Diamond acevedo

Soc Hip Hop blog

                                    Hip Hop and sexuality

            Hip hop and sexuality is a very broad topic and can go many ways. I would hope to explore in this essay a little deeper in to women and how their sexuality and being in hip hop and them being female might have impacted them. Women aren’t able to be looked at normally when it comes to many things in society including hip hop due to them being females and thought of as soft and delicate. As stated in the article by Hobson “Women in varying cultures have been  portrayed either as decorative, fetishistic, manipulative, fragile, or in need of rescuing (or submission) in contemporary popular music lyrics, music videos, music concerts, and movie soundtracks” (2-3). This discussing how women are given a certain way of being looked at in which makes others feel as though they aren’t made to be involved in the hip hop artist world.

            The issue with women being in the hip hop world is always the perception that the world already has of women and how that hinders them. In the article by Oikelome he discusses the perception of women and the concern of women being in the hip hop world and why it is a constant struggle for women rather than men. As argued by Oikelome “there has been a growing concern on the negative impact of the music on the perception of women in the society” (83). Women are used in a negative manner as well when they show them in music videos dancing and where barely any clothes, making it as though that what they are made for to sell sex or their bodies. In this article Oikelome shows the significance of women in the hip hop world and why the perception of women is very hard to fight especially since women aren’t thought of as hip hop artist saying “Even though we have a few Hip-hop female artistes in the industry, men are in the majority while women often feature as dance troupes performing in the background to the music” (85). Throughout the topic of hip hop and sexuality I would like to explore more deep in to the trials and tribulations of women in the hip hop world and what being a women in general meant to them being a female hip hop artist. In this topic of sexuality and hip hop it is also important to discuss why women are treated in such a poor manner. But also how things have changed and if there has or hasn’t been a change with hip hop women artist, and people’s perceptions and how women are represented in the hip hop world. There has been changes through time with many factors in the hip hop world but whether they are positive or negative towards women is the big question to be answered. Because then it can show us the significant growth and changes women have went through to get their music acknowledged even though men are thought of as the majority of hip hop.

                                       Citation

Classic Films on Women in Hiphop. (2016). Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://hiphoparchive.org/blog/3514-classic-films-on-women-in-hiphop

Oikelome, A. O. (2013). 'Are Real Women Just Bad Porn?': Women in Nigerian Hip-hop Culture. Journal Of Pan African Studies, 5(9), 83-98.

Hip Hop Has Become The Platform For Change We Need Today. (2015). Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://theodysseyonline.com/lehigh/the-power-of-modern-hip-hop/207992

Hobson, J., & Bartlow, R. D. (2008). Introduction: Representin': Women, Hip-Hop, and Popular Music. Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 8(1), 1-14.