Gender Relations, in Relation to Violence and Misogyny - Essay Example

Gender Relations, in Relation to Violence and Misogyny Introduction Music helps in passage of information from one person to another or one group to another in the community. Thoughts, believes, attitudes, feelings and emotions are encoded into a combination of sound, body movements, physical expressions and written words developed in harmony to form lyrics. A song is composed to communicate the song writer’s thought about a given idea or a given experience to a given audience at a given time. Songs are very effective in describing the interrelationship that exists between different members of the community. This may refer to the relationship between parents and their children, spouses, the old to the young, or relationship that exist between gender among others. Relationships are very variable, resulting into different categories such as good relationship and bad relationship. Majority of the musicians who compose songs pertaining relationships address the gender relationship that exist in the community. Different song writers handle this theme from different points of view. Some address gender roles, issue of equality, love and intimacy, gender equity and so forth (Brown). Most of the song writers writing about relationship from the perspective of love tend to portray an emotional attachment that exists between the genders in terms of love. They tend to communicate that both genders will have a beautiful life if they existed together in love and care for each other. Many songwriters have also written songs that express violence that exist between men and women in the society. Song writers who express this theme of violence express the turbulent nature of relationship that exists between men and women. This is shown to have its origin from inequality, love issues, failure in responsibility and division of gender roles. Most of the writers tend to express their dissatisfaction with the current status of relation between men and women (Walsh et al). Intimate relations refer to the relationship that exists between people of opposite sex. Music has been used to communicate out this relationship from a personalized point of view. Musicians such as Eminem, Kanye west, and Fro rida are among musicians who have addressed gender issues to a deep level. At times their music has been inspired by the experiences they have had with the opposite sex, observations they have made in the environment or general attitudes that they hold towards the gender. These opinions are demonstrated in the writer’s choice of words, the facial and physical signs and the dancing art accompanying the songs. Misogyny is also expressed in many of songs written by these writers. Misogyny refers to hatred for women usually exposed by men. A significant number of songs written by men tend to carry this theme (Sellnow 34). They tend express hatred towards the opinion of women while others of express hatred towards the physical appearance some women. In this state women are seen as objects for men’s utilization. Songs that purports gender violence have been designed to communicate that women should be submissive to their men giving the man power over the women. In this situation exploitation is not only expected but should also be demanded. The messages included in the songs include, abuse and torture, rape, and fostering an acceptable sexual objectification towards women. These themes are not only an issue of violence but also misogyny (Campbell 518). This has led to participants also obtaining a negative attitude towards women and therefore enhancing gender violence and misogamy. Misogyny is a situation where there exists a feeling of hatred towards female gender in the society. This happens especially where there is women subordination, inequality and gender discrimination. Misogyny usually has an impact on the gender relations especially between men and women. In the music industry, men, who are viewed as rational beings, tend to express their attitude towards women through songs. These songs consist of misogynistic messages which influence the listeners’ attitudes towards intimate. Popular American rap and hip-hop artists such as Fro Rida, Eminem, and Kanye West has influenced listeners’ to encourage women subordinations (Billboard). For instance, they have communicated that “submission is a desirable trait in woman.” This message influence violence against women such as torture, rape and abuse. Domestic violence is the most common consequence of the misogynistic messages fostered by hip-hop artists through media. It changes the perceptions of both men and women on how to treat one another in the relationship. According to Walsh et al, the song “Love the Way You Lie,” by Eminem and Rihanna is a good demonstration of domestic violence that women experience. The song portrays great tolerance of male aggression and foster public misperception of intimate partner violence. Eminem, who is the artist of the song, reveals his male aggression by sexually assaulting his wife. An examination of Eminem and Rihanna’s “Love the Way You Lie” Lyrics Eminem is an artist who has appeared in media with accusations that he has violently beaten his wife. It is, therefore, not surprising that he releases this song that has violent videos. The singer is described by many people as a woman hater. This song is an accurate depiction of violence that women under go in the society. In the song, each verse is an argument that ends with an apology demonstrating most of the ideal marriages where women have to endure violence in marriages with apologies coming from men for their cruel actions (Walsh et al). This trend of apologizing never stops as the man continues to beat the woman giving her apologies, but finally ends up killing her. This fact is demonstrated by Rihanna who features in the song. In the song, Eminem Misogyny is clearly shown especially in the stanza“Maybe our relationship…… tie her to the bed/and set this house on fire,” (Billboard). His words once show that he clearly hates his lover to the extent that he can tie her to the bed and set the house on fire. It’s funny how lowly he regards the relationship and demonstrates himself as the key decision maker. He has the right to decide what to do with the relationship including making decision over her life. This portrays women as just objects of man (Cooper 161). They can choose to do whatever they want to do with the women, according to their desires. Eminem’s words continues to say “Sound like broken records……next time you’ll show restraint” and “I apologize……even though I know it’s lies…….I’m a liar.” This reveals when women abuse women they know what they are doing. This verse makes it so clear that indeed men are conscious of their actions they do against women yet they don’t mind. It clearly demonstrates the egocentrism of a man to do only that which benefits him even to the expense of the lady. In this verse Eminem reviews a fact that when men make apologies, it’s not because of their value for women but rather out of hidden motives they want to accomplish at that given time. In the song, these words reveal Eminem portrays himself as a women abuser, who is angry, manipulative and can easily kill a woman due to their low regard. Eminem’s gender violence and misogyny is seen in a tour at a concert, where fans are so annoyed with his violent nature to the extent that they yell to the until his singing cannot be heard (Calhoun). Minimal involvement of Rihanna who features in the song raises questions about Eminem’s perception toward Rihanna. Release of this information to the society causes a lot of damage to interrelationship between men and women since it tends to pass the message to the men that it’s alright to treat women in a cruel manner. When this information get to young men, there is a great probability that they will act in that manner in their future. An examination of Kanye West’s “All of the Lights.” This is a song by Kanye west in response to allegations that he had physically abused his former girlfriend. In these lyrics, he articulates a defense to his action through this singing a song that directly rebuking his former girlfriend through the mass media. It’s funny how lowly Kanye west regards his girlfriend by responding to this arrogation through this abusive song. Just like other male artists Kanye west demonstrates his lack of sensitivity to the feelings of the opposite sex since he does not consider the harm that he causes to this lady (Walsh et al). The song in itself is ironical since he admits that he had abused the woman yet he argues that he cannot beat a woman. In the words “I slapped my girl” Kanye confesses that he beat up his girlfriend and then she called the Federal Police to arrest and charges him. He says that he is free from prison and he is now heading home to see the woman who has replaced this ex-girlfriend. In the song he says that her new girlfriend was schooling in a ghetto university indicating his lack of concern about his girlfriend’s education since he was part of the decision on where she can attend school. He is a rich and famous musician who can afford taking his girlfriend to a better university but this seems not to concern her. According to this song when Kanye west gets home he finds his new girlfriend with another man in bed and he in turn beats him up. He says that the rehabilitation he had received was not helpful. He concludes that prisons only create better prisoners but not to rehabilitate (Shabazz). He says that violence is justified for women who cheat. This is what he exactly did to this new girlfriend. This demonstrates the total command of men on women’s affairs where the men can result into physical harm when the situation calls for one. Kanye west actually declares that a beating is the appropriate justice for a cheating girlfriend. Kanye’s music is a clear indication that men look at women as the weaker sex who should be submissive to men and be used as men deserves. An examination of Flo Rida’s song ‘RIGHT ROUND’ Right round is a song by the Flo Rida. It’s a song that toped in the charts right after it was out. Men, women children, young and old loved the song and it was the hit of the days. By February 2009 the song stayed on the top Hot 100 billboard list for around nineteen weeks. the song was continuously played in the clubs, radios, tvs, and any other form of media. This ever presence of the song in all forms of media led to the songs undisputed popularity. Not only did the song get into the top 100 list but also toped the Canadian hot 100, hit number 10 on the Rap song list and number fourteen on pop songs. The song hit no sixteen in the radio songs billboard and on the internet there was a total of 636, 000 downloads. The unfortunate thing is that all the people who watched this song or listened to it heard exactly how women were represented in the song. This was a song that should have disturbed all women who heard the song since it was a disregard to the women. Unfortunately even the women listened to the song as others did as the message of discrimination was passed to the masses. With a number of these songs in the market, it is for sure that men will start thinking that it is okay for them to treat women the way they want to. Such popular music have a lot of effect to the society since every one tends to perceive them as cool and therefore assuming that every thing about them is also cool (Flo Rida). The truth is tha not everything is cool. For example in this song the picture created of a woman cause a lot of harm since people tend to perceive that its alright to perceive women the way the song portrays. Right round is about a man at a strip club paying a striper so that she can strip for him. It is evident that in this song a woman is just portrayed as an object for men to play with. The man gives regard to no other attribute of the woman other tan the physical appearance. Another aspect that can be clearly seen from this song is where the artist portrays himself as having possession of material wealth that gives him command over the woman. In his video Flo Rida is always next to a woman dancer dressed in a very demining way. This song owes its origin to song the song ‘you spin me round’ which was popular in the 80’s by dead or alive (Flo Rida). The original song had some respect for the woman where a man was demonstrated as being in love with a woman. In its lyrics ‘I gotta be your friend now’ The woman takes the center of attraction and she seems to be the one with the control of the man. However in this new version by Flo Rida the song takes a whole different message. In this song the man is seen to have lots of money and consequently giving him power over very many ladies who he can use as he desires. An image is created of a man who is strong, in charge, and protective, while the image of the woman is painted as an object, disposable and submissive. The audience of the song cut across all the ages with the majority in the age of fifteen year old to twenty five years. In the ages 15 to 25 a person is trying to define ones position in the community, the respective duties and responsibilities as well as the associated behavior. When these adolescent listen and watch such music over the mass media then a mental picture of their relative position in the society is made in the mind. When the young men see from the mass media that they have authority over ladies and that with money they can get anything from a lady, there mindset is made up and their future behavior energized. On the other hand the ladies learn that they should attract attention from men through wearing a revealing dressing and the use of their physical attraction, their mind adopts that and they are likely to portray it in the future (Dibben 342). In conclusion, it is true that music is a very effective tool of communication used to transmit information from one person to another. Its effectiveness can be explained by its popularity and persuasiveness. All the same, its effectiveness can be a tool of destruction in the community if its content is not checked. Music is a main source of disregard to women arising form songs that have been written by their male counterparts. Music by several musicians such as Eminem, Kanye west and Flo Rida is evidence to violence to women by men in the music industry. Women are portrayed as a weaker sex, which is dependant on men, immoral, and should be an object to man’s desires. More to this, women are shown to lack authority to make major decisions and can only use their appearance to seduce men into something. When women dance in the videos naked they are demonstrated as sexual objects whose worth can only be judged from their appearance. This information when sent to the public is very destructive leading to gender violence and misogyny. Works cited Billboard, “Hot 100” 28 Feb 2009. Web. 27 Sept 2009. Brown. "New research explores effects of rap music on adolescents." Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter 19.6 (2003): 1. Academic Search Elite. EBSCO. Web. 16 March 2010. Calhoun, Lindsay R. "“Will the Real Slim Shady Please Stand Up?”: Masking Whiteness, Encoding Hegemonic Masculinity in Eminem's Marshall Mathers LP." Howard Journal of Communications 16.4 (2005): 267-294. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 May 2010 Campbell, Karlyn Kohrs, “The Rhetoric of Women’s Liberation: An Oxymoron”, Readings in Rhetorical Criticism, Third Edition (2005): 510-522. Cooper, Brenda. "'Chick Flicks' as Feminist Texts: The Appropriation of the Male Gaze in Thelma & Louise." Women's Studies in Communication 23.3 (2000): 277. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 23 May 2010. Dibben, Nicola. "Representations of Femininity in Popular Music." Popular Music, 18.3 (1999): 331-355. Flo Rida, “Bio” Web. 28 Sept 2009. . Sellnow, Deanna D. "Music as Persuasion: Refuting Hegemonic Masculinity in 'He Thinks He'll Keep Her'." Women's Studies in Communication 22.1 (Spring 1999): 66. Expanded Academic ASAP. Gale. California Polytechnic State University. 23 May 2010 . Shabazz, Demetria. "Racializing Feminist Film Theory and "the Male Gaze": Images of Black Women in American Cinema." Conference Papers -- International Communication Association (2008): 1. Communication & Mass Media Complete. EBSCO. Web. 28 May 2010. Walsh, Kimberly R., Elfriede Fursich, and Bonnie S. Jefferson. "Beauty and the Patriarchal Beast: Gender Role Portrayals in Sitcoms Featuring Mismatched Couples." Journal of Popular Film & Television 36.3 (2008): 123-132. Communication & Mass Media Complete.EBSCO. Web. 22 May 2010. Read More