In her book, Cecelia Reclaimed:Femenist Perspectives on Gender and Music, Susan C. Cook explains how women are portrayed in rap music, especially black women. Cook stresses on the idea that there are "negative, stereotypical female roles within music" (Cook 184). Since music is a business, rappers use the idea of sex to sell records. With the idea of sex comes women stereotypes. A woman should have the perfect body, perfect hair, etc, and those women are usually prostitutes and/or whores. According to Cook, a few terms used for women within rap music are, "skeezers, hoes, sluts, whores, and bitches". Not only is the view of women potrayed as negative, but rap music is a male-dominated industry. Not many women are wel-known rappers, and if there is a woman rapper, then she is seen as being a lesbian or aggressive. On a positive note, Cook explains how women are starting to stop being the "objects" in rap songs, but rather be the "subjects". Women are starting to get their voices heard and producing songs. WOmen are bringing in a different tone to rap music and starting to change the views that the industry portrays. It took a while for female rappers to be taken seriously, but progress has been made. The first female rap duo was Salt n' Pepa and they had a hit called "Express Yourself". Salt n' Pepa were feminists that expressed their views and feelings about women through their music. A segment from their song says, "I'm not a man, but I am in command. Hot damn, I got an all girl band". These lyrics really show how important it was to change the view on women within the rap community.
Although their are still negative views of women within rap music, progress is being made and hopefully one day the stereotypical ideas will no longer exist.
By Toni
Works cited
Cook, Susan C. "The Conflicting Nature of Females in Rap Music." Cecilia Reclaimed: Femenist Perspectives on Gender and MUsic. 183-96. Print.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Gender in Country Music Videos
Country music videos are known for an array of things: cowboy boots, horses, flannel shirts, wide brimmed hats, and worn out blue jeans. Women country singers also use these props, and go outside the gender roles that apply not only for entertainers, but for all people. In her article, "Women In Country Music Videos", Janelle Wilson says, "I suggest that country music videos offer a space for contemporary female artists to more visually and openly challenge that which their predecessors challenged in their time--the traditional, confining gender roles that dominate American culture espouses" (Wilson 2000). Later in the conclusion to that same article, she says, "It would be overly sanguine to suggest that country music has created the liberated woman, but it does seem fair to suggest that country music is an element of popular culture in which we can wee women's resistance to submissive roles" (Wilson 200). Janelle Wilson expresses in her article that she believes country music has helped women break from their gender roles and become something the music industry has never seen before. Most female country music stars seem to agree with what Wilson says. They are hesitant to step into the typical women entertainers' costumes.
With the recent uprising of women country stars, the country music industry decided to name 1997 the "Year of the Woman". In female country stars' videos, they depict women as strong and independent, while male stars do the opposite. In their article "Country Music Videos in Country Music's Year of the Woman", JL Andsager and K Roe prove that, "by analyzing 285 CMT videos, we found that most female artists' videos portrayed women progressively, whereas male artists portrayed them stereotypically" (Andsager, Roe 2006). This proof also coincides with what Janelle Wilson said in her article. Women country stars are hesitant to depict themselves as sex objects, and instead portray women as a minority to watch out for.
Works Cited:
Wilson, Janelle. "Women in Country Music Videos". ETC: A Review of General Semantics. Vol. 53. Issue 3. 2000.
Andasger, JL. Roe, K. "Country Music Videos in Country Music's Year of the Woman". Journal of Communication. Vol. 49. Issue 1. Pgs 69-82. 1999.
Written by Kelly Rothe.
With the recent uprising of women country stars, the country music industry decided to name 1997 the "Year of the Woman". In female country stars' videos, they depict women as strong and independent, while male stars do the opposite. In their article "Country Music Videos in Country Music's Year of the Woman", JL Andsager and K Roe prove that, "by analyzing 285 CMT videos, we found that most female artists' videos portrayed women progressively, whereas male artists portrayed them stereotypically" (Andsager, Roe 2006). This proof also coincides with what Janelle Wilson said in her article. Women country stars are hesitant to depict themselves as sex objects, and instead portray women as a minority to watch out for.
Works Cited:
Wilson, Janelle. "Women in Country Music Videos". ETC: A Review of General Semantics. Vol. 53. Issue 3. 2000.
Andasger, JL. Roe, K. "Country Music Videos in Country Music's Year of the Woman". Journal of Communication. Vol. 49. Issue 1. Pgs 69-82. 1999.
Written by Kelly Rothe.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Gender and Sexuality in our Performances
For this last post on musical theatre, I will answer the age
old question: How does musical performance mirror the gender and sexuality of
our society?
According to Pirkko Moisala scholarly article “Musical Gender in Performance”, “The bodily nature of music intertwines
deeply with human sexuality”. In a sense,
performance embodies an audience’s interests and desires. Sexuality (in its wide variety) is explicitly
conveyed on stage in a variety of ways.
The article went on to say, “Music seems to be a site where we not only
free ourselves from gender limitations but also from the limitations of
conventional sexuality.” Music and
performance provide a canvas for expression and a diversity of moods. This variety can help us a society better
understand each other and our wide spectrum of perspectives. Moisala reinforces this idea in her
article. “As a unique human expression
that combines our bodily and cultural identity with idiosyncratic creativity,
music provides an interesting setting for gender performance and negotiation in
all sociohistorical and cultural contexts”.
Altogether, Moisala is hopeful for a future of equality and sees art as
the vessel for egalitarianism in our modern world. “The performative nature of music…allow for
an interesting and possibly radical, if not revolutionary, site in which new
kinds of gender performances and gender identities can evolve and which,
eventually, may transgress the gender boundaries of any society. The concept of
"musical gender," I hope, will help us to move away from looking at
what "men" or "women" do with music to an investigation of
how music acts in the practices of gender signification and resignification.
Music and musical gender can and should be used to deconstruct gender dichotomies
and to appreciate all gender differences and variations.”
This pairing with sexuality, gender, music, and dance is often so explicit
that the performance becomes controversial.
Judith Lynne Hanna’s article “Dance and Sexuality: Many Moves” addresses
this very concept. Her article addressed
religion’s view of dance as “immoral”.
Hanna’s article views dance, sexuality, and musical performance and a
union of strength and free expression.
“Dance and sexuality (are) a source of power (and) manifestations of
sexuality in Western theater art and social dance, plus ritual and non-Western
social dance. Expressions of gender, sexual orientation, asexuality, ambiguity,
and adult entertainment exotic dance are presented.” Hanna argues that because of such traditionalist
judgments toward dance, the gap between free expression and conservativeness
will only widen in our futures.
Nevertheless throughout this debate, the connection between performance
and sexuality only grows closer. At the
extreme end of dance, exotic dancers literally connect their specific type of
performance with sexuality and gender.
Everywhere in between sex workers and church choirs, sexuality and
gender are addressed through performance.
Altogether, musical performance directly relates to gender and sexuality. From musical theatre to strip tease to opera,
gender and sexuality are addressed.
Audience members make quick judgments biased on context clues about
characters and categorize them instantly.
This gender and sexuality framing is ever-present in our lives and it is
directly reflected in our entertainment.
Works Cited
Hanna, Judith Lynne. “Dance and
Sexuality: Many Moves”. Journal of Sex Research.
Moisala, Pirkko. “Musical Gender in Performance”. Woman
& Music 1999: 1-30. Web
article. University of Nebraska
-Written by Michael Herman
-Written by Michael Herman
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