User:Phadid/Misogyny in rap music

Degradation of African-American women

Many commentators believe that African American women suffer from high levels of stereotyping and the resultant discrimination and have done stretching back as far as the end of slavery. Some argue this leads to the misogynistic claims against African American women to be more rationalized or go unnoticed. The portrayal of African American women in rap music videos is done respect to hegemonic controlling images. This form of discrimination is known as “misogynoir,” a term used by Black feminist Patricia Hill Collins that is linked to the anti-Black racism and sexism towards Black women in visual and digital culture in the US. This term was coined by Moya Bailey in 2008. In a study of the images of African American women in rap music videos, three stereotypes were revealed: Jezebel, Sapphire, and Mami/Baby Mama". In an analysis of 38 rap music videos, Emerson noticed that videos have the ideological controlling image of the hypersexual "jezebel" as well images of agency, independence, strength, and autonomy. Emerson also points out that the videos often feature reversals of the traditional focus on female bodies from the male gaze. Instead, he notes that the videos have in common "the construction of the male body, and particularly the black male body, as the object of Black female pleasure".

"Based on these three stereotypes, the videos present African American women as greedy, dishonest, sex objects, with no respect for themselves or others, including the children under their care. The women in the videos are scorned by men and exist to bring pleasure to them." In the genre of "gangsta rap", originally known as reality rap, women but more specifically African American women, are lessened to mere objects, with their only purpose being good for sex as well as abuse, and at the end of the day are a burden to men. It is understood that rap culture did not invent sexism and violence, nor words used for discrimination, but is argued to perpetuate derogatory social behaviors and relationships between men and women within the black community.

Misogynistic descriptions of black women in rap music is predominantly dominated by their black male counterparts which might actually reflect a real problem between the tensions of gender relationships within African American communities. In Dennis Herds article, Rose (2008) states, "Sexism is visible, vulgar, aggressive and popular, fueled by a complex of factors including sexism in black communities that influence rappers' attitudes and lyrics as well as the patriarchal values permeating the wider society".