Grown Folks Hip Hop

The Role of Women in Today's Hip-Hop World

The Role of Women in Hip Hop is a much debated topic and has been for a few years now. Most of the debate focused on video models and misogynistic images and lyrics in rappers' videos and songs. It seems as though the radio and even nightclub DJs are convinced that females only like Hip-Hop songs with catchy hooks and are ideal to listen to when sliding down poles gathering singles. I hear about the exploitation of women in Hip-Hop all the time, but it seems as though the entertainment industry has exploited women for years before Hip-Hop became the latest genre to join in the disrespect. Joan Morgan, who considers herself a hip hop feminist, gives some reasons on why sexism and misogyny is so prevalent in Hip Hop. One is, "Many black men within hip-hop culture who battle racism and oppression themselves everyday have been conditioned by society not to trust or love, and if they do not love themselves, it is difficult for them to love women or anyone else in a healthy manner." I'm not sure if I agree with that 100%, but another reason gives seems to suggest that this type of behavior is deliberate and systematic, "Misogynistic ideas and practices from the past have been passed down to today's hip-hop youth. For example, during slavery the black woman was often forced to have sexual relations with any male (slave masters, overseers, and slaves) that desired her." (source: mysistas.com). Yet another reason seems to get at the self-esteem of some of the young ladies being mistreated, "In order to gain access to these things and to get the love and attention from men that they want, some women felt they must cater to the exploitative images of what men want and think women should be." I said this to a friend of mine and he asked me, "OK, so how do you explain women like this Buffie the Body chick? Isn't she, and other females with similar resumes, part of the machine?" Is there anything women can do to stop the exploitation? Should they take any blame or are they pawns in a much bigger game? If radio had the type of rules that HBO used to have ("R" rated movies only ran after 8pm), would that help? I'm just saying if I'm driving to work at 8:30am and "The Whisper Song" comes on, that can't be a good thing. Right?