White singers deserve the same scrutiny for sexism as Snoop Dogg
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Version 0 of 1. Yesterday, Snoop Lion (formerly Snoop Dogg, real name Calvin Broadus) had been granted a visa to perform at this year’s Big Day Out festival. This was despite of the efforts of Collective Shout, an activist group against the objectification and sexualisation of women which petitioned to have his visa refused on the basis of lyrics' misogyny, his criminal history and his previous work as a pimp. This is not the first time the organisation has protested against an artist on the basis of them glorifying violence against women. In 2013, Collective Shout called on the Australia government to revoke the visa of rapper Tyler the Creator. His music is relatively well known outside his fan base due to its graphic depictions of rape and murder (though it has been noted that he has toned his lyrics down on his latest album). In 2011, the organisation co-sponsored a petition against another rapper, Kanye West, to block his music video for Monster due to its eroticised violence. Indeed, despite the growing number of female rappers and conscious hip hop artists, the genre still struggles with a misogyny problem. Rick Ross was rightly punished last year for rapping about drugging and raping a woman. Likewise Beyonce’s husband (aka Jay Z) who, for no clear reason, controversially spat “I'm Ike Turner … Baby no I don't play / Now eat the cake, Anna Mae / Said eat the cake, Anna Mae” on her recently released song Drunk in Love. However, it is a mistake to view hip hop as a homogenous style of music that is inherently anti-women. As bell hooks stated: Without a doubt black males, young and old, must be held politically accountable for their sexism. Yet this critique must always be contextualised or we risk making it appear that the behaviours this thinking supports and condones – rape, male violence against women, etc – is a black male thing. And this is what is happening. Young black males are forced to take the 'heat' for encouraging, via their music, the hatred of and violence against women that is a central core of patriarchy. Collective Shout’s petition to revoke Snoop Lion’s visa states, “as a society which claims to be serious about eradicating violence against women, there should be no place for recording artists who glorify misogyny and degrade women for entertainment”. So if we agree with this statement, then not only would there be no place for the rappers mentioned above, but also: On that note, many artists that have been arrested for abusive behaviour have toured Australia in recent years with little to no mention of their violent past: This collection is only a small sample of the sexism, and sexists, present in other, traditionally whiter genres of music. However, with the exception of pop, these styles do not attract the same level of criticism that hip hop does. I am not excusing the misogyny present in a fair chunk of rap music, nor am I hoping that organisations like Collective Shout protest the entry of every artist with a criminal history or dodgy back catalogue. Instead, I am questioning why the behaviour and lyrics of artists like Snoop Lion, Tyler the Creator, and Kanye West are held to account while others appear to get a free pass. If perpetrating and glorifying violence against women is unacceptable, then it should be without caveats. If one group of people or style of music is being scrutinised more heavily than another, perhaps it is not only an issue of gender but also an issue of race. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |