 "Photo:")
I’m going out tonight. I’m putting on my dancing shoes and heading for the bars with the best music in town.
I want to hit the dance floor, I want to shake it to the beat; but I don’t want to listen to the lyrics.
I’m no prude, but popular music lyrics these days make me — as a woman — feel cheap, disposable and inadequate.
A quick glance at the Billboard top 100 reveals a list of songs that, more often than not, reference women as nothing but submissive, sexual objects. This topic is far from new and people have been debating it for what seems like forever.
However, what has me thinking about it again is the fact that, these days, it doesn’t matter what genre I’m listening to; the lyrics seem to be equally misogynistic across the board.
Maybe it has always been this way but lately I’m seeing the problem with more clarity and I thought I’d explore some of the disturbing qualities I’ve been noticing in music from the Crazy Horse Saloon to Reggae night, and everything in between.
Don’t call be baby: It could be that I’ve never been a fan of pet names — I cringe whenever someone calls me sugar, sweetie or honey — but it seems as though condescending and demeaning pet names are being used on a regular basis in popular songs.
It’s “baby” this and “bitches” that. Some women don’t have a problem being called a “bitch” or a “hoe” and, frankly, I think that’s a problem.
No one should feel comfortable or flattered by being called a “skank.” I think the fact that popular music is equating names such as these with being attractive is putting twisted perceptions into the minds of women. Even if someone says, “Damn, bitch. You’re fine.” It’s still not a complement. Get it?
For your viewing pleasure: Just because I have a vagina doesn’t mean I’m a stripper. I don’t appreciate some MC telling me to get my “booty to the front” or to “ show the boys what I got.”
Women like to get dressed up and go out on the town. And, yes, most of us are looking to get noticed. In my opinion, any woman who wears a gold tube top and turquoise eye shadow has no right to get mad at a guy for checking her out. However, this doesn’t mean we like to be marginalized and subjected to lyrics such as “Drop dat ass ya shake it fast ya. Pop dat ass to the left and the right ya,” from Lil' John and the Eastside Boyz’ charming little number titled “Get low.”
Honestly, just typing out these lyrics makes me a little nauseous. Ick.
Know your place: Lil’ John isn’t the only one singing songs that make my skin crawl and rap and hip-hop aren’t the only genres releasing misogynistic material.
Have you watched a country music video in a while?
There is no way any woman can live up to the kind of wholesome, angelic stereotypes that these guys have created.
I watched as many of them as I could handle in preparation for this article and in almost two hours of videos — and that’s a lot — I didn’t see one pants suit or a single businesswoman.
Apparently countrywomen are either submissive, cotton nightgown-wearing sex slaves or hay bucking tomboys. That is, of course, when they’re not riding mechanical bulls.
Fit the mold: No wonder all my friends have self-esteem issues. There’s no way any of us can hope to possess all of the essential female characteristics outlined in popular music.
During the five minute drive from my apartment to school this morning I realized my booty isn’t big enough, I don’t have long enough hair, my hips are too narrow, my lips aren’t juicy enough and I need to be more flexible, you know, to get “low.”
No matter what music you listen to, I think it’s important to be aware of the messages you are receiving because some of this stuff has got to be getting through.
It’s like the other day when I started getting really bad road rage and even found myself honking angrily at an old woman in a Taurus. I thought to myself, “Why am I so angry right now?” Then I realized I’d been listening to Disturbed for nearly 30 minutes.
Without knowing it, ladies, we’re inundating ourselves with misogynistic garbage.
So, if you’re going out tonight, too, be aware of what’s blasting over the P.A. and tell the DJ we’d like to hear something that makes us feel good for a change.
Elizabeth Ghiorso can be reached at
eghiorso@theorion.com
