Monday, April 8, 2013

question

do you think that the hip hop artists can stop being sexist?

2 comments:

  1. I think that that question is a little too broad and a little too far-fetched simply because hip hop doesn't exist in a vaccuum. Hip hop, like all other styles of music, is created by people who buy into certain ideologies in certain cultures. Johnny Cash was very sexist, and he sings country. The Beatles were a bit sexist as well but they are still looked at as the epitome of rock music. And then there's Marilyn Manson, who is EXTREMELY sexist and plays strictly metal and industrial.

    What I guess I'm trying to say is that anyone can be sexist, not just hip hop artists. I think we just view them as more sexist because mainstream culture normalizes their activities as being as part of the hip hop culture. I think there's definitely a racial component there too, but I'm too uneducated to make something of a point in this.

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  2. Love Jacki's comment, the nail was hit right on the head right there.

    To follow up, I'd like to quote a line from Cheryl Clarke's essay "The Failure to Transform: Homophobia in the Black Community" (a quote I'm reading in Greg Thomas' "Neo-colonial Canons of Gender and Sexuality after COINTELPRO):

    That there is homophobia among black people in America is largely reflective of the homophobic culture in which we live

    The words could easily become--That there is sexism in hip-hop culture is largely reflective of the sexist culture in which we live.

    Do I think there can ever stop being sexism in hip-hop? Sure, but that requires a transformation of our dominant ideologies as a society.

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