By Tess Weigel
Note: This blog post contains words that some readers may find offensive.
In 2009, popular rhythm and blues (R&B) artists Chris Brown and Rihanna were involved in a physical altercation which resulted in five years of probation for Brown. As the story developed, news reports shifted the blame onto Rihanna for Brown’s actions against her. One report falsely claimed that Rihanna tweeted, “I admit it. I provoked Chris to hit me…#I'mSORRY” (Edgar, 2014). This shift toward blaming the victim, especially in high- profile couples such as Rihanna and Chris Brown, may be due in part to the rhetoric deeply ingrained in classic R&B hits. R&B music implies “black men as uncontrolled, violent, and threatening and women’s sexuality as dominating, dangerous, and unsupportive towards black men” (Edgar, 2014). I am not asserting that R&B music causes abuse and victim blaming. Rather, I argue that there is a correlation between the racially stereotypical rhetoric of R&B and how news outlets report on artists.
R&B music is focused largely around male hyper heterosexuality, which can be one reason for why female bodies are commonly objectified in music videos and in lyrics. Chris Brown’s music is a prime example of this male hyper heterosexuality most notably in “Look at Me Now”. Brown sings “Better cuff your chick if you with her. I can get her, and she accidently slip, fall on my d*ck” (Edgar, 2014). Brown is over exaggerating his masculinity while also objectifying women as something he can easily ‘get’ from another man. Similarly, African American females are often referred to as ‘b*tches and hoes’ in many R&B songs which reiterates this “narrative of untamed heterosexuality” (Edgar, 2014).
Of all R&B songs, 51% contain some form of objectification, and specifically, female body objectification is a higher rate of 68% of songs (Flynn, Craig, Anderson, & Holody, 2016). However, female R&B artists are taking a stand against these stereotypes. As early as 1992, female R&B artists challenged the prevalent sexual objectification within the genre. TLC, an African American female group, used their song “No Scrubs” to call out men and push the message that women do not need ‘scrubby’ men in their lives. Similarly, female rappers created videos and lyrics that spoke to powerful, assertive women, with lyrics featuring “men taking advantage of women, cheating on them, taking their money, and then leaving them for other unsuspecting female victims” (Edgar, 2014). Female R&B artists are addressing the issues of male hyper heterosexuality in their music and finding ways to empower their listeners and fellow artists.
After the 2009 attack, Rihanna came out with her album Rated R which focused on her understanding of powerful black femininity in R&B music (Edgar, 2014). Rihanna flips the R&B stereotypes on their head in her song “Birthday Cake” where she sings “I’m going to make you my b*tch”. Rather than the male power over women and degrading females, Rihanna uses the term to put herself in the power role (Edgar, 2014).
Overall, R&B music is deeply rooted in historical stereotypes which leads to the objectification of female bodies in many of the top songs. By framing black male bodies as aggressive and powerful over the female, it can, unfortunately, lead to a larger problem in our society of victim blaming. However, female R&B artists are taking matters into their own hands in order to disrupt these stereotypes and to empower one another.
References
Edgar, A. N. (2014). R&B rhetoric and victim-blaming discourses: Exploring the popular press’s revision of Rihanna’s contextual agency. Women’s Studies in Communication, 37(2), 138-158. doi:10.1080/07491409.2014.909374
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Fine post, Tess. I appreciate your concern for readers by flagging the offensive language you consider throughout.
ReplyDeleteBut as you suggest, as students of media and popular culture, we have a responsibility to scrutinize commercial art that promotes – and frequently celebrates – what Kidd calls "the matrix of domination."
More specifically, this short essay identifies academic literature that examines the racist/sexist sensibility in a popular and pervasive music genre: R&B. What's more, you demonstrate a good working knowledge of this material. That's what we're looking for.
My one concern on this score is that rather than apply this knowledge to a more contemporary episode, your post relies heavily on Edgar's analysis of Rhianna's troubled relationship and her subsequent response(s). I want to encourage you to move beyond restating findings from scholarly analysis and instead apply this work to a new or undocumented case. See the difference?
In terms of mechanics, your use of punctuation in and around quotations is incorrect. Likewise, the first citation uses italics for the title of the article. This too is wrong. The other citation is fine.
In short, this is a good start. Apart from a few mechanical issues, the post is engaging and well written. Equally important, you've found two academic articles that relate to your theme week on women in music. Now I want you to work on applying these findings to a more original analysis. You've clearly got the skill set to do this.
Looking forward to your next post. In the meantime, I urge you to speak up in class. It's clear to me that you have "what" to say.
26/30 pts.
Tess,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how your post is bringing up the relevant issues of objectification and physical violence towards women. It's definitely a conversation that we need to have more often, especially when it pertains to music.
I've never heard this take on R&B music before, so it was nice to read a different perspective.
However, "Look at Me Now" is primarily a rap song, not an R&B song. You also make the point that female R&B artists are fighting against sexual objectification, but then bring up female rappers in the same paragraph. Rap and R&B are completely different music genres with very different connotations. If anything I'd say that for a lot of Black Americans R&B music is a lot more tame and features much less objectification than rap music.
I'd also say that the racist stereotypes engrained in the manner in which news outlets report on Black music artists has less to do with what Black musical artists are producing, and more to do with systemic racism.
I'm not arguing that R&B and Rap Music can't objectify women or be violent towards women. However, the stereotypes of Black men being violent dates back to racism during slavery, jim crow, and the civil rights movement.
I'd argue that if White rap artists produced the same lyrics as Black rap artists the news would report on the white rap artists music more positively not because of the difference in lyrics, but because of the difference in their skin color.
I concur with Cailey. It is an interesting take to read about the hypersexualization behind this genre of music, but I do believe that the hypersexualization is more so linked to rap music. While there has been a generational shift, R&B which stands for "Rhythm & Blues" has been known to be more of a sensual and love based genre of music. Also agreeing with Cailey, Black men being violent beings is a stereotype evolving from racism and slavery and is a narrative further pushed by the media to keep the idea that we need to be feared.
DeleteTess,
ReplyDeleteFirst I would like to say you do a great job of talking about such a sensitive topic. It is not easy to talk about issues like these, but you address them very nicely. You have a lot of very good information, but like professor said, instead of relying on the analysis of Edgar so much, you should make it more of a blog by expressing what you think about the issues. I would double check a few of the citations on Purdue Owl, but other than that, your formatting looks really good. Aside from the mechanics and a few of the other minor errors, you have an extremely well put together post. I think with a little review and more personal opinion, your next post will be even better and you should only grow from this! Overall, Awesome Job!