Posts tagged hip hop feminism.

Lupe Fiasco’s “Bitch Bad” is only the latest example of a male hip-hop star trying to empower women but actually demeaning them.

Queen Latifah - U.N.I.T.Y

Great piece over at Spin which interviews awesome blogger Latoya Peterson, owner and editor of the website Racialicious, as she argues against Spin writer Brandon Soderberg’s assertion that “there’s been a notable shift in the treatment of male-female sexual relationships in the songs of rap (for the better) and R&B (for the worse)” 

Some pieces from the conversation:

What is interesting to me is that you didn’t focus on larger themes of masculinity, gender, race, or other societal factors in your columns. The most striking thing to me is how, over time, the boundaries of acceptable types of masculinity have blurred. Rappers are allowed to show more range because the game changed. It happens.

…Alcohol is the most effective date-rape drug out there. And that’s everywhere—in college parties and house parties and on up to bottle service. So it’s not necessarily endemic to R&B….

 
…It’s not better or worse, though. It’s all still part of how “rape culture” manifests in society. You can have lyrics that demand certain sexual acts and then tell a woman to get out, treating her like an object. Or you can have the “couple more shots and you open up like a book” style. But it’s the same basic thing. In both scenarios, the artists are removing agency from the woman and putting their desires at the forefront…

…Generally speaking, pop culture is not interested in the desires of women. Every industry has this problem. There’s no Bechdel Test for records, but generally what women are doing isn’t considered noteworthy unless it’s tailored for male consumption. Trey Songz may get to be eye candy and Kanye gets to have a few reflective moments, but that doesn’t mean society suddenly has started caring more about what women want.