"Booty Rap:" A Story About The Sexual Objectification Of Women In Hip Hop

Objectification of women is not a new topic, misogyny has been apart of our world cultures since the dawn of (wo)man. It ranges in severity across the globe but in almost every culture and civilization women have been systematically oppressed, degraded and objectified. On a positive note its currently the best time in recorded human history to be a female but take it with a grain of salt because on a daily basis our mothers, sisters, lovers and friends go through a gauntlet of unwanted sexualisation and patriarchal oppression. I am constantly ashamed of my gender's (male) pejorative disposition in regards to our female counterparts. I am also deeply resentful that the music I love the most is at the forefront of misogynistic tone and content. Hip Hop may not be the only or worst offender but it is the one that seems to stick out the most.

I could sit here and write out hundreds possibly thousands of examples of objectifying rhetoric used in songs from almost every prominent Hip Hop artist throughout time. I could also list out just as many examples of the opposing rhetoric and tone by some of the same artists expressing love and admiration to the females in there lives and communities. What I would rather delve into is the reasons these feelings and language are used to discriminate and belittle women.

If you take a step back and look at our American culture specifically you will find that Hip Hop is not the first art form or industry to be predominantly patriarchal in nature. I mean women didn't have the right to vote until 1920. Therefore in order to understand why the Hip Hop community has a lack of balance of brains to butts you have to understand why American culture as a whole does. Our modern day portrayal of females in all medias can be traced back to the boom in consumerism and the launch of massive advertising campaigns. There is no question that sex sells, its the reason we have ads for burger joints with scantily clad women fondling fast food who realistically do not eat shit like that. What do boobs have to do with burgers? Everything and nothing at the same time.

Humans are sexual beings, for better or worse. Whether its an act of love or pure animalistic need to scratch that proverbial itch. And there is nothing wrong with either of those things. Part of the problem is we as a society tend to "slut shame" we praise men for being a whore but degrade women for the same thing. Being sexual is nothing to be ashamed of, it's one of the greatest pleasures in life. If a woman chooses to display herself in a certain manner whether it be dressed or not that is her choosing and say what you will about it but if it brings her joy or makes her feel confident or radiant your opinion probably doesn't mean shit to her. Most the women in the modeling and advertising world love their job and benefit greatly, monetarily and personally. Same goes for video vixens (women that majoritively work in music video shoots) the problem occurs when there is a disproportionate balance of brains to butts. Meaning there is a lack of representation of the non sexual female, the single mom working 2 jobs to provide for her kids or the female entrepreneur trying to thrive in a world where she earns 77 cents on the dollar. The problem is not the rap videos with beautiful women simply being beautiful, the problem is the lack of content expressing the side that beautiful is not all a woman can be.

"It's important we communicate

And tune the fate of this union to the right pitch

I never call you my bitch or even my boo

There's so much in a name and so much more in you."

- Common

Balance is key to every facet in life, the yin and the yang hold together the fabrics of our reality and lives. In today's popular culture that is put directly in front of us lacks balance. The blame solely lies on us as a culture for help perpetuating this consumer objectification of the female gender. There are plenty of artists who refuse to follow the bling, hoes and money lifestyle they are just pushed out of the spotlight by the copious amounts of "booty rap". Therefore in order to balance the scales we as a culture must help embrace these artists who can sway the pendulum from a state of constant misogyny. Booty rap has its place in Hip Hop it just can not be allowed to be the only representation in popular culture. Call your local radio stations and request songs that spotlight women for the intellectual, strong, passionate beings that they are. Quit watching videos that you feel overly objectify and belittle females. Money speaks volumes, more so than a heated Facebook rant or tweet, put your money where your mouth is and support the balance.