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Roles of women in music
Roles of women in music
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Beyoncé: A New Feminist Leader The music industry is criticized for their depiction of women as mere sex objects. The emergence of the feminist movement forced businesses to reevaluate their treatment of women to keep their business alive in a changing world. The feminist movement creates better treatment for women by publicly sharing their ideas. Music is an essential part of culture and may be used to spread positive or negative messages and ideals. Therefore, the emergence of feminist artists in music is important for the positive portrayal of women. It also brings more exposure to the feminist movement, and the issues faced by many women daily. Beyoncé is a very prominent woman in the hip-hop music industry. She was recently announced …show more content…
There are many women who utilize hip-hop to illustrate the struggles of their everyday lives (Durham). Beyoncé uses hip-hop as a positive tool. She utilizes hip-hop’s large fan-base to spread feminist’s ideas, such as women empowerment through her song, “Who Runs the World (Girls)”. This song highlights the strength of women, "Smart enough to make these millions/ Strong enough to bear the children/ Then get back to business" (Beyoncé). Other songs by Beyoncé that support her feminist views are “If I Were a Boy”, “Pretty Hurts”, and “Flawless”. Beyoncé’s song “Flawless” features A TED talk by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a feminist Nigerian author (Qureshi). Other examples of women in hip-hop that utilize hip-hop as a positive tool include India Arie, Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae, and many more. These women use hip-hop to counteract the negative images created about women presented by a majority of male hip-hop artists through their songs and music …show more content…
She has increased its reach and changed the definition of a feminist, which has increased its supporters. There are people who believe that Beyoncé has brought more scrutiny onto to the movement and certain aspects of her career contradict her identifying herself as a feminist. They also believe that new supporters of feminism are not there for the feminist cause but as “worshippers” of Beyoncé as she is called “Queen B” by her fans. ‘Worshipping celebrities compares to the way radical religious fanatics worship their deities: blindly, with no acceptance of possible alternatives,” (Bey). Other people believe fans of Beyoncé are unlikely to accept aspects of feminism that Beyoncé may
Nina Simone used music to challenge, provoke, incite, and inform the masses during the period that we know as the Civil Rights Era. In the songs” Four Women”, “Young Gifted and Black”, and Mississippi God Damn”, Nina Simone musically maps a personal "intersectionality" as it relates to being a black American female artist. Kimberly Crenshaw defines "intersectionality" as an inability for black women to separate race, class and gender. Nina Simone’s music directly addresses this paradigm. While she is celebrated as a prolific artist her political and social activism is understated despite her front- line presence in the movement. According to Ruth Feldstein “Nina Simone recast black activism in the 1960’s.” Feldstein goes on to say that “Simone was known to have supported the struggle for black freedom in the United States much earlier, and in a more outspoken manner around the world than had many other African American entertainers.”
Objectification of women and misogyny is a common trend in song lyrics, but it is often socially accepted and further perpetuated. Finding a song in which the roles are reversed and a woman depicts a man as a sex object is incredibly difficult because when women try to break norms in the music industry, they are often criticized. In “Blah Blah Blah” by Kesha, she reverses the typical gender roles in song lyrics by objectifying men. Kesha has her own struggles within the male-dominated music industry because her producer sexually abused her and trapped her into a record deal. However, Kesha lost her court case, which illuminates gender issues within the music industry and the larger society. In 2010 when Kesha’s songs were popular, people weren’t aware of her battle with her producer. Instead, her lyrics classified her as more of a party figure and people even saw her as “trashy.” This song
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Imani Perry argues that the over-sexualized, unattainable bodies of black women in popular culture will lead to the breakdown of feminism and the positive body image of the everyday black women. As hip hop music continues to become more popular, the sexist messages presented in lyrics and music videos are becoming more common to the everyday public, including young black girls developing a self-image. Instead of these girls being exposed to healthy, positive role models who encourage individuality and that there is more to a woman than her body they are given hip hop video models whose only purpose is to look sensual on screen. The strong women that do exist in the hip hop genre are pushed to sexualize themselves or their lyrics to sell records or stay relatively unknown. Although Perry’s arguments are logical, I believe that she is creating a slippery slope of logic. A genre of music cannot destroy the self-image of black women that has existed for generations.
I want to make it clear, to those who may question my positionality, that I do not believe that my journey as a white person is somehow special or better than anyone else’s. I do not believe that I hold some sort of special looking glass through which the solution to whiteness can be seen. I am a production of whiteness, and I am also a human being, which means I have many, many, flaws and blind spots that I continue to work on while simultaneously being inhibited by this blindness in my effort to see past it. What I do believe, as Roxanne Gay so beautifully said in Bad Feminist, is that,
In other words, through music, men are retaining the line that separates them from women by fortifying male supremacy. The inferior roles that were given to women have been internalized by adolescents, which studies have found to be affecting their interaction styles as well as their beliefs of gender limitations. According to the study conducted by Ter Bogt et al. (2010), women were more inclined to listen to R&B/Hip-Hop music which reinforces the idea that female adolescents are more often exposed to the normalized stereotypical gender roles in music lyrics. Although many of the modern R&B/Hip-Hop music by male artist stigmatize women, there were some that actually put forth the effort to uplift them. Wale, a well-known Nigerian-American rapper, used his lyrical creativity in “PYT” to change the standard course of hip-hop music. In the lines, “I just wanna see you shine/ nothing makes a man feel better than a woman/ Queen with the crown…” Wale talks about a woman who he labels as a Queen with her own spotlight. In this particular line, Wale goes against the norm of male-dominance and male-hierarchy as a step towards building gender equality. Within in R&B/Hip-Hop community, there seems to be an ongoing lyrical battle between actions towards retaining the norms and actions towards
...framework given to us, feminists, we do have to embrace the positive processes that are sometimes happening within this framework as well. When feminism becomes an accessory it does lose its radical political potential but it also creates a new potential that more and more people will become interested in feminism and possibly not only marketable and sexy ideas spread, but also some important issues and topics will be brought up in public awareness. There is no one way, or two ways, to be a feminist, but rather multiple ways. Feminists, rather than being elitist that these celebrities are dull to understand feminism properly, should embrace all the potential that Beyoncé or any other celebrities might do for feminist values, otherwise the movement and its values might become ever more alienated from the society and this is not going to do any better job for women.
Throughout Ludacris’s lyrics, Ludacris describes himself in a way that portrays him having more power than the woman. Many of his lyrics signify that women are only useful for sexual pleasures and entertainment, whereas males like to have control and a powerful figure; he reiterates this by saying how he is going to “own her” and “make her obey him” throughout the entire song. The woman is clearly being portrayed as a submissive to Ludacris, as the woman has no say in what she is doing while Ludacris is throwing these demands at her such as, “Better call yo ' boss, tell him that yo ' daddy 's home Take a couple days off and take it off” (Ludacris, Sex Room). The last aspect of Ludacris’s song that supports the existence of patriarchy is how Ludacris refers to his woman in a multitude of derogatory terms such as “girl”, “bitch” and “hoe” while he refers to himself as “yo daddy”. In today’s society it is becoming more rare to find songs that reflect women in a positive, respectful, and equal light, which would likely influence society’s view of gender
Rap artists’ using women in an offensive way in the lyrics and videos is something that has recently been taking affect. Many decades ago, rappers did not rap about women the way rappers
When people think about organizations, leaders, activist, and world changers often times they do not correlate these titles and positions with women, let alone black women. When we think of social resistance movements and the leaders who operate the movements we often think of men. Many people in society think that a man is needed to construct, lead and run a social movement so that it can be affected enough to make a significant change. Stereotypical gender roles are the reason that many of us do not often think of women when we think about social resistance movements. However, African American women played a vital role in their organizations, they were powerful activist and they were adamant about addressing the many issues that black women face in society.
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 climb at unprecedented rates, so too does its influence on the perception of women. In the vast majority of hip-hop songs, the depiction of women as sexual objects, the extreme violence directed towards them and the overall negative influence these lyrics have on the average adolescent's perception of women make rap the absolute epitome of female exploitation.
There are many arguments surrounding the lyrics in hip-hop and how it may have an impact on today’s society. To begin with, the most debatable opinion is how the language may have an influence on youth. The images betrayed in the media and TV are often misconstrued and fabricated. For example, many rap lyrics are about drug use and in reality, some rappers are not drug users and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Similarly, women lyrics in hip-hop language can be two-fold. Lyrics of feminism and another of exploitation. This illustrates how the language in hip-hop takes away the dignity of women. The word “bitch” is considered profanity but often used frequently and acceptable for women in the hip-hop culture. More importantly, hip-hop is
Minutes after her performance, celebrities started declaring themselves as feminist and what it meant. Beyoncé doing this led the conversation to a social movement that needed to occur. This leads girls of all ages to get involved in the discussion that is happening over women’s rights as a whole. Women of all ages listen to Beyoncé and for this she reaches an audience that most do not. Third -wave feminism focuses on reaching all groups of people that may other-wise be culturally divided. Lorber (2012: 305) says, “It emerged (third-wave feminism) in the 1990’s and it built on multiracial/multiethnic feminism, standpoint feminism, and postmodern feminism.” Beyoncé being a women of color she reaches a community that is otherwise ostracized for not only their sex, but also because of their color. Third -wave feminism focuses on these women. Lorber (2012:306) states, “…African American third-wave feminist want to be like them—strong, active, political, and confrontational.” After reading this section I knew that third-wave feminism was something that I was a part of because it teaches anyone to be resilient not just
It has been played in many other countries and is listed in many major hit charts in those countries. It became one of her best-selling singles. Beyoncé has been singing about women’s independence since she was in the hit group “Destiny’s Child”. Many of her songs support women’s lifestyle and keep cheering up girls with her powerful and expressive vocals (Armstrong). In addition to her songs and lyrics, her beautiful appearance fascinates many female audiences and influences from teenagers to grown-ups as if she was a role model. A negative side of the video is that the video gives the impression that men are always to be blamed and women are always “victims” of the relationships, which is not
Madonna is a controversial legend whose attitudes and opinions on sexuality have forced the public to take notice and change the image of females in society. Madonna believed women’s sexuality was a natural aspect of life; therefore, she dared to challenge the rules and definitions of femininity and sought to expand the meaning of it. In a male dominated world, she wanted to focus on the importance of women and let them have a voice of their own. Madonna shattered all the myths on traditional beauty standards and made her statement on sexuality and feminism, which changed how society viewed the standards of beauty. She impacted female power by encouraging sex- positivity into her music and her style. It is mainly because of Madonna that ordinary women, and women in modern entertainment have more choices and freedom which continues to influence further generations.
Hip-hop and rap music are commonly criticized for its anti-feminist lyrics and degrading exploitation of women in music and music videos. (Sharpley-Whiting ) Many feminists have taken action against the music industry, which produces these messages in the music they release. However, in the hip-hop genre there are plenty of successful female rappers promoting feminist views, artist such as Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige have made the choice to condemn the derogatory culture towards women. (Oliver, 382–384)