Country music has changed quite a bit throughout the years.
While some things may have changed for the worse, other things have changed for
the better. Women country artists have changed the ways they express and
present themselves dealing with gender roles and stereotypes. In 1986, Tammy
Wynette released her single titled “Stand by Your Man”. The song was a number
one hit for three weeks. In the song she talks about a husband who does things
that the women does not understand and has good times while the wife deals with
bad times. Her excuse for his wrong behavior is that “after all he’s just a
man” therefore the woman must “stand by your man”. Wynette’s song has since
drawn fire from feminists viewing it as non-liberating and even Hilary Clinton once voiced her opinion on the song when she claimed in an interview that she would not stand by her man like Tammy Wynette. Today, however, there are songs
like Miranda Lambert’s “Gunpowder and Lead” and Carrie Underwood’s “Before HeCheats” and “Two Black Cadillacs” that are far from “standing by your man”.
Lambert sings about going home and loading her shotgun in response to an
abusive husband. Underwood sings about destroying her cheating boyfriends car
and two womens' plot against a two-timer. There are many more songs out today
that are much like these songs and could be considered as liberating for female
artists in breaking away from the stereotype created years and years ago that
women “stand by your man” no matter what.
- Ashley Compton
Reading this post has sincerely made me happy. I remember listening to my mother sing the words to Tammy Wynette's song, and belt it out with such sad, sad... soul. It makes me so happy that she decided to finally get a divorce after 22 years of violence. Me and her listen to "Before he Cheats" together, and laugh. Really, thanks for posting this! It's a good reminder that not all humanity is lost, only, now these specific country artists need to not be so consumed with getting revenge.
ReplyDelete--Josephine Hicks
My favorite of the new country song like these is "Girl in a Country Song" by Maddie and Tae. It talks about how uncomfortable all the country girl stereotypes are and how they aren't a cliche. Being a girl in a country song sucks sometimes, and this song blatantly says that women deserve more respect than that. I really love country music, so seeing songs like this just raises my faith in the genre!
ReplyDelete-Erin Lucas
Even though I do not agree with Tammy Wynette's song, 'Stand by Your Man', I think that songs like 'Before He Cheats' and 'Gunpowder and Lead' are also a bit extreme. I get the whole empowering women phenomenon, it just seems like there is a more peaceful way to go about it. Although, perhaps more peaceful, less angry songs would not sell. I am glad though that women are standing up for themselves and commanding the respect that they deserve. Thanks for sharing this!
ReplyDelete-Bridget Thomas
Oftentimes, when people think of music that objectifies women or sends negative messages, we think of rap. You can draw a lot of racial commentary from this fact, we feel more comfortable when white country artists ("true Americans") singing about social roles than we are when black rappers do. I think it is important to look critically at every type of music,but also to accept that music is a form of self-expression that will probably always drawn controversy, so it is also important to look at music and all sorts of media from a variety of different perspectives.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I agree with the reading of this song as one that does not promote women's rights and I think it is good that we are expanded our criticisms of objectifying music to include all sorts of music.
- Sarah Reasoner
I think it's interesting to bring up that women being objectified and degraded occurs in other genres of music, as rap generally gets that degrading stereotype assigned to it. I really like that your post explores both sides of women -- the liberating songs in addition to the repressive songs. But given the examples, I almost want to question the morality of the examples of the liberating songs. Don't get me wrong, it's a great thing that needs to be done, but they do come across as unnecessarily violent (vandalizing her cheating ex-boyfriend's car) and questionable (the team-up against the two-timer). Even so, on the flip side there are plenty of songs about men destroying something of a woman's, I'm sure.
ReplyDelete-Elijah Zagorski