"Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze"

Hunter, Margaret & Kathleen Soto. “Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze” Race, Gender & Class16.1/2 (2009): 170-191.

          In “Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze”, Hunter and Soto analyzed popular rap and hip hop songs for overlapping themes; their results are startling and show degradation to women in many forms. Hunter and Soto found three common themes among the lyrics. The first theme was that women were constantly portrayed as sex workers, mostly as strippers, exotic dancers, and prostitutes. The second theme was that women’s voices, were used to convey a different meaning in the songs, yet complied with the view that women enjoy rough sex and are willing to stand up for their man at the expense of their lives. This is also part of the third theme which is that there is the “ride or die” type of woman. Although it praises and “valorizes” women for being loyal, they are loyal even when it puts their life in danger. Hunter and Soto point out the shocking sexually violent portrayal of women in hopes of further discussion so that we “may continue to transform rap music in creative and productive ways” (12).

          Hunter and Soto analyzed rap and hip hop songs from Billboard Music’s “Top Rap Singles of the Year” from 2003 and 2005. Several songs clearly demonstrate the theme that women are conveyed as sex workers. For example, 50 Cent’s “P.I.M.P” (2003) exemplifies the women as sex workers theme. In his song, he says “Dolce and Gabbana…she feed them foolish fantasies, they pay her cause they wanna... I holla at a hoe 'til I got a bitch confused …she got on Payless. me. I got gator shoes” (5). 50 Cent brings in the women as a sex worker theme, but at the same time he “glamorizes the life of a pimp, but interestingly, he does not inflate the life of a prostitute” (5). Instead of a glamorous life, prostitutes and sex workers are struggling to make a living. In the same song, he also portrays the violence against women in sex industry when 50 Cent says “put my other hoes down, you get your ass beat, the last nigga she was with put stitches in her head” (5). Although many rappers claim that their lyrics are a representation of “street-life”, they praise the dangerous and often deadly lifestyle of prostitutes.

          The next theme conveyed in Hunter and Soto’s analysis was that women’s voices were used to “sell” an image of women. Commonly in hip hop music women will sing the hooks while the men will rap the verses. When the women sing, it conveys a different meaning. For example, in Ja Rule and Ashanti’s “Always on Time” (2003) Ja Rule raps about how she enjoys when he’s “smackin' [her] ass and fuckin' [her] all wild…” (7), then Ashanti sings the hook: “but we share something so rare..." (7). When Ashanti sings the hook, she’s agreeing with that behavior and accepts it. Surprisingly, Hunter and Soto found that pornographic images are also portrayed by women rappers as well. They took examples of Lil Kim’s lyrics where she prides herself on being able to pleasure a man. However, they touched on the racial issue in this as well. The women in hip hop are able to get away with this because she references the “historical image of the jezebel, the hypersexual black woman” (8). If Lil Kim was a white women and white women were being portrayed in her songs then there would most likely be a cry of outrage, additionally the music would not sell at all (8). Men artists contribute to the degradation of women, but women artists have their fair share as well, which permits the continuous sexual humiliation of women in hip hop music.

          The third theme that Hunter and Soto explained was the “ride or die chick” which means that the women are loyal to their significant other at all costs, even at the expense of their own lives. Throughout hip hop music, women are praised for being loyal, but they are loyal at the cost of their own safety. Hunter and Soto used examples from Jay Z’s “03 Bonnie & Clyde” (2003) where he “relies on the age-old distinction among women (some are for sex and some are for marriage)”(9). Again this is another pornographic reference, but this time it is also using the “ride or die” theme where the woman is praised for putting her life in danger for the sake of “her man”. This theme is overlooked and represents “unequal gender relations”. Yes, women are praised for “being loyal girlfriends, wives, and partners in crime” (9), but it isn’t a positive message when the women are essentially being appreciated for their willingness to die for their men. In comparison to female rappers in the 1980s and 1990s, these female rappers ‘perform a more passive voice that "softens the blow" of patriarchal expectations’ (9).

          This article demonstrates how women are sexually humiliated and degraded in hip hop music today. In a way it is similar to Cecilia Ridgway’s article “How Gender Inequality Persists in the Modern World”. Both pieces convey the prevalence of sexual inequalities and how they are represented in our society today. In Ridgeway’s article, she explains that gender equalities persist due to “stereotypes” and “cultural frames”. Hunter and Soto also use these themes as well. For example, they explain that black women artists can get away with being overly sexual because of the stereotype of the “historical image of the jezebel, the hypersexual black woman”. It is interesting that in a society like ours where equality is praised and sought for; gender stereotypes continue to exist and are passed on. Ridgeway explains that most people are taking gender for granted and in that the common stereotypes such as assumptions of character based on gender, are brought into every sphere of life. This is quite dangerous that hip hop music perpetuates these stereotypes and has a massive fan base; the amount of influence on this huge fan base would contribute to further believing in these stereotypes. However, the condoning of these stereotypes by women artists does not help dissolve these misconceptions and until more speak out against them, the more gender inequalities will persist through out our generation.

-Justina Farfan