Gender Stereotypes In Rap

Words: 900
Pages: 4

While the world of hip hop may be a predominately male community, it is undeniable that women are focused on for different reasons. While a man may be the performer, writer, rapper, and other titles, women in hip hop seem most often to just be around for visual effects which often comes with a negative impact. The artists are portrayed as manly and tough, while the women dancing around them are scantily dressed and dancing in a manner that leads the viewer to believe that they are, in fact, as much of a “hoe” or “bitch” as the artists claims. Men in hip hop do very little to advance the standing of women in their genre based on this fact alone—they frequently call women bitches or sluts without giving it a second thought so much …show more content…
The music came into existence in the 1970s, mostly in New York City during summer block parties. While Caucasian men developed it originally, the young African American men of the Bronx were the group to take it to higher levels. Then, young DJs would take their mixture of soul, funk, and blues music and modify it by tweaking percussive breaks and minute rhythms within the songs until the original soulful melodies were gone. The origins of rap music can also be traced back to authentic African music, which is why some consider rap and hip hop to be the voice of African American culture.

It is a fact that modern rap music has changed greatly since its inception, including the way in which women are portrayed. While women have always been a focal point of rap music, until modern times they were never referred to so explicitly. Although society has changed in what is tolerated as far as language in music goes, it has become a lot more graphic. Originally, rappers wrote and performed about their life experiences and their struggles, whereas in modern music the more common themes are women, sex, and all the aspects in
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Songs and videos reinforcing these ideas are constantly being played, sharing a viewpoint that women are sexual objects only to men and women from a very young age. There are even more references in rap music to women being property of men solely for sexual activities. These ideas are being set on the minds of young men in their developmental stages as well, which has also has an adverse effect as they are more likely to attempt to treat women that way in their own lives as they were raised listening to this music. They see women being treated this way and the success that comes to the male rapper that does it, and begin to accept the fact that if they want to be successful in the rap world or out, that is the way they too must treat