Bitches & Sisters♥

I attended a conference at my university a couple weeks ago, which covered subjects such as prostitution, human trafficking, abuse, and the like. During one session, we watched Byron Hurt's documentary Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. I'd seen the documentary a few semesters ago, in my African-American Culture course. The film was just as good the second time around...
A scene that really stands out to me captures Byron's interview with spring breakers walking on the streets of Daytona. He asked guys how they felt about hip-hop lyrics referring to females as bitches and hoes, and he asked women how they felt about being referred to as bitches and hoes. One woman's reply ran somewhere along the lines of "I know they're not talking to me personally, so it doesn't matter." This is a view that many of us share, living in this desensitized world that we live in. After awhile, it becomes hard to ignore the level of misogyny that appears in today’s hip-hop music.
I, personally, do not feel targeted by hip-hop lyrics. As a woman, I understand the argument that when rappers refer to women as bitches and hoes, this is applying a blanket term to us, our mamas, daughters, sisters, cousins, neices, etc. I don’t agree with the misogyny, but I do recognize that for some reason this is what consumers of hip-hop music collectively pay money for, and at the end of the day these artists will do what they need to do and say what they need to say to get paid. Masculinity in our society is defined by how much money a man makes, how aggressive he is, and how many hoes he can get. Why should hip-hop reflect any thing different? Not defending this, just recognizing it for what it is. I believe Jeff Johnson said it best: "Don't blame hip-hop for society's sexism"...
My opinion: we can’t complain and be taken seriously unless we’re serious about it. We hear misogynistic music everyday. What do we do? We nod our heads to it in the car, or shake our asses to it at the club. We download it. We buy it. We burn it. We CONSUME it. If the misogyny hurts your feelings that bad, its on YOU to stop buying it, listening to it, watching it, reading it, and consuming it. It can be done. There are plenty of other options to listen to, watch on TV, and read. Until we can take a steady stand and say NO to misogyny, I think this is one aspect of the hip-hop culture that we’ll just have to deal with. I don’t foresee it going anywhere any time soon, especially if that’s what brings the money in…
x0x0♥