Does Hip-Hop Culture influence and promote Misogyny?

 

Hip-hop is a way for people to express themselves and the troubles they are experiencing in life; misogyny or the hatred towards women plays a big role. This raises the question; does hip-hop culture influence and promote misogyny? Misogyny is visible in hip-hop in the lyrics of many rap songs as the word choice of the songs degrades women. It is also present in many music videos because women act provocatively which gives men the impression that they are only on this earth for sex.  Because women are treated and looked at this way, there are many negative effects that they experience in everyday life. Gourdine and Lemmons believe that abuse is a good example of a negative effect that women have to tolerate from men in hip-hop (Gourdine and Lemmons). Therefore, we need to try and prevent misogyny from being such a big part of hip-hop and make women feel equally important to men in society.

The derogatory lyrics used in rap songs degrade women’s worthiness and cause men to look at them as they though they are inferior to them and this is one of the ways in which misogyny is clearly evident in hip-hop. Men look at women as though they are just there for sex. Chambers once stated in her article “Where my girls at? Misogyny in hip-hop’s gotta go” that hip-hop today is destroying the industry because, “All the rappers' beats sound the same and they're all rapping about the same things: money and bitches” (Chambers). A majority of rap songs reference sex and money in some way; some songs have their central meaning as sex or money and some songs just talk about it once or twice in the song. Rappers have to rap about these types of things because it’s what is considered cool in society and what people want to hear and buy. In the article, “I Ain’t No Whiteboy,” by David Perez there is a clear example of how disrespectful rap lyrics are towards women. The lyrics go as follows: “Slob on the cob, like corn on the cob; Check in with me, and do your job; Lay on the bed, and give me head; Don’t have to ask, don’t have to beg” (Perez). The sheer audacity of these lyrics is appalling and men should not be allowed to rap about women in this detrimental way. Perez believes the reason that misogyny is able to survive in society today is because it is a default social mode. Yelling “bitches ain’t shit but ho’s and tricks” (Perez) is a way that a man can express his masculinity. Teenagers don’t want to go around respecting women because that is not the popular thing to do; they instead want to hear about guns, drugs, money, and sex which is what a majority of rap songs reference (Perez). Rap music helps to promote misogyny in hip-hop and keep it going; it helps keep it alive. Adams and Fuller argue in their journal article “The Words have changed but the Ideology Remains the same” that rap supports and justify all the stereotypes that are placed upon women that degrade them. Rappers say that the lyrics such as bitches and hos are aimed at certain types of women such as prostitutes and strippers. But in reality, they end up labeling women in our society as a whole (Adams and Fuller). Many people will look at a black women and automatically assume that because she is dressed in a certain way, that she just wants sex and is only worthy of sex because of how rappers portray women in their songs and through the lyrics that they use.



Various names that women are often referred to as by men in many hip-hop rap songs

Misogyny is also shown through the themes of many hip-hop music videos which are often centered on misogyny or the hatred towards women in one way or another. A great example is the music video “Area Codes” by Ludacris and Nate Dogg which is mentioned in the article “Bitches and Hoes-Exploring Misogyny in Hip-Hop.” The message that this song is trying to portray is that the rappers are able to call upon a variety of different women in many different area codes at any time for sexual purposes. The chorus goes, “I’ve got hoes in different area codes,” (Prompt) which is directly saying that they have many women, for sex, in their lives. In the music video, there are many provocatively dressed women dancing in a variety of locations. This leads many people to believe that hip-hop music portrays women as sexual items and as unrespectable members of society (Prompt). This type of theme is common in many hip-hop music videos: men using women for sex. Because of these messages being sent out, many people believe that it is the cool thing to get with a lot of girls and that it will cause their popularity to rise. These types of messages need to change because it makes many men think that it is okay to use women for sex and then when they are done they can just move into the next one.   

Another way that shows that misogyny does occur in hip hop is by the way that many women act and dance in music videos which gives off the impression towards men that women are sexual objects. In most music videos one will see women with barely any clothing on, most likely they will have bikini’s or thongs on, they will be dancing all over men and one another, and they will be shaking their behinds all over the place. Chambers thinks that the way women dance and show off their body parts in music videos makes men look at them as though they are not even human (Chambers), like they are just a piece of meat for them to have sex with. According to Chambers, Lil Wayne is just one of the many rappers who disrespect women in their music. She believes that everywhere you look there is another video being produced where women are shaking their assets off all over the place and rappers are talking about women as though they are not even human (Chambers). This hurts many women’s self-esteem and it also conditions black men to believe that women of color do not deserve to be respected (Chamber). Sharpley-Whiting explains in her book “Pimps Up, Ho’s Down” that there was an incident that shows just how misogyny in hip-hop can negatively affect women’s lives and their futures can be permanently damaged. It was where Michelle “Micki” Burks decided that she was going to take on the role of eye candy in the music videos “Stick by Me” and “Luve Bump.” By doing this, she was given the name “video ho” in years to come (Sharpley-Whiting 23). She was labeled this name because of the way she was dressed, which was extremely provocatively as she did not have much clothing on. Also, the way she acted in the music video gave many the impressions that she was what people would consider a “slut,” and that she was only interested in sex. Whenever people ask her about this incident, she always states that she does not think that her experiences were degrading (Sharpley-Whiting 24). Many women experience this kind of judgment by society when they are a part of a music video. Therefore, it is crucial that we change the ways in which women behave in music videos, so that women as a whole don’t have to live through these various stereotypes that society has placed on them.    

The misogynistic ways towards women in hip-hop has various negative effects on them that could destroy their lives forever. One might not see the effects straight away, but if you take some time to do the research you will see there are many negative effects; there are negative effects that we don’t even notice. Misogyny influences daily life in our society in many ways. Perez talked to a friend of his, Justine who explained that misogyny is clear in rap lyrics and it does in fact affect our daily lives. She states, “At its worst, it is a culture that devalues women, excuses rape, domestic violence, and bailing out on fatherhood” (Perez). Some men feel as though it is ok to abuse women and touch them inappropriately because rappers do this in music videos all the time. Also, this causes some men to feel as though it is ok to rape women and claim that they were asking for it by the way they were acting and were dressed. When in reality, these are all heinous crimes and rap does not excuse these inappropriate acts by men. Gourdine and Lemmons state in their journal that misogyny is an ideology that reduces women to objects for men’s ownership, use, or abuse (Gourdine and Lemmons). This causes a majority of men to have this belief that they control women and women should always do what a man wants. This is not the case; women have rights and should be respected by men at all times.