Sexualization and the Power of Women in Hip-Hop
By: Daniel Cuevas, Annabelle Malekos & Karla Mendoza
Is Sex Taking Over the Hip-Hop Industry?
The simple answer to this question is yes. Selling sex has become a very popular form of marketing in the Hip-Hop industry, beginning in the early 1980’s. Nearly every song these days has sexual content embedded in its lyrics and music videos. The most common theme we see in the hip-hop industry is seeing women being objectified and sexualized in videos and lyrics, and with this portrayal of women comes more views, streams, and thus money. A popular trend has been noted across male rappers in the article “Sexualization of Women in the Hip-Hop Industry”, by Courtney Washington. Washington discusses how different rap artists display women in a very vulgar, slutty manner in order to gain viewers and street credit. In most videos, the females are often seen fawning over the rapper, and even fighting one another to get with them. In these videos, women are wearing very little clothing and are talked about in an extremely sexual manner. Their bodies are described for their womanliness, such as their boobs, butts, and viginas. They are severely objectified in many lyrics of rap songs, which can be extremely offensive and degrading for many women. Within the lyrics, we see male rappers telling women how they should look and what their versions of sexiness are. As a result of this phenomenon, we see many women try and alter their bodies to look the way that many rappers want to see women. Whether it’s with boob jobs, butt impacts, fat removal, or plastic surgery, many people have tried to artificially change the way they look because they want to fit the look that many artists describe in their songs. It can have a huge mental toll on a woman because they can start to dislike the body that they have, which can in turn lead to body image issues and even eating disorders. Another reason rappers choose to speak of women in such vulgar ways is to give themselves an ego boost. The rapper usually talks about how many women he’s slept with and how none of them matter to him. For some reason it is commonly regarded as “cool” to rap about sleeping with women, and claiming that they’re only using them for sex. It shows that they have little to no respect for women and how your body count as a rapper can reflect the social status that the said rappers holds. It is similar to how they talk about their money: they’re both disposable. Courtney says “I’m concerned about this. It’s clear to me that some rap artists have little to no respect for women, they prove this in their music lyrics and videos.”. There is a lot of controversy over this topic about whether or not women should be portrayed this way in Hip-Hop songs. Rappers like Queen Latifah rejected this form of degradation by men and chose to portray herself in a more masculine or tom-boyish manner, to the media and in her music videos. Her main goal in doing so was to sidestep the kind of comments that many women receive from men. In her videos and live performances, she was fully/modestly dressed and chose to embed her stories of being objectified in her songs to bring awareness to the subject. Her goal was to change the portrayal of women in rap, and show that rappers should be judged on their talent, rather than how many women they claim to have slept with. She wanted to point out that she didn’t want to be seen as a object for sex, but as a rapper, equal to all the male rappers in the industry. Latifah wanted to equalize the playing field for male and female rap artists in the industry. Her goal was to sell her music and her message, not her body. This isn’t very common anymore with female rappers.
Today, most women realize that male rappers tend to sexualize women in their songs, but instead of fighting it, they have embraced it. Megan Thee Stallion is a prime example of someone who has embraced these objectifications and used it to their advantage. It is a common trend for Megan to be wearing little to no clothes in her music videos, accentuating her feminine qualities to appeal to the male species. The theory that sex sells has proven true for many upcoming artists, like Megan, that make it big in the hip-hop industry. That is the main appeal to sexualizing women in rap songs. The other main appeal is that it gives the artist street credit, which has proven a very important subject in rap communities. Megan is gaining street cred. from other rappers by showing off how her body fits the look that male hip-hop artists rap about. Megan Thee Stallion has taken sexualizing women to a whole new level. She blatantly embraces this phenomenon and portrays a “sexy” lifestyle in the way she dresses, dances, and raps in her music videos and performances. Many people adore her for this because they find her confident, attractive, talented, and it appeals to all sexes. She is able to gain fans from many different groups of people because she is appealing in a manner of people wanting to sleep with her, but also in a manner of admiring her for being so confident. She is admired for talking about what she wants in bed rather than just appealing to what men want in bed, which hasn’t been done before. In other words, she has turned the tables on the male rappers, and is giving them a taste of their own medicine. What’s interesting is that society has never really talked about the fact that women need to be pleased too and that women look good for themselves, not just to please men. With her song WAP featuring Cardi B, Megan raps about her wants from men and the fact that they are proud to be women. Megan and Cardi both dance and dress in very sexual ways because it has proven over time that sex sells, but they also did it to show that they are proud to be women and they are comfortable in their own bodies. They like showing off their own sexiness. The song itself is very vulgar and sexual, but in a way it is empowering women to see that they’re needs are just as important as a man’s needs. Instead of fighting the fact that sexualizing women has become a huge aspect of Hip-Hop culture, Megan and Cardi embrace it in order to fit in with the rap culture, but also to spread a message to their listeners, that men should aim to please women in the same manner that men want to be pleased. I honestly believe that these female rappers are attempting to show that they can do exactly what male rappers do, if not better. WAP actually earned the American Music Award for Favorite Song Rap/Hip-hop. This is a huge accomplishment for women in Hip-Hop, and they did it through selling sex.
Who You Callin a Bitch?
In the early 1970s, hip hop started as a local form of expression by young African-American and Latinos in the South Bronx, New York. Hip Hop went from talking about social inequalities and injustice to a more misogynistic culture. Hip Hop culture has become a culture that degrades women with aggressive rhetoric as stated in “Who You Callin a Bitch?” Black Women’s Complicity and Production of Mass Media Hip Hop Misogyny” by Imani Cheers. She goes on by saying “Black women have been critiquing hip hop’s misogynistic lyrics and images since the early 1990s.” People like C.Deloers Tucker who is a political leader, rapper Sister Souljah, and a young black feminist Joan Morgan have spoken up against the concerning evolution of hip-hop. They go on by acknowledging the pressure some rappers get with their lyrics and the imagery presented in their music videos. Joan Morgan believed that a way that women can overcome misogynistic oppression is by using their strengths and voices to make them stop with the images and lyrics. Women in music videos are usually there as materialistic commodities. In a interview Melyssa Ford’s states, “People were trying to exploit me, but I decided to exploit myself and make all the money from my images..”, she is the very few women who have the ability to take control of her image in the industry because the rest who dance in music videos are not as fortunate. Just like Melyssa Ford, Cardi B with the help of Megan Thee Stallion they decided to express themselves in a sexual manner in their own accords with the song WAP. The song and themselves got a lot of criticism because people thought it was too much and not appropriate. However, Cardi B and Megan’s intentions was to own their on sexuality and not someone else and to empower women to with sex and their bodies. They tried to normalize something that men and the industry have exploited. Imani Cheers also states, “ Images in the mass media that project negative race and gender stereotypes can have a tremendous impact on consumers..”, some of the consumers are young women. The image that the mass media of hip-hop presents affects women’s self-esteem and self-worth. At the end of the day by women speaking up and using their own abilities they can fight the imagery the hip hip has created and misogyny.
Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile
Women rappers are very vulnerable to misreading due to the fact that their presence is ignored or marginalized. They have always been seen as less compared to men in the actual rap community. Most articles written by women about rap are always females trying to shed some light on female rappers and show that they are having a feminists' movement. Rather than women just using their body for sexual lyrics and rather it being a sexual movement. Explain how black women are integral and resistant voices in hip hop and in popular music in general in which they talk about sexual promiscuity, emotional commitment, infidelity, the drug trade, racial politics and black cultural history. It wasn’t that male started rap, women have always been around. They have been known for making their own gangs and parties. Together women ran the game and made it so they are more comfortable. Although women and men both alike rap about the same topics such as sex money and political views women are viewed as more sexual compared to men even thought they talk about the same thing. Ice cube says in an interview when asked if the world of rap is against women. And then he goes onto reply that the whole world is against women he goes on to say “ I mean the power of sex is more powerful than the motherfuckers in Saudi Arabia a girl that u want to get with can you make you do almost anything” I completely agree with this. With that being said rappers that are females and are attractive can u the power of sexual words to get someone to love the song as well get them to do a lot of things. Men are also almost hostile for women because they can get them to do a lot of things. But as well women do tease and make fun of men who do fall into their tricks and those are things that are being talked about in women rap. But this also makes it so it’s one of the things that women use and it makes men upset. Men get upset with women due to the fact that men can control the action of men. And this is why the world gets upset. Overall the power of women has always been around although at the beginning of rap women were silenced they were still a part of rap. Since the beginning women have been feared due to the sexual power that they hold as they have the power to control men.
Bibliography
- Washington, Courtney C. Sexualization of Women in the Hip-Hop Industry, 13 Dec. 2013, courtneycwashington.wordpress.com/.
- Washington, Courtney C. “Sex Takes Over Hip-Hop.” Sexualization of Women in the Hip-Hop Industry, 5 Nov. 2013, courtneycwashington.wordpress.com/2013/10/30/talent-vs-sex/.
- Cheers, Imani M. “‘Who You Callin’ a Bitch?” Black Women’s Complicity and Production of Mass Media Hip Hop Misogyny.” EScholarship, University of California, 12 May 2008, escholarship.org/uc/item/47g9s00n.
- Rose, Tricia. “Never Trust a Big Butt and a Smile.” In Forman and Neal.
