Hate Rap
Women's right activist Valerie Smith has filed a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission against HMV because she says they are peddling hate rap. Her claim is that "(T)he company is discriminating against women." She is filing this claim with the OHRC because the human rights code makes reference to "discrimination... based on sex (which) includes...sexual harassment or inappropriate comments and actions of a sexual nature,,,offensive remarks...rough and vulgar humour or language related to gender.". Smith feels that in selling rap, HMV is selling "goods that contain significant amounts of gender-related verbal abuse." Click here to read the article about Smith's complaint in "Now" newspaper's Nov. 3-9th issue.
Smith's complaint highlights a disturbing truth. Women, as a group, are not covered under the hate propaganda law. That means it's pretty much open season on us, year round. Rappers can say what they want, when they want, to denigrate women. No-one is willing to do anything about it because misogyny is still so much a part of the very woof and warp of our society. Do we need to continue bolstering it in forms that make the cash registers ring? Is the dollar sign actually the biggest part of our continued societal tolerance of it?
Try to tell me that there isn't an overload of "rough and vulgar language" in rap aimed straight at women. Vulgarisms are liberally sprinkled through every line by some rappers. Look to the "works" by the likes of Eminem, Snoop Dogg and 50 cent. Snoop Dogg describes himself as a motherfuckin' pimp. Isn't his attitude toward women clearly evident in every syllable of that succinct little phrase?
As if Snoop Dogg (et alia) didn't already have enough influence with the easily led, now he's shining with the golden glow of corporate approval, as a spokesperson for Chrysler. Can you picture them filling the position with a rapper who openly declared racism or homophobia? Inconsistencies in societal attitudes toward hate mongering are rife so spewing hatred toward a full half of the world's population is OK. Give a rapper that mainstream cloak of approval and he pretty much becomes invincible to any criticism. The OHRC is not likely to do anything about this complaint. Who can fight the big bucks of our society's consumerism?
Maybe Smith won't succeed with this claim, but she has made waves before, and bless her for continuing to try. She did, for instance, succeed in pressuring Bell Mobility to stop offering their $2.50 downloads of "Pimptones". She wages her war while others waste time arguing about whether or not teens are influenced in negative ways by such lyrics. That's an argument I don't have the time of day for. I spent years teaching 13 and 14-year-olds. I saw their never-ending efforts to look and talk just like their rap idols. You wouldn't believe how many times I have seen "2Pac" inscribed across damn near every notebook, textbook and piece of furniture in the classroom. Go read a little about this thug's life and then tell me if you would want your kid idolizing him. Most parents are happy to see a son or daughter idolizing someone who they feel would be a positive role model, but how many would openly rejoice at the selection of someone like Adolf Hitler to emulate? Stop and think about it for a moment. Exactly how do you explain and justify the difference between hate mongering directed at one group and that directed at any other.
I am not trying to suggest that our kids need to look for perfection in their choices of role models. Bill Clinton sure fell short of that mark, but he also has a lot to offer in the way of leadership to someone interested in world peace, or humanitarianism. Princess Diana was not a saint, but she extended herself to so many of the world's needy, at the same time as she struggled with her own demons. A person interested in helping the less fortunate could include Diana in their pantheon of good examples. On the other hand, someone who leads a hedonistic lifestyle, while they sell messages of hatred to finance their luxury is not necessarily the best influence there is. At least to feel like your kid was following someone with a brain, a brain they actually used, would be a measure of peace for a concerned parent. To know that they were walking around every day with earphones attuned to non-stop vulgarisms might be cause for second thoughts.
Let's just give the dictionary the final say on rappers and their vernacular. Vulgarisms, says the dictionary are "words or phrases used chiefly by uneducated people". Fabulous role models.
Smith's complaint highlights a disturbing truth. Women, as a group, are not covered under the hate propaganda law. That means it's pretty much open season on us, year round. Rappers can say what they want, when they want, to denigrate women. No-one is willing to do anything about it because misogyny is still so much a part of the very woof and warp of our society. Do we need to continue bolstering it in forms that make the cash registers ring? Is the dollar sign actually the biggest part of our continued societal tolerance of it?
Try to tell me that there isn't an overload of "rough and vulgar language" in rap aimed straight at women. Vulgarisms are liberally sprinkled through every line by some rappers. Look to the "works" by the likes of Eminem, Snoop Dogg and 50 cent. Snoop Dogg describes himself as a motherfuckin' pimp. Isn't his attitude toward women clearly evident in every syllable of that succinct little phrase?
As if Snoop Dogg (et alia) didn't already have enough influence with the easily led, now he's shining with the golden glow of corporate approval, as a spokesperson for Chrysler. Can you picture them filling the position with a rapper who openly declared racism or homophobia? Inconsistencies in societal attitudes toward hate mongering are rife so spewing hatred toward a full half of the world's population is OK. Give a rapper that mainstream cloak of approval and he pretty much becomes invincible to any criticism. The OHRC is not likely to do anything about this complaint. Who can fight the big bucks of our society's consumerism?
Maybe Smith won't succeed with this claim, but she has made waves before, and bless her for continuing to try. She did, for instance, succeed in pressuring Bell Mobility to stop offering their $2.50 downloads of "Pimptones". She wages her war while others waste time arguing about whether or not teens are influenced in negative ways by such lyrics. That's an argument I don't have the time of day for. I spent years teaching 13 and 14-year-olds. I saw their never-ending efforts to look and talk just like their rap idols. You wouldn't believe how many times I have seen "2Pac" inscribed across damn near every notebook, textbook and piece of furniture in the classroom. Go read a little about this thug's life and then tell me if you would want your kid idolizing him. Most parents are happy to see a son or daughter idolizing someone who they feel would be a positive role model, but how many would openly rejoice at the selection of someone like Adolf Hitler to emulate? Stop and think about it for a moment. Exactly how do you explain and justify the difference between hate mongering directed at one group and that directed at any other.
I am not trying to suggest that our kids need to look for perfection in their choices of role models. Bill Clinton sure fell short of that mark, but he also has a lot to offer in the way of leadership to someone interested in world peace, or humanitarianism. Princess Diana was not a saint, but she extended herself to so many of the world's needy, at the same time as she struggled with her own demons. A person interested in helping the less fortunate could include Diana in their pantheon of good examples. On the other hand, someone who leads a hedonistic lifestyle, while they sell messages of hatred to finance their luxury is not necessarily the best influence there is. At least to feel like your kid was following someone with a brain, a brain they actually used, would be a measure of peace for a concerned parent. To know that they were walking around every day with earphones attuned to non-stop vulgarisms might be cause for second thoughts.
Let's just give the dictionary the final say on rappers and their vernacular. Vulgarisms, says the dictionary are "words or phrases used chiefly by uneducated people". Fabulous role models.
2 Comments:
I would append to the definition of vulgarism, "... words or phrases used chiefly by uneducated people, for uneducated people." Unfortunately, I think the lesson needs to start at home, and I don't see that starting anytime soon. Parents are simply derelict in their duties. Without guidance, their children degenerate.
You forgot to mention that people like that trash Paris Hilton also denigrate women. Just because people like her don't sing about women being bitches and hos doesn't mean that the way she peddles the "poor little dumb sexpot me" image doesn't denigrate everything about women.
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