The document discusses misogyny in hip-hop culture, including common themes of objectifying and disrespecting women found in lyrics and music videos. It notes research finding a correlation between exposure to misogynistic media and harmful attitudes. While some artists claim it reflects societal values, critics argue it negatively impacts views of women and gender roles, especially for young audiences. Female artists have challenged these themes but faced an uphill battle against a male-dominated industry where sex and provocation often boost commercial success.

1. MISOGYNY IN HIP-HOP
CULTURE
By Joshua Greenspan
WMST250-0801

2. MISOGYNY IN HIP-HOP CULTURE
• Refers to any aspects of the hip-hop culture that objectifies women.
• In lyrics, videos, etc.
• Examples:
• Violence towards women
• Sexual acts performed for men
• Derogatory names for women

3. REASONING BEHIND IT
• Misogyny is used in hip-hop culture by artists to:
• Assert masculinity
• Demonstrate authenticity
• Reflect main-stream attitudes
• Internalized negative stereotypes
• Commercial success

4. CLAIMS OF LEGITIMACY
• Many artists believe misogyny in hip-hop is simply a piece of the larger
societal issue
• Hip-Hop reflects general American mainstream values
• Hip-Hop is shaped by society
• Hip-Hop provides an incentive for young African-Americans to act out
violently to prove their masculinity

5. RESEARCH CONDUCTED
• An average 20%-37% of hip-hop songs contain misogynistic lyrics
• 66% of African-American females and 57% of males believe hip-hop lyrics
and videos are offensive and misogynistic
• On average 22% of an artists song tracks will contain misogynistic lyrics (2001)
• Eminem had 78%

6. TRACKING MISOGYNY
• Worst offender: Raw, Uncut and X-Rated (Too $hort, 1985 album)
• “She’s a Bitch,” “The Bitch Sucks Dick” and “Invasion of the Flat Booty
Bitch,” were only a few titles
• As the graph shows, this began the great down spiral of misogyny
• The album averaged 26.4 misogynistic profanities per song
• There was a lull in instances until the late 90’s
• Era from the late 90’s until early 00’s:
• Due to Dr. Dre, Tupac, Jay-Z, and Ludacris
• Ludacris has 3/10 of the most misogynistic songs
• Era from 2001-2005:
• Large decrease
• Era from 2006-Future:
• Erratic but increasing trend

7. SOCIAL IMPACT
• An ethnographic study of inner-city
neighborhoods in Philadelphia indicated that
young men attempt to raise their social status
through misogynistic actions.
• The more a boy publicly exploited a woman,
the higher his social status with his peers.
• Increased sexual aggression towards women
• Increased sexist attitudes towards women
• Increased association of African-American
men and negativity with white males
• Increased perception of African-American
males as sexist and hostile

8. DETRIMENT TO CHILDREN
• In a longitudinal study:
• Teens listening to sexually degrading music will have sex at an earlier age
• Repeated exposure causes females to have lower expectations of respect from
partners
• Women learn to expect disrespect from partners
• Women take a submissive role
• A 2011 study found:
• Age and listening habits are key factors
determining view and impact of
misogynistic ideas
• Negative correlation between age and
impact of lyrics

9. COMMON THEMES
• Shaming, derogatory names
• Sexual objectification
• Boasting of harming women through sex acts
• Legitimization of violence
• Distrusting women
• Depicted as femme fatales and gold diggers
• Celebrating prostitution and pimping
• “Ride-or-Die Chick”
• A woman willing to do anything for her man
to gain value.

10. EXAMPLE RESPONSES
• In 2004, music artist Nelly released Tip Drill
• Protested by students at colleges
• Criticized for misogynistic portrayal of African-American women
• Women danced in bikinis and performed sexual acts
• Nelly swipes a credit card through a woman’s butt cheeks
• Essence Magazine launched a 12 month campaign entitled “Take Back the
Music”
• September 25, 2007: Congressional hearing
about misogyny and racism in Hip-Hop culture
• Nothing had lasting impacts and any
improvements were ignored

11. FEMALE ARTISTS• Salt-N-Pepa
• First all-women rap group
• Provided pro-women messages, critiqued double standards and degrading pictures
• Queen Latifah
• Challenged male rappers who use derogatory terms
• “Every time I hear a brother call a girl bitch or ho”... “You know all of that's got to go.”
• Yo-Yo
• Dedicated most of her career to battling
misogynistic culture
• Beyoncé
• Following many other rappers, has an
alternate persona to oppose misogyny
• Rihanna and others
• Have offered no resistance and refer to
themselves as gold-diggers and bitches

12. MUSIC VIDEOS
• Quickly became widespread in the 1980’s
• Higher rate of misogynistic themes due to commercial value
• Must quickly attract audience attention
• A survey found that a majority of youths believe hip-hop music videos
contain too much sexual references :
• 72.2% of African-Americans
• 68% of Caucasians
• 69.2% Hispanics
• In 1984, 60% of videos portrayed sexual acts
• In 1990, it had risen to 89%
• 2008 study based on number of sexually
explicit music videos:
• Positive correlation with sexual double
standards

13. CONCLUSION
• Hip-Hop is a male dominated culture
• Authenticity is automatically identified with masculinity
• Women are treated as accessories to brag over
• Sex sells
• While focused on rap music, this is prevalent in many
other genres and music videos
• The more oversexualized, the more exotic and erotic,
the greater the popularity

14. SOURCES
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