Rock & Sexuality
...s didn’t take notice until Rap music burst onto the scene. Some Rap music actually takes sexism to whole new level – “misogyny” or the hatred of women (“Misogyny”). The Rap genre is the most often criticized form for its treatment of women, but this is because it lends itself to having lyrics easily distinguished, whereas the lyrics in a classic rock & roll song are drowned out in the beat of the drums, the screech of the electric guitar, or just the singer’s delivery. Long before Rap music was enveloping America, Mick Jagger was singing, The way she does just what she’s told Down to me, the change has come She’s under my thumb She’s the sweetest, hmmm, pet in the world (“Under My Thumb”, 15-22) It’s likely that Jagger would have been more descriptive of his feelings if he wrote that song today. Record executives were more sensitive to the “moral majority” in the 1970’s than they are today. Or maybe the “moral majority” has just become another minority group to be dealt with on a much lower level. Rap artists and angry white boy rockers have a much larger playing field today, and their choice of words clearly show it. For young women the most disturbing aspect of sexism in popular music should be the fact that female artists are just as guilty of objectifying women as the male artists. Britney Spears takes the stage dressed in nothing but strategically placed rhinestones and begins to sing, I’m a slave for you. (Take that) I cannot hold it; I cannot control it. I’m a slave, (it just feels right) for you. (It just feels good) I won’t deny it; I’m not trying to hide it (baby) (“I’m a Slave 4 U” 45-47) Or Christina Aguilera shows up wearing chaps and no underwear and proclaims to be “A Genie in a Bottle.” Any true feminist should be outraged at the very thought of one of their own presenting herself in this fashion – all to rake in the almighty dollar. Sex sells, pure and simple, and today’s popular music sells it like no other. Not only does today’s music prove to be sexist, it also shows that the sexism exhibited by popular music is targeted more towards adolescents. Alan Bloom states, “Never was there an art form directed so exclusively to children.” (76) I am a teenager who loves popular music in many forms, and I do not disagree with that statement. What I think we forget is that the younge...