I disagree. The women dancing and pretending to be seductive or submissive in rap videos are performers. They don’t write their own parts. If a woman plays a waitress, is she a waitress? If a woman plays a bank robber, is she a bank robber? Sharon Stone is not a killer, she’s an actress. Johnny Depp is not a pirate or a mad chocolate baron, he’s an actor.
When you get down to it, rap performers probably are just playing a part, too. I shudder to think this, but maybe Kid Rock is not America’s most irritating jerk. :eek:
AskNott, you have a very valid point, but it reminds me of something I heard a comedian say: (something like) “If you are dressed like a cop, I’m going to assume you are one. So, you might not be a whore, but you sure as hell are wearing a whore’s uniform.”
Like I said, I just can’t get too worked up over these women being “objectified” (which Spatial Rift explained nicely). These women are choosing to be whores. Period. Sure, they might not be whores, but they are wearing the uniform.
E-zackly. The rappers, and the women performing in the videos, are portraying a fantasy for their listeners/viewers. I mean, shit, I’m a 30-year-old white woman, but damn if I wouldn’t like to sit on a private yacht, draped in gold while hot chicks danced for my viewing pleasure. It’s fantasy. As such, it’s no more harmful or degrading to women than portrayals of abused women in some crappy Lifetime movie.
Damned straight.
Oooh, is that like when my suddenly Born-Again friend told me I only thought I was praying to God, when really I was praying to Satan? Awesome. If not, please do expound on this topic.
But I think the answer is “for the money.” They became dancers because they’re good at it and, I hope, enjoy it, much as I became a corporate drone because I am good at it and, for the most part, enjoy it. Dancing in a hip hop video is just a job for them. For all we know, they could choose those jobs because:
a) It pays the bills
b) It makes them feel sexy
c) It keeps them in shape
d) It’s a great way to build a resume for the dancing gigs they really want
e) They form good friendships with other dancers
f) They like the music
g) They hope one of the stars will spot them and get involved with them
… any combo of the above, with more besides.
In the end, why does it matter, really? It’s a job, and they do it well. I think more than anything, the question is, “Why is this particular fanstasy scenario the default one to portray in hip hop videos?” If you look at stuff from Outkast, for instance, there are highly imaginative and innovative ways to make a compelling video for hip hop songs. I suspect more artists don’t follow that route because they’re not blazing trails, they’re just cashing in on stuff that’s worked before. Which is pretty much what happens in every aspect of pop culture.
That’s a Dave Chappelle joke, by the way.
I think the thing that gets most people upset is not that these particular women are taking money to dress and dance around like strippers, but the possibility that young boys watching these videos will not accept that this is a goofy fantasy and come away thinking that that’s what all women are realy like.
But that ignores the fact that young boys of every stripe come into contact with and interact with women who don’t resemble those women each and every day. They have family, they have the families of their friends, they have their schoolmates, they have their teachers, their church ladies, their waitresses, their pediatricians and dentists… and beyond that, even in TV and movie land, female characters who aren’t like that. Hero-worship of Snoop Dogg isn’t going to cancel out their interactions with real people.
And **Beadalin **, don’t forget that there are women that ARE just like the ones in the rap videos: cheap, easy, and willing to portray themselves as such.
Of course they wouldn’t do it if there weren’t a payoff. A massive payoff that is bigger and can last longer than the kind that comes from working at Wal-Mart, from being a nurse or a teacher or a welder or a librarian.
Actually, the comment you specifically replied to deals more with women I see on the day to day that aren’t whores in the “sex for money” sort of way.
I know plenty of women that have no problem prancing around dressed like skanks- T and A hanging out for the world to see, sleeping with this guy and that guy, and letting the world know that they are proud to be that kind of girl. I’m not saying that is necessarily wrong (hell, I partake in the skankdom here and there- I accept it for what it is), but the fact is: acting cheap and easy isn’t just limited to fictional roles in rap videos or to hookers. If you think that’s the case, I suggest you go to the first club you find near a college campus on a Saturday night.
Oh, I meant to say: my point is that women don’t just act that way when money is involved. Plenty of women act that way because it’s fun, exciting, empowering, whatever.
My problem was just that I don’t understand how anyone can say that that type of woman is a fiction invented by the rap star.
Hang on a second, folks… the OP was voluntarily watching Rap/Hip-Hop/R’nB Music Videos???
There’s your problem right there. As someone else said, the best thing you can do is mute them and enjoy the hot, half naked women gyrating on the screen for your pleasure. It could be a lot worse- you could be watching Parliamentary Debates, you know…
I’ll also second DiosaBellissima’s very well articulated points that there are women out there- and judging by the size of the porn industry and the prevalence of the “Bitches & Bling” genre of Rap Music Videos, it’s quite a large number- who enjoy acting like whores, for whatever reason.
Has anyone seen the Music Video for Max Graham’s version of Owner Of A Lonely Heart?
In it, two school kids (Aged about 10-12) from an expensive private school skip school for the day and put up flyers asking “Ladies! Do you own a Bikini? Do you like to Dance? Audition today!”. These two kids, who’ve somehone managed to rent an empty studio, then proceeed to watch various attractive woman dancing around in bikinis while the kids order pizza, make phone calls, and generally have a good time, before realising they’ve got to get back to school to be picked up by Mummy in her Mercedes-Benz convertible.
There’s a point there, if I could be bothered looking for it…
And yes, Spike Jonze videos are very well done and enjoyable, even if the song is utter pants (to borrow an English slang word I’m quite taken with).
And don’t forget about the young women, who might get the idea that all they are worth to the world is their jiggly bits.
Every time we have this discussion here, someone (and usually more than one someone) brings up the idea that it is empowering for women to be objectified and to objectify themselves. I don’t buy it, and I don’t think I ever will. I’m not a feminist, and I’m not a prude, but what I see on hip-hop videos and things like that isn’t a good thing for men or women. Those girls aren’t owning their own sexuality; they’re being exactly what someone else wants them to be for someone else’s gratification, and they’re so bought in that they think they’re the ones benefitting. It’s not good for the boys to treat girls like that, either. You can’t de-humanize someone else without de-humanizing yourself.
