Sex and Violence

Sex and violence are both wildly popular among punks and as they are so popular they are joked about frequently. Punks love violence, from hitting their friends in a mosh pit to calling the people to arms over political injustice, violence is a common component of the punk subculture. Sex is also an integral part of any culture and when you put sex and violence together it's a lovable match. Since punks love to make fun of themselves and everything else, the combination of sex and violence is the butt of a number of jokes and raunchy songs. Despite this, however I haven't been able to find any statistics on actual rates of sexual assault. In my personal experience I think you're more likely to hear offensive language but less likely to actually be assaulted. Since punks use humor to address the problem, they're actually able to talk about it. Every punk I've met has been violently against sexual assault and would most likely hurt someone if they found out they were a perpetrator of assault.
In punk lyrics however, it's a totally different story. Violent sexual imagery is very commonplace, and the more gruesome and horrifying it would be in real life, the funnier it seems to be in songs. These next two songs aren't exactly punk but they fit the idea well. The first is Guns N Roses I used to love her.

 

Here's eight minutes of pure insanity. This one is a little bit disgusting but it's interesting and a good song nonetheless. Here is A little piece of heaven by Avenged Sevenfold.

 

These are some more violent songs without as much obvious humor and notice that the most frequent target is a female love interest. This is Die Die my Darling by the Misfits.

 

The violence is not always toward women, however. There is a frequent trend of sado-masochism present in punk. Here's a local band from Lake County IL, Rule 22.
 

Another great song from them is called "Grab Your Ankles" in which many members of the audience strip down and mosh naked. I'm not going to post the link to this video but it is available. It's a very funny song with explicit and exaggerated lyrics and it's very fun to see live. I'm not sure when the naked moshing started but it is very much a tradition for that song. As the audience has been getting younger and younger, it's rare to hear them play this live anymore so consider it a treat if you ever get to see them play it. In short, punks love sex and violence and view it differently than most.

Domestic Violence Subjects in hip-hop

There have been many hip-hop artists who have been subjects to domestic violence, and not all of them have been recent. A couple happened back in the 80's. A couple artists from the 80's were Madonna and Whitney Houston. Madonna was abused by her ex-lover, Sean Penn. They were married and he plead guilty to a misdemeanor. A year later they were divorced. Madonna stated that during their marriage, Penn had many violent outbursts toward her and others. Another 80's artist was Whitney Houston. Houston had a different story, her lover Bobby Brown was not the one doing the hitting, Houston was. Everybody thought it was Brown hitting Houston, therefore, he was arrested. After his arrest, Houston confessed and the couple was divorced. A couple recent artists are Mariah Carey, and Rihanna. Carey admitted in 2009 that she was a victim of physical and mental abuse. She was abused by her husbad, who in which she married in 1993 and divorced 5 years later, Tommy Motolla. She explained her marriage as being "more than just a marriage, but a business where a person was in control of my whole life." LAst but not least, everyone knows about Rihanna. She was beaten in a car by Chris Brown. Rihanna noticed he was texting an ex and took his phone and went through it. Brown aledgedly beat her badly. It was not only her face, but her whole body. The couple broke up, but they recently decided to get back together.

By Toni

Musical Theatre and Expression

The following article is a critical examination of the relationship between musical performance and expression of gender and sexuality. The article states that gender and sexuality are not the same; but rather both can be examined through the expression of music. Both a brief history of musical expression and an accurate description of modern musical expression are detailed throughout this article.  Ultimately, throughout the piece the author (Moisala, Pirkko) seeks to dissect the complex relationship of gender and sexuality when they are uncoiled by musical performance.


http://proquest.umi.com/pqdlink?did=625134411&Fmt=2&rqt=309&cfc=1



-Written by Michael Herman

Musical Theatre Book Addressing Gender and Sexuality

If you're fascinated by musical theatre's connection to gender and sexuality, I recently found a book that outlines the details of their rich historic connection...

A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)

(Book description)

Subverting assumptions that American musical theater is steeped in nostalgia, cheap sentiment, misogyny, and homophobia, this book shows how musicals of the 1950s and early 1960s celebrated strong women characters who defied the era's gender expectations. A Problem Like Maria reexamines the roles, careers, and performances of four of musical theater's greatest stars-Mary Martin, Ethel Merman, Julie Andrews, and Barbra Streisand-through a lesbian feminist lens. Focusing on both star persona and performance, Stacy Wolf argues that each of her subjects deftly crafted characters (both on and offstage) whose defiance of the norms of mid-twentieth century femininity had immediate appeal to spectators on the ideological and sexual margins, yet could still play in Peoria.

Chapter by chapter, the book analyzes the stars' best-known and best-loved roles, including Martin as Nellie in South Pacific, Merman as Momma Rose in Gypsy Andrews as Eliza in My Fair Lady and Guinevere in Camelot, and Streisand as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl. The final chapter scrutinizes the Broadway and film versions of The Sound of Music, illuminating its place in the hearts of lesbian spectators and the "delicious queerness" of Andrews's troublesome nun. As the first feminist and lesbian study of the American Broadway musical, A Problem Like Maria is a groundbreaking contribution to feminist studies, queer studies, and American studies and a delight for fans of musical theater.

-Courtesy of A Problem Like Maria: Gender and Sexuality in the American Musical (Triangulations: Lesbian/Gay/Queer Theater/Drama/Performance)



-Written by Michael Herman

The use of "No Homo"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84wHXT2KgWY

Here is a link to a video that demonstrates the use of "No Homo" in hip-hop today. "No Homo" started because guys were not only scared of looking or acting gay, but also sounding gay. It was started by the rapper Cam'ron. Cam'ron wore pink all of the time so he came up with "No Homo" to assure people that he was not gay. It was said that hip-hop discriminates against gay people, and not many rappers realize it. It is all merely based on opinion. Some rappers are starting to realize what they are doing. therefore, some progress is being made. The bottom line is that "No Homo" should not be used.

By Toni

The shock factor

A common element of punk is the idea of challenging previous norms, whether those be gender norms, political norms or behavior and appearance norms. One attempt at challenging these norms is to use shock, either to provoke a reaction and thought or to normalize something that was once considered taboo and because sexuality has many taboos associated with it, it is often used to get a reaction. By being blatantly explicit and wearing fetish wear, women's clothing and makeup, bands challenge the idea that only certain people wear these things. One example that has been making the rounds lately is a picture of Iggy Pop in a dress with the caption "I'm not ashamed to dress like a woman because I don't think it's shameful to be a woman" Found at: http://transcendboundaries.tumblr.com/post/16935258298/three-images-of-iggy-pop-in-a-dress-with-text

Iggy is hardly the first punk to dress like a woman onstage though. The New York Dolls regularly dressed in women's clothing, shoes and makeup and there is a whole genre called glam rock that revolves around dressing with items traditionally associated with women.

 

from  http://www.allstarpics.net/0113366/012143774/the-new-york-dolls-pic.html

Women's clothes aren't the only things used to shock, however. Rammstein, a German metal band known best for their song Du Hast has numerous songs with very explicit content and the performance of their song Buch Dich has gotten them banned from several venues. In this song the singer drags his band-mate around in bondage wear and pantomimes having anal sex with him. He pulls out a false penis that is connected to a pump full of custard and proceeds to douse the audience in "semen". (super explicit)

Still another example is the excessive use of words considered highly offensive. The band Orange put out a song on the Hellcat Record's album Give 'em the Boot 5 that is based entirely around the word cunt. Have a listen if you would:

http://grooveshark.com/s/I+m+A+C+T/2NpUD9?src=5

 The use of this shock technique is so common, in fact that it will likely be an integral part of punk forever. Challenging standards is a punk thing to do and since the vast majority of the public has sex, it's an easy way to shock just about everyone.

Feminism in country

Recently, I discovered country artist Loretta Lynn and was struck my the feminism expressed in her lyrics. Loretta will turn 78 in April, and has quite an extravagant history which may add a background to her feminist lyrics. She was first married when she was only 14 years old to a man 8 years older than herself, in order to escape the coal miner's town and life she was heading down. Her marriage was rocky, her husband had many affairs, and she was a very headstrong woman. Her lyrics reflect a lot of that:

"And don't come home a drinkin' with lovin' on your mind/Just stay out there on the town and see what you can find/Cause if you want that kind of love well you don't need none of mine/So don't come home a drinkin' with lovin' on your mind"-"Don't Come Home A-Drinkin

Loretta also brings out the topic of contraceptives in her song, "The Pill."

"All these years I`ve stayed at home while you had all your fun/And every year that`s gone by another baby's come/There's gonna be some changes made right here on Nursery Hill/This old maternity dress I've got is going in the garbage/The clothes I`m wearing from now on won't take up so much yardage/Miniskirts hotpants and a few little fancy frills/Yeah I`m making up for all those years since I've got the pill."

Now, being written in 1975, this was very, very risky. This song started a whole knew craze for women country stars, proving that you can write about what you think and feel just as men can, without losing popularity or respect.

Loretta was something completely different than what the country music world had know. However, her courage and willingness to sing the truth was a guiding light for future country stars.