are going to buy in to what their seeing and hearing on the radio, on TV, on the internet, on the streets and in school regardless if it’s true just like advertisement. Even though many of the rappers that rap about misogyny sound like they live what their saying, many don’t actually believe what they’re saying they’ll still say it anyway just to get a paycheck. Yet what a lot of the public fell to realize is that rap is about business and making money and they’ll do whatever it takes to increase their profit. Yes, a lot of what these big time record labels put out is wrong on many levels, but when their banks accounts have a lot of zero’s, they can care less about how their music is affecting young people. This situation is very multi-sided to say the least which is why I feel this article deserves to receive the Most Controversial Issue

Her clothes accentuate her cleavage or have a sexual shock factor, such as wearing “sequined pasties…[that] coordinate with the rest of her attire”. The vulgar, sexual nature of her raps makes it impossible for her to not receive attention from the media. Another artist, Eve, dresses sexually to accentuate her body and appears in videos with music video models but raps about social issues like domestic violence. By comparing the nature of these artists and their music, Perry tries to show that young girls have very few role models in hip hop that promote positive feminists values and body images. But, she neglects to discuss other feminist artists she mentions in the essay such as Destiny’s Child and Mary J. Blige and how their lyrics and actions in the media allow young black girls to have positive role models that show a woman can be independent, strong, and beautiful in their own way. Perry’s focus on the more sexualized female artists in hip hop and how their shocking appearance and lyrics allow them to be as successful as their male counterparts took away from the development of her argument about conservative artists and their success. By leading the reader to believe that artists are either overly-sexual or conservative, Perry limits how the reader forms an opinion on why or why not young girls’ body image may be threatened by the media and the hip hop

Music and society have always been closely related. For years now music has been apart of people’s everyday lives all around the world. Having so many different genres out there, it makes it easy to be appealing to so many different ethnic backgrounds. However, one type of genre in particular has seemed to grab the attention of a younger generation. Rap music has undoubtedly had its utmost impact on African American youth, since many of the performers themselves are African American. An overtly masculine culture dominates rap music and creates gender stereotypes that become abundantly popular to the youthful audience. Three constant themes that are found within the rap culture are encouragement of violence, the misogynistic representation of women, an extreme hatred of homophobia. Each theme plays a detrimental role in the process of defining black masculinity as well as shaping the values, morals, and beliefs that its younger audience adopts after tuning into this “gangster lifestyle”.

Rap has changed the faces of women in the community from a more positive image to a more negative one. It is focused more on women’s bodies and not their intellect. Rap music portrays women by creating impossible beauty standards, dehumanizing women and making women look inferior in the male’s eye.

First of all, rap has changed drastically over the years. The music has changed from skilled rappers like Slick rick and The Fat Boys and has changed over the years to catchy music like 6ix9ine and Lil Pump with repeating hooks and loud 808 beats. In the late 1980's rap took a turn for the worst with rappers like Eazy-E and Ice Cube because they started rapping about the "hood life" and everyday things they would see in life which was not normal to the average rap listener. Things like robbery and murder and sexual abuse was a big trend in rap music. This turn of events which made the use of derogatory terms for women normal. Rap was now centered in Compton and Houston it was no longer centered in Memphis or Tennessee. The scene was no longer

The misogynistic treatment of women in commercialized rap has become a widespread phenomenon which as a result has become commonly accepted by majority of the individuals in society. Rappers, in general, nowadays use women in their videos in a way which is both derogatory and exploiting. Black men in today’s society, especially in the entertainment industry, do not see women as their equals; rather they objectify them as being nothing more than sex objects. People in the Hip Hop industry do not believe that sexism and misogyny is as big of a deal as racism, thus they push this issue to the side by simply ignoring it and learning to accept it. This misogynistic portrayal of women is ruining the image if Hip Hop as both an industry and a form of expressive art. However, instead of taking action against this atrocity, many women simply believe that the images of women and their portrayal in rap videos does not represent nor refer to them as an individual and the type of woman they truly are. By being silent these women are allowing themselves to be victimized by the men of not only the Hip Hop industry but also general society. By not having a say in this matter of the false classification and portrayal of women, they are voluntarily allowing men to do whatever they please to do so, in any given time and with any approach they feel is necessary. They do not

The above article discusses a study conducted that tested whether exposure to rap music increases sexism within males. The study did not give any direct concrete evidence that rap music causes misogyny. Yet it brought up some useful insights that were supported by the study. Initially, they discovered that listening to non-sexist songs still led to some type of sexist behavior. This finding is relevant as it shows that it might not solely be the lyrics that are responsible for sexism within music. People can be instinctively associating rap music with being misogynistic. Another finding was that misogynistic lyrics prime young males to behave sexually aggressive temporarily. This reading is important for this topic as it disregards the popular belief that rap music causes sexism, but it also takes in account that rap music can prime young males to be slightly more aggressive. While this study cannot be used to promote any type of censorship in media, it can still encourage the music industry to reevaluate the material they are launching to public, especially the young generation.

There’s a powerful source brainwashing young minority women today, specifically the language expressed in Rap lyrics which is often embraced by the Hip Hop Culture recently. These young gems are being conditioned to value their worth centered around hollow, vain, and degrading measures. The lead directors of these measures are strong, empowered, talented men who come across as if they detest woman. They disclose and describe detail stories of lifestyles involving “model chicks” who degrade themselves for acceptance, money, and opportunity. Consequently, this behavior leaves impressions for young ladies to follow after; because most young ladies of minority tap into the hip hop culture as a guide for social behavior. Although, the Hip Hop culture allows a window into the challenges faced by the black community it has also been the lead contributor to the desensitization of exploitation towards women due to the negative messages and images portrayed in music lyrics and music videos today.

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

The essay, “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos,” discusses the pervasive misogyny found in hip-hop lyrics.The author, Joan Morgan, argues that by comprehending what is occurring in the hip-hop culture to generate

For many years, the youth have been known for singing along to their favorite song and taking that song as whole and using it as their motto for life. It may seem that sometimes these kids do not know what is being said in the music but this shows that they do know what the lyrics are saying. According to Franklin B. Krohn and Frances L. Suazo in their article “Contemporary Urban Music: Controversial Messages in Hip-Hop and Rap Lyrics,” many teenagers and minority groups view rappers as their spokesmen because of their ability to speak in street language and bluntly express their frustration (Krohn, 1995). Unfortunately, hip hop lyrics usually tend to talk about drugs, sex and violence leading kids to think that everything they hear is okay and that is how they have to live their life. Yet, there are artists out there who take their lyricist skills to give positive lyrics and messages in their music, but these songs are not often played in the mainstream.

Hip-hop feminism expands on Collin (1990)’s concept of varied experience. Throughout her book, When chickenheads come home to roost, Joan Morgan defines what hip hop feminism is, why it is needed, and its potential impact and empowering qualities for Black women and girls growing up in the post-civil rights and post-feminism era. The emergence of technologies and media has influenced how Black women and girls view themselves, as well as how others view them, and how they can create and spread their narratives. While commercial hip-hop detaches from women’s rights and permits misogyny, one’s use of hip-hop as an art form in itself can be politically and self empowering for Black women and girls. She also illustrates how the image and internalization of the ‘strongblackwomen’ has been devised from slavery, yet still holds a presence and impacts the health of Black women.

Hip-hop music has an enormous impact on the black community; and frankly has not been a positive one. Hip-hop music seems to always point out the stereotypical slumps that the majority of black people come from or go through, it also degrades our names in their lyrics, shames our image with their music video and shifting black power from a movement to a monument.     Nicki Minaj is a black female rapper and a lot of her songs secretly show a negative impact on the black community, especially all females. One of Nicki Minaj’s popular songs called “Stupid H*e”, in this song she is clearly conceited and constantly implies how she is better than every other female. While doing that she basically tells every other woman around the world their contempt,

Misogyny and degradation of women is present in almost every genre of music, yet the one genre that completely revolves around demeaning women is rap. Over the years rap and rap music videos have continually become more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized numerous times for this reason, and that is because rap is one of the most popular genres of music for the younger generations. It is more than a genre of music, it is a complete industry filled with clothing and other merchandise. The reason this constant demeaning of women exists is because rap as a genre that rewards the objectification of women. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are incomplete and lack accurate support. The most effective way

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