QUESTION
gangster rap is misogynistic towards women. argument?
you should argue about 2 ideas relating to the question
SOLUTION
The best original song in a feature film was won by Three 6 Mafia’s “It’s hard out here for a Pimp” in the Academy Awards in the year 2005, but it was severely criticised as it glorified the aspect of exploitation of women. The gangster rap uses the misogynistic ideology and the youth have used it as a medium to express their love, anger, hope, fear , frustration, violence and misogyny as well (Adams and Fuller, 2006). A study done on Chicano Rap songs from 1999 to 2002 by McFarland (2003) depicted that the raps songs were portrayal of racial inequality in critical manner and they typically endorsed the male supremacy over women thus supporting misogyny towards women (McFarland, 2003). Rap is used as a tool to control the images in order to treat Black Women as inferiors (Collins, 2000) and at the same time the lyrics of rap are considered to be sexist which truly support and justify the acts of violence done against the black women (Oliver, 2006). But it might be taken as an act done in order to control all women as gangster rap is very popular amongst youth which belong to different social and ethnic groups.
Sexual objectification of women is found in around 67% of the misogynist gangster rap songs which indicates that women are just sexual objects and these lyrics are mirror of the codes of conduct for men who want to avoid caring for their children, marriage, commitment and rather treat women as just objects of sexual pleasure and then be discarded as soon as possible (Miller and White, 2003).
There is another side of the coin also, the rappers are under constant pressure created by the music industry elites and in order to increase their sales these music industry moguls promote these provocative and over-sensitive lyrics. Due to these unnecessary corporate pressures the rappers have to discard the lyrics that carry social and political messages and their main focus is concentrated on sexual exploits of women and material wealth only (Powell, 2000). Thus consumers also play a major role in the process of keeping the ethics aside and increasing the popularity of these gangster rap songs which they want to listen ( Kevin Powell quoted in Hurt 2007). It has been reported by many rappers that they are being rewarded and encouraged by the music industry for all the verbal abuse of women they do while rapping.
The generalised marketing of hood narratives and the misogynistic representation of women (Watkins, 2001) is resulting due to the perceived demand of the consumer or the listener which causes eth stereotyped portrayal of the ghetto and mainly based on the black women and men who are black. The consumers of the gangster rap which is mostly youth and white want to experience the ghetto in a vivid and juicy manner and that is why they promote the dangerous and deviant form of rap (Quinn, 2005).
Some people analyse gangster rap as a part of anti-feminist backlash which is becoming a rage in today’s world where feminist movements are trying to spread the message that women are treated unequally and men are trying to get back to power and dominate (Weitzer and Kubrin, 2009).
Bibliography
Adams, T.M. and Fuller, D.B. (2006) ‘The Words Have Changed But The Ideology Remains The SAme: Misogynist lyrics in Rap Music’, Journal of Black STudies, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 938-957.
Collins, P.H. (2000) Black feminist thought, 2nd edition, New York: Routledge.
McFarland, P. (2003) ‘Challenging the contradictions of Chicanismo in Chicano rap music and male culture’, Race, Gender, and Class, vol. 10, pp. 92-107.
Miller, J. and White, N. (2003) ‘Gender and adolescent relationship violence’, Criminology, vol. 41, pp. 1207-47.
Oliver, W. (2006) ‘The streets: An alternative black male socialization institution’, Journal of Black Studies, vol. 36, pp. 918-37.
Powell, K. (2000) ‘My culture at the crossroads: A rap devotee watches corporate control and apolitical times encroach on the music he has loved all his life.’, Newsweek, 9 October, p. 66.
Quinn, E. (2005) Nuthin’ but a ‘‘G’’ thang: The culture and commerce of gangsta rap, New York: Columbia University Press.
Watkins, S.C. (2001) ‘A nation of millions: Hip hop culture and the legacy of black nationalism’, The Communication Review, pp. 373-98.
Weitzer, R. and Kubrin, C.E. (2009) Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Prevalence and Meanings, Sage Publications.
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