That graphic says it all. Violence, drugs, and sex really do sell it all. Surely, hip-hop artists can use this as an excuse to why they’re the way the are, but I don’t fall for it. What about country music? A lot of people don’t like it, but there are extremely successful artists who don’t have to objectify or dehumanize women to be on top - actually, they sing about how much they LOVE and bow down to women. 

I do love hip-hop, but I do think it supports notions of violence and violence against women. It’s important for me to address this due to the fact that once women are identified as subordinate to men, men go on a power trip, men feel as if they need to make their power known, men then sexual harass, rape, and beat women. All due to these constructions of masculinity. 

I can’t say it’s blamed entirely on hip-hop, I’m just suggesting that it supports these notions. I wanted to bring into light not only how hip-hop has grown globally as well as culturally, but how it’s evolved. 

Men don’t need to flaunt how they dehumanize women to get attention (then, of course, some women like these “bad boys” and then dance in their music videos wearing almost nothing), music artists (hip-hop mostly, due to pretty much being the biggest genre in the industry) need to understand that they set a lot of new trends in todays society, all it takes is a little bit of change.

How many hip-hop songs do you hear about degrading women, flaunting guns, making money, getting drugs? A lot.

I was in the car at work the other day, and the individual I look after was turning up a song she likes (where the lyrics are .. “..i beat the pussy up..”) and she turns to me and says “i love my rap and hip-hop music, but i can’t stand songs like this where they talk about women like that.” I wanted to go off on a rant about how what she said is what I’m doing this project on, but I didn’t want to get nerdy. It made me feel good because I’m not the only person who sees these things!

Hip-hop has conformed to these gender roles that society has created. Hip-hop as a genre was created by men and women, and it seems as if now it’s men looking down on women. These male hip-hop artists talk about women in their lyrics as if they’re play toys at their disposal, it’s repulsive.

I want to focus mainly on the evolution of hip-hop in the U.S. Like someone mentioned in class “we used to have songs like ‘I can be, who I wanna be..” and I was thinking “EXACTLY!” Because now we have songs talking about how many women these artists are having sex with, how many times they’ve been shot - as if it’s all a good thing, something to flaunt!

Hip-hop in the U.S. is the most dominant form of the genre, globally. Mainly because it originated here - these artists here set standards and expectations for the genre everywhere else in the world. Not only that, but they have people of all ages listening to their music and looking up to them. As a role model, you should be putting on a good impression - objectifying women and talking about violence is not always appropriate (of course, one might argue that these people look up to these rappers because of these lyrics, I take that into consideration). It’s almost as if these artists are telling people it’s okay to live this lifestyle!

This is where the material from unit 4 ties in with everything. 

I want to make a note upfront - I LOVE hip-hop, so in no way am I trying to knock it.

The material in the unit we’ve just covered in class, has taught me that hip-hop has grown from a small place in new york by a few males and females, to being global. It is responsible for most, if not all, the genres of music that we have now, which is amazing to me. But unfortunately, I feel that it has evolved entirely - it used to be a form of expression in a sort; men and women created it through things they had in their heads, something they would want to hear and/or see - but now it seems like it’s just conformed to societies expectations (but then again, I suppose you succeed by producing what societies want).

This video by Jackson Katz explains the construction of masculinity extremely well and brings up a lot of good points; (1) violence is often linked with men of color, (2) white men seem the most in power.

Well, for one, these hip-hop artists are in powerful positions and with them often flaunting guns, doesn’t help this perception. Two, perhaps it’s become like a competition, rather than everything being dominated by white men, men of color are firing back.

Perhaps it’s a vicious circle? 

These expectations have seem to come too far. Not so much for women, but for men. It makes me think of power trips. I feel that every masculine man is on a power trip (or as I like to call them, tools).

This is where “hegemonic masculinity” comes from. Hegemonic masculinity is pretty much best defined as the most dominant form of masculinity, think of it as a hierarchy. Because society has constructed these gender roles that men have to live by, their power trips seem to get worse and worse. 

A man by the name of Paul Kivel proposed the “act-like-a-man-box”. This box represents the expectations and consequences of being/not being masculine. Metaphorically, men are stuck on the inside of the box with all of the masculine expectations - being strong, non-emotional, having control over your own behaviors, etc. If you step out of this box, you are being exposed to verbal and physical abuse from others such as being called a “pussy” or a “sissy”. The messed up part is that men aren’t even born in to this box, they’re shaped this way.

When my sociology teacher made a point that there is no such thing as a “natural image”, she wasn’t kidding.

This construction has lead to so many issues in the world today. Women are viewed as soft, delicate, and vulnerable. While men are on the other end of the spectrum and are viewed as strong, powerful, and masculine. 

If we don’t fit in with these constructions, we’re deviant and become an outsider.

I can say that I’m just as guilty as the rest of us. But I know that I don’t always have to be dressed like a girl - but then when you see females who are not acting “appropriately”, we’re accused of being “butch” and being called a lesbian. Same thing goes for men, when they step out of their masculine box, they’re called a “faggot”. Why is it so important for society to have to be able to identify everyone?