Essay Plan So Far

INSIGHT TO MY TOPIC :

The criticism of the way rap music portrays women is nothing new. Ever since its formation in the 1970's, and even more so to this day there has been criticism for its negative portrayal of women. Despite peoples beliefs that women are supposedly rising in status throughout the media, this does not seem to be true within the rap and hip-hop industry. Shocking and explicit lyrics have resulted in rap artists being charged for indecent language. The young audience of mainly black teenage boys said to be influenced by such negative representations, has created controversy around the question of exactly where and who the blame now lies with. Perhaps the rap music industry is to blame for tapping into the male minds desire for authority, image and supremecy, as a result of poverty, racism and discrimination. This has not only made it fashionable for young men, but also empowering for them to degrade women in this way. Through this study I aim to uncover the reasons why men in rap find it necessary to gain a sense of power through indulging in the very acts that earn women in hip-hop their derogatory labels.

TYPICAL CONVENTIONS OF A RAP VIDEO:

Briefly discuss the following conventions and how they produce stereotypical views.

Exploitation of women

Exploitation of women.

Promiscuous behaviour.

Provocative clothing.

Sexual references.

Money, Cars, Jewellery.

A male protagonist

Explicit language.

WHY DO YOUNGSTERS CONFORM TO THE STEREOTYPES OF BLACK RAP ARTISTS?

The youth of today are under an enormous amount of pressure due to negative and irresponsible marketing from the hip hop/rap industry. Particularly black rap artists have chosen to portray their work through a very narrow-minded representation, compared to those of ethnic backgrounds who tend to create a more diverse and individual image of themselves. It is this common representation of black rap artists that has resulted in the many negative conceptions and stereotypes that exist in hip hop music today. These stereotypes have helped to generate huge ammounts of cash for rappers and added great market value, however, they have not helped at all in terms of the artform.

LYRICS:

-Why is their controversy around the lyrics used in rap? Because words such as bitch and ho are part of everyday male conversation in rap. This slang is not used to pass judgment on a woman engaged in a particular activity but to describe any female.

-Lyrics such as 'I make it rain on them hoes' from people who teenagers look up to being repeated throughout the chorus of a song carries negative and degrading connotations for women. They are being referred to as 'hoes'which suggests that they are promiscuous and offer acts of a sexual nature. There is also alot of evidence shown in music videos to suggest this is true. The message being delivered is morally wrong how it is used to emphasis male dominance and the weakness of women.

PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN STEREOTYPICAL RAP VIDEOS:

Weaker Gender

Provocative clothing.

Give male rappers sense of power

Sex objects

Presented as being money hungry

Driven by material objects

ROLE OF WOMEN AS GROUPIES IN ROCK N' ROLL IN COMPARISON TO HIP HOP/RAP

Although groupies in the 60's were all mainly white while today they are very multiracial, they function in hip hop in exactly the same way as they did in the rock era- they are women who provide sexual services. Though there were groupies within the jazz, blues and rock genre's, they were not as noticeable or outrageous. The reason for this is that singers did not blatently portray them or refer to them in a negative light, whereas Hip Hop does the complete opposite by disrespecting and degrading women both in their lyrics and music videos.

WHY ARE WOMEN REACTING IN A SUPPORTIVE WAY TOWARDS NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES?

-What makes the whole issue even more shocking is that women are reacting in a way as if they are supporting these ideologies imposed by the hip hop artists.
-Does it give women a sense of recognition and power also?

MALE GAZE

Term used by Laura Mulvey in her essay "Visual Pleasures and Narrative Cinema" to describe what she saw as the male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience.A theory which ties in with my study as rap videos portray a male point of view adopted by the camera for the benefit of an assumed male audience.

NEW LADDISM

Term applied to the male backlash against feminism and girl power, as exemplified by the values represented in magazines such as Loaded, FHM and Maxim.This attitutde towards women is also shown in rap videos through exploitation of women.


MALE DOMINANT VALUES AND IDEOLOGIES:

-The way in which the rap industry portrays male ideologies, it seems that money, power, women and ars are the only things that create a successful man in the eyes of a stereotypical rap artist.

-Women are only seen to be for show, almost like a trophy for the man. (Comparison to Sara Baartman)

-Women are under the control of the man.

MAKE BELIEVE/FANTASY WORLD:

Uses and gratifications theory: an active audience theory, developed by Jay Blumer and Elihu Katz that focuses on 'what people do with the media' rather than what the media does to people, arguing that audiences are free to pick and choose from a range of media products to satisfy their own needs.Audiences of young male teenagers have been known to copy and become attracted to the fantasy lifestyle that is represented through rap videos.

Often create unrealistic representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view. This attracts young male audience to belive they too can leave this unrealistic lifestyle. Similar to video games, children get too into the game/music and believe that it is reality. This can be dangerous if children emulate things they are not supposed to do.

FEMINISM:

A feminist point of view is one which supports my hypothesis

Feminism: political movement to advance the status of women by challenging values, social
constructiosn and socioeconomic practices which disadvantage women and favor men.