Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Hip-Hop Art or Misogyny?












Art or Misogyny? ghettoGEEKS need to hear from you!

OuttaBoundz
www.ghettogeekin.blogspot.com

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

By dictionary definition, Misogyny is "the hatred of women". Therefore, I do not think it is fair to say the depiction of these women in such a subjective way is misogyny exactly. However, neither do I believe that this is a form of "art".

Personally, I think the portrayal of women in manners such as these are ridiculous. It is not derived from hatred though. Misogyny would not be the correct term to use. If anything, the pictures are symbolic of the love of women too much- not hatred. What's wrong with loving women? Nothing. It is the loving of these women as OBJECTS that makes it so wrong, in my opinion. Women were not put on this earth to be dressed up-or in this case, dressed down- for the sole purpose of being plastered up on pictures in such graphic ways.

Then again, what is art? Is it an expression of creativity? An image of color that is pleasant to look at? Depending on how you want to interpret “art” itself, is a question within itself.

Whether people want to consider pictures of women such as these as being a part of hip-hop or not is beyond me. Hip-Hop is a culture. If a culture wants to inhabit the degrading of women into their customs and values, that is up to them. I am no one to judge.

brentwad100 said...

I don't think posing in underwear or bathing suits for the camera is a form of misogyny. It is another money making form of entertainment for men. This beautiful imagery triggers the male testosterone like a man watching someone score a touchdown or slam dunking on another man as tall as Mount Everest. I believe this activity is purely entertainment and innocent, as it is consensual between two parties “adults”, as none of the female models are forced to pose.

In my humble opinion, I believe any naysayer, basically women highly critical of the profession are just merely envious of the physique these women posses and maintain. Further, any man that questions these images and analyze their meaning are more than likely not equipped to obtain a women with these elaborate physical attributes or perhaps they are envious as well, which begs some questions. Lastly, it has been my experience that most women desire to look sexy or would love the opportunity to showcase it if their physiques were suitable to do so.

To overanalyze and dissect this profession and relate it to any historical objectification of black women such as Sarah Barman is merely a weak argument and a waste of time in my opinion. |

This is a country that allows people to capitalize on whatever supply “attribute or skill" they have and sex “sexy” is high in demand.



BW

jk said...

Hip-Hop Art or Misogyny?
the term misogyny is a term that I would not use in this situation, hatred towards women is such a negative statement but I would neither call it art, in my opinion this images portray women who are been used and seen as objects, you ask objects for what? objects that will sell something, an album, themselves or a song.
Hip-hop has such a negative vibe and such a turn off and this is due to a few who rap and expose women in a negative manner, and the women who agree to be viewed in this way is really sad, by saying that I mean they may not see the harm in it but it is pitiful that these are images that our children are exposed to and the message that we are sending to them is that it is acceptable to be seen or to be objectified in this way . Hip-Hop art? I don't think so.
jk

kaylee johnson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

First off as a young man I feel compelled to comment on what fine specimens these lovely ladies are, but I must get right down to the question at hand. Is this Misogyny? Taking a literary denotation of Misogyny it means the contempt and or hatred for women. Under this premise I cannot say that hip hops portrayal of women is a form of misogyny. It is clearly a misrepresentation of black women, but the brothers participating in and contributing to the Hip Hop subculture do not hate women, every man has a mother and most love them deeply, rather they objectify women as a whole and exploit their assets in such a way that the younger generation of men see them as simply the personification of sex. Black men and men in general see sex and the males dominating role in the action as a form of power. When you transpose this rationale on a male member of a minority group, typically having little power, he is going to try to exploit it and flaunt it as it is one of the only forms of power he posses. Throughout history women have always been treated unequal from their male counterparts. Studying gender roles in America makes it obvious that women are socialized to have less power (economic/political) than men and women, being highly intelligent and adaptive, are exploiting many new measures to gain more power and prestige in society. Some women are even willing to submit themselves to male sexist tendencies hoping to raise their socio-economic status and gain security for their children's future. Conversely they end up reinforcing the stereotypes that the culturally hegenemous media is feeding the society. We as black men love women but in certain instances are directed by outside entities to undervalue and degrade them. Hip Hop has always been a form of expression from the minority perspective, which are the underdogs of society. It expresses some differences than the main culture, but it is not a completely separate cultural entity. It still displays some of the social ailments that are present in the dominant culture (American) and I believe sexploitation of women is an integral part of our society as a whole. That being said it does not excuse the blatant use of degrading stereotyping of women in the hip hop culture. Art or misogyny? Neither, its money.Hate it or love it the underdog is not on top.Raion out.....

S.Thompson aka Shiori Raion

Anonymous said...

I think you're all self inflated egotists that can't form a coherent fucking sentence to save your lives. The O.P. doesn't know the meaning of misogyny, and these women appeal mainly to a typical american black male audience. Of course, there's plenty of white wannabes that'll salivate over this shit too. Don't get me wrong. I'd buy any one of these women Mc.Donalds on my day off from my shitty fucking office job. To the moron who made such a gloriously sweeping statement that, and I paraphrase, "Anyone that doesn't like these women or disagrees, obviously isn't equipped to obtain them." Obviously, you lack a brain. Anyway, I'm about done here. Let me leave you with this though. The objectification of women has brought females above males over the last 20 years. We willingly buy them glittery things and offer to take good care of them. All the while they've been gaining political, social, and economic power. They crave equality but are free to abuse men as they see fit, use them, and inevitably drive them insane. We will continue to objectify them as long as we desire to get our dicks wet, this trash will continue as long as we live. As one partially informed soul mentioned, to debate is a waste of time. I agree with that much at least.