Do you find Rap music sexist?

I'm a fan of most genres of music; Pop, Dance, House, R&B, Rock, Indie and the topic of my post...Rap music. However, reading articles and blogs I have noticed a rising rate of journalists discussing about how rap music communicates to its audience and whether it is in fact Sexist? When I listen to rap music talking about women in a degrading manner, I feel like I should be offended... I should.. but strangely I'm not? Is this because I'm so used to rap speaking about women in that way or because I don't take it seriously? A part of me wants to stop listening to it, cut it out of my life out of respect for my sex! But... I don't find it offensive, so I can't! In this post I want to explore whether rap music is sexist and why? and if it is, why don't I and millions of other females find it offensive.

 

Artists like 50 cent just seem to be trying to present how strong and powerful they are through their lyrics. In a sense they are trying to show how masculine they are by distancing themselves from femininity. However, in order to distance themselves they try to dehumanise women by calling them names such as 'bitch' or 'hoe' and typically objectify them as sexual objects for their satisfaction. I have found research to suggest that the genre of rap is being blamed for normalising misogynistic attitudes and celebrates the physical abuse of women. So, could this rap music I sit at home listening to be subconsciously forming negative attitudes towards my own sex? and to males that listen to rap, could it make them think its ok to objectify women?

Lil Kim is a famous female rap artist known for lyrics that talk about her 'ability to please men sexually'. Authors suggest that with female rap artists objectifying themselves, it could imply that even women within rap music think its ok to degrade themselves. However, on the other hand it could be that Lil Kim is in fact using the 'erotic as power'. So rappers such as Lil Kim, Nicki Minaj and Salt n Pepa could actually be using masculinist language about sexuality, to reclaim it and to assert their right to speak of desire and thus, gain feminist power over men.  I personally agree with this as I think women have a right to express sexual desire without caving it to the male gaze so could this be why I'm not offended by the lyrics?

Looking into the background of rap music I found that rap music is described as a form of oppositional culture that offers a message of resistance and empowerment. Also, that when you listen to rap music it's only offensive if its misinterpreted. According to some articles on the topic they suggest that it needs to be evaluated in the light of its humorous and poetic contrivance. So I think rap could be interpreted as offensive but it could also be seen as parodic humour, it all depends on how each individual person decodes the genre.

An interesting article I found when researching: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-517681/Listening-rap-music-makes-sexist-say-experts.html

Enjoy!

Jade

Could you be an accidental online decieiver?

There is no doubt that online communication has completely transformed the way our identity is portrayed. I explored this within a chapter of my dissertation on 'Identity Online' and it has really interested me. It's now made me more conscious of whether my online identity portrays my real life, face to face identity or just the identity that I wish people to perceive me as.

In face to face interaction we communicate with our physical appearance as well as our language and behaviour. To some level we can control certain physical qualities of what others know of us by the different choices we make in life. However, particular qualities are beyond our control and are predetermined for us for example our gender and race. However, these cues are not visible online (unless you want them to be of course)!

Therefore, online communication has created the opportunity for us to redefine how we are to be perceived online and I think this is really empowering! I mean personally I thought my online identity was the same as my real life identity, but after researching this topic for my dissertation I realised my online identity is how I WISH to be perceived but not necessarily how I am perceived and this is really interesting. Therefore, I am myself probably an accidental deceiver! When talking about this to friends they agreed that they probably try to make themselves more 'professional' or more 'glamorous' looking online  for example, than they are perceived by their peers face to face. This is empowering for some people as it stops them being judged by their age, race etc, but there is a thin line between portraying how we think our identity is perceived when it is really perceived differently, to point blank deceiving others online. The use of language to misrepresent ourselves online is not uncommon and becoming more popular. This type of deception is now making us doubt whether people are really how they describe themselves.

So the thought I want to leave you with is; are you deceiving others with your online identity purposely and if so could this lead to disappointment if they met you in real life? If your not purposely deceiving, do you think after reading this post that your online identity is a clear representation of your real life identity? or could you be an accidental online deceiver?


Jade X

What is Communications? & My Experience at V Festival !

Every time anyone asks me what I study after they receive my answer I always get a blank stare... 'Communications?!'. 'Is that computers and stuff'? 'No... It's..'. and that's just it... I never know how to explain my own degree! this is slightly worrying, I mean I KNOW what my degree is, it's just so hard to explain in a sentence? so I decided to look up it's official definition.

Good old Wikipedia states 'Communication studies is an academic field that deals with processes of communication'  Well obviously.....
'Communication studies encompasses a wide range of topics and contexts ranging from face-to-face conversation to speeches to mass media outlets such as television broadcasting.' Now 'wide range' is definitely a term I would use to describe my degree!  'Communication studies, as a discipline, is also often interested in how audiences interpret information and the political, cultural, economic, and social dimensions of speech and language in context'. This last part pretty much sums it up in a sentence for me! We have modules on politics, culture, sociology and most importantly .. Media! If you mix all these ingredients up in a big bowl you have Communication Studies! 

Now didn't mean to bore you with all that but I thought seeing as my blog is called 'Diary of a COMMS girl' thought I'd better explain what it actually is.. I always thought I'd like to try PR for a career so I bet your wondering why I never chose to take a Public relations Degree? Well I don't have an answer... is the answer. Basically I thought I'd like to take a broader degree which covers lots of different things. When I finished secondary school I didn't have a solid idea of what I wanted to do.. all I knew was I liked reading and writing so I looked into English, then media, then I looked into English combined with Media... and came across Communication Studies. To be honest this was the first time I had looked at even considering it, but the module breakdown looked very interesting to me and to be honest it was the best decision I made.

Now as an second year at University I'd realised I was pretty sure of PR as my career choice, but after taking on my first work placement for 6 weeks this summer I am certain of PR as my choice! I had an amazing time at the PR agency in London and even had the pleasure of being invited back to work in the press office at V Festival 2011! AMAZING! I have to say it's hard work (Very hard work) but wow.. the plus side of PR is  pretty cool! Backstage pass walking past the dressing rooms of all the acts and bumping into a few on the way to catering... was my idea of a dream! It wasn't all lounging around backstage hoping to catch a glimpse of someone famous. It was long hours and a lot of running around (which I still throughly enjoyed). Mainly I helped with the pit runs which is pretty much what it says on the tin.. running to the pit under the stage and back with the photographers so they can take pictures of the first 3 songs for each act. It was quite a daunting task to walk out in front of thousands of people ...I mean look at them: pretty scary walking out in front of these lot especially in the evenings when every ones had a few drinks.....

I had alot of drinks and inflatables thrown at me (hmm also underwear in some cases...) but on the plus side I probably had THE best possible view of the act....  :)

Then to top each day off we all indulged in a nice beverage and a little dance(wellies on and all) in the VIP bar. This was fun as it was after a long hard day of work but to make it even better..... oh to my right theres mark ronson.... oh and to my left eliza doolittle... oh and next to them some band members from good charlotte and the hurts....so as you can imagine I'm thinking can someone pinch me... this can't be real.... oh but it is.. and here's a picture with Mr Ronson to prove it!.... 

It's a picture of a picture so sorry for the blur! you can see Mr Ronson in the middle there and me on the far left :)

It was an amazing bit of PR experience the hard parts were definately worth it with all the great press we gained :) and I look forward to many more experiences like this when my career begins! :)

Jade X