An essay that describes how music degrades women with it's lyrics.

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Jonathan Davila
Professor Dougherty
English 68
11 November 2010
Sound of Violence
Music has always been a way for people to forget about their problems
and as a way of relaxing, but some people disagree by saying that music is
what causes violence in our society. In John Hamerlinck’s essay “Killing
Women: A Pop-Music Tradition,” he gives many examples of music artists
that use lyrics that degrade women and cause violence against women. I
disagree with music lyrics degrade and cause violence against women because
throughout time there has always been violence against women, but not
because of lyrics that someone sings. In my case music often brings back good
memories of when I traveled or when I was out with my friends. Some music
does degrade women because many artists talk about sleeping with women
and being with whomever they want. The lyrics in a song will not cause
someone to go out of their way to go hurt women. The media often portray
women wearing very little clothing such as bikinis and short skirts. Although
music contains many bad lyrics that degrade women we cannot blame music
for violence that is turned towards women.
Everyday people listen to music whose lyrics often talk about
violence, rape, and drugs. We never hear someone on the news say that they
killed someone because of a song. Many artists use their lyrics as a way of
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helping people forget their problems. Although this may be true John
Hamerlinck talks about a song called “Careless Love,” which states, “he
promises to shoot his lover numerous times and then stand over her until she
is finished dying”(Hamerlinck 169). Lyrics such as these cannot be blamed for
the violence against women we face in our society. Many times these acts of
violence against women occur because of rage or because of problems in a
relationship. John Hamerlinck also quotes a song stating, “that prison chains
are better than having a women cheat and lie to you” (Hamerlinck 169). This
shows us that he believes that due to these lyrics someone would be willing to
kill their wife just to be put in jail. Many husbands kill their wives because of
jealousy or because they are facing mental issues that affect the way they
think. Based on this analysis we can conclude that lyrics are not the reason
why people are out committing acts of violence towards others.
On the radio we often hear rap and rock artist whose lyrics talk about
women’s bodies and how men with money can sleep with whoever they want.
These lyrics do indeed degrade women because it makes it look like the man
has more power over the women. Although women listen to the same music as
men they may not realize how rude the lyrics may be, because they are too
busy listening to the beat of the song. John Hamerlinck states that people often
think that, “if the beat is good and the chorus has a catchy hook, we don’t
need to concern ourselves with things like meaning, right?”(Hamerlinck 171).
Most songs produced by artists often have a meaning to them whether it is
about a relationship or a problem they faced in life. For example, I listen to
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bands that can relate to Hamerlinck’s essay but that does not mean I’m going
to listen to what the singer says. People could often relate with a song
because of it has meaning to them, but most people do not care about the
lyrics because they are too busy listening to the good beats instead of the true
meanings behind the lyrics. The people who do listen to the lyrics often
realize that they should not be listening to that type of music because of all the
bad language and rude comments.
Violence against women is one of the most widespread human rights
abuses affecting the world today. Every day, thousands of women and girls
are abused and murdered by their families, raped in armed conflicts and
attacked for defending woman's rights. People do not find the lyrics offensive
due to the fact they view it simply as entertainment. John Hamerlinck says
that, “as long as men have sung the blues, they have told stories of killing the
women who have “done them wrong.””(Hamerlinck 169). A lot of criminals
who are in jails for domestic violence never tell authorities that they murdered
or raped a women just because of some lyrics they heard in a song. Violence
against women has been accepted and even condoned throughout history.
Hamerlinck is wrong in thinking that lyrics cause such violence towards
women, because if this was true everyone would be out committing these acts
of violence. From film to television to music videos, song lyrics, t-shirts and
advertisements, violence against women is often portrayed as normal or erotic.
To say that music is the reason for violence against women is wrong
because it is caused mostly by what they wear and also depends on who they
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hang around with. People cannot be blaming music saying that it encourages
violence against women, because the women are the ones who make the
choices on what they wear and how they want to be treated by a man. A
lesson we can learn from this is that people should not let music control their
lives, because that just shows how weak the person really is. By understanding
the lyrics of a song we can decide on whether to continue listening to the song
or change our taste of music to something more calm and relaxing. If people
do not want to hear lyrics that degrade women they should just change the
station and live on with their current lives.
957 Words
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