Bryant Allen
Feb 18th
History
Feminist Critique
Today in our society the way we construct gender came from many different places. It all started around the 1950’s, when women were forced into a box by society. Which was considered as domestic work in the house. This then became social, family, or cultural norms they had to conform to. Later on, these stereotypes of women were later put in the media. Magazines and television have played a big role in how we look at and construct gender roles for women and men. Also, popular music is starting to play a part as well. Being able to understand how we are affected by different stereotypes in media is very important because the media is becoming one of the things we are always using daily. Popular music plays an important role in our society because usually a popular song will be played over and over again on the radio and no one will care about the messages in the song, but only the quality of the song.
Many rap and hip hop songs are about men having control over women and viewing them as sex objects. Some songs use curse words toward women to show how much more men are dominant than women. Either way, there are very few rap songs that portray women in a respectful way. It is crazy because even though these songs say negative things about women, women will still listen to them and support the artist by buying their CDs. It is horrible that we are programmed to be okay with men referring to women in a negative way and acting like they are better than women. It's crazy but I can name over 20 songs that shows this but I will only name a one. This is a very popular song, the song “Gold Digger” by the famous iconic artist, Kanye West.
“Gold Digger” had a lot of sales when it came out. It was at number one on the charts in 2005, it stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 list for five weeks straight. Many people listened to this song and it was continuously played on the radio. This song was heard by many different people and actually a lot of people were affected by it in a different way. Since this song was so popular everyone who listened to it heard the way women were represented in this song. This song was dominantly for a male perspective and I believe that men will start to believe that it is alright to treat and view women in a negative way or as a sex object.
Popular songs like, “Gold Digger” has a huge impact on the way gender is constructed in our culture. If a song is played over and over and everybody likes it, then people will think its cool. Right? Since men they think the song is cool then they see the way women are being treated in the song must be cool too. For example, Kanye West used a word (derogatory term) to refer to a woman in his song, by basically saying all pretty women are trying to steal money and using men for things they don’t have. Also, he was calling women other names. But the chances of other people starting to use the same term to refer to women is very high. Also, in his music cover their is a woman wearing a tight dress. This has affected our society to because girls are starting to wear clothes like that just to get a male gaze. will think that they should be wearing the same kind of clothing. In most songs men are viewed as strong or and in charge while women are viewed as an object or submissive. There is rarely a song that talks about a woman having more power than a man. Most songs represent something in favor of the men. Usually, it will be a man with a lot of money has girls all over him and controls them like he owns them. The fact that a song can make person change their actions or how they feel about themselves shows us how the music industry and the media plays a big part in gender construction. Popular music today has the strength to construct the how people view each gender box that society puts us all in. The song, “Gold Digger” portrays women as submissive and men as the dominant figure.
Popular songs like, “Gold Digger” has a huge impact on the way gender is constructed in our culture. If a song is played over and over and everybody likes it, then people will think its cool. Right? Since men they think the song is cool then they see the way women are being treated in the song must be cool too. For example, Kanye West used a word (derogatory term) to refer to a woman in his song, by basically saying all pretty women are trying to steal money and using men for things they don’t have. Also, he was calling women other names. But the chances of other people starting to use the same term to refer to women is very high. Also, in his music cover their is a woman wearing a tight dress. This has affected our society to because girls are starting to wear clothes like that just to get a male gaze. will think that they should be wearing the same kind of clothing. In most songs men are viewed as strong or and in charge while women are viewed as an object or submissive. There is rarely a song that talks about a woman having more power than a man. Most songs represent something in favor of the men. Usually, it will be a man with a lot of money has girls all over him and controls them like he owns them. The fact that a song can make person change their actions or how they feel about themselves shows us how the music industry and the media plays a big part in gender construction. Popular music today has the strength to construct the how people view each gender box that society puts us all in. The song, “Gold Digger” portrays women as submissive and men as the dominant figure.
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