At last, women lash out at hip hop's abuses

New York Daily News ^ | 1/03/05 | Stanley Crouch

[kattracks]

The most successful black women's magazine, Essence, is in the middle of a campaign that could have monumental cultural significance.

Essence is taking on the slut images and verbal abuse projected onto black women by hip hop lyrics and videos.

The magazine is the first powerful presence in the black media with the courage to examine the cultural pollution that is too often excused because of the wealth it brings to knuckleheads and amoral executives.

This anything-goes-if-sells attitude comes at a cost. The elevation of pimps and pimp attitudes creates a sadomasochistic relationship with female fans. They support a popular idiom that consistently showers them with contempt. We are in a crisis, and Essence knows it.

When asked how the magazine decided to take a stand, the editor, Diane Weathers said, "We started looking at the media war on young girls, the hypersexualization that keeps pushing them in sexual directions at younger and younger ages."

Things got deeper, she says, because, "We started talking at the office about all this hatred in rap song after rap song, and once we started, the subject kept coming up because women were incapable of getting it off their minds."

At a listening session that Weathers and the other staffers had with entertainment editor Cori Murray, "We found the rap lyrics astonishing, brutal, misogynistic. ... So we said we were going to pull no punches, especially since women were constantly being assaulted."

They were inspired by a campaign that some fathers and daughters led against Abercrombie & Fitch demanding that half-clad young people no longer be used to sell the clothing. When the campaign succeeded, the Essence staff realized there is a serious problem in the world of advertising as well as music.

"When we started this," Weathers said, "all the editors came together. We formed a music committee - staff volunteers who did the research and then focus groups of women and men of all ages.

"Then in April, there was the demonstration at Spelman College in Atlanta. The young women - supported by the men at Morehouse, by the way! - told the rapper Nelly that they didn't want him on campus because his work was too insulting.

"We realized that, my God, we were right on point! What we were feeling and what we were finding out in our research was all correct. It was time. Women were no longer going to sit still."

Essence has a year-long strategy that includes a town meeting at Spelman College in February.

Things are getting hot. This is a beginning that has been a long time coming, and it is good to see it all forming naturally with the women in the lead.

Originally published on January 3, 2005

[cyborg]

LOL

[MainFrame65]

The black women I have contact with are indeed worthy of respect, but they are not average members of their community. I teach managerial economics, one of the toughest courses in the MBA program (when taught right). MOST of my students are married black women with families, and most of them are supervisors or managers, already loaded down with responsibilities. Most of them have heard of my class, and have at least some idea of how much work I will require, but they buckle down and get the job done. And most of them do not hesitate to demand what they need from me.

I have had a slacker or two in each of the three classes I have taught, but only one a woman. Although my reputation is becoming well known, some do show up unaware of the workload. About one third of my initial enrollees drop out after one or two classes, and five have received the "C" grade that is tantamount to failure in a graduate program, but from a total of 58 students who stayed with me I have 26 unsolicited Emails offering praise and thanks for what they learned.

[CFC__VRWC]

Mel Watt, a black congressman wrote to Harry Reid, suggesting his criticism of Clarence Thomas was racist and ought to have been based on issues not personal attacks.

I was in on the discussion of this on another thread a few days ago, and held the most cynical point of view of Watt's criticism of Reid, namely that it was nothing but window dressing meant to tell us conservatives to bugger off with our hypocrisy charges. I'm still not convinced to totally let that theory go, but it definitely looks like there is some real movement toward the mainstream (or at the very least, some real unease about their current course) within the liberal black establishment that I failed to take into account.

[OldFriend]

Don't care what his motive was........but I did notice that there was NO mention of his letter to Reid in the MSM........LOLOLOL

[kAcknor]

BTTT for interesting links to view later...

[CFC__VRWC]

........but I did notice that there was NO mention of his letter to Reid in the MSM........LOLOLOL

Probably my main reason for believeing the whole thing was a sham, and why I'm still not completely letting that idea go. If the CBC sincerely wanted to chastise Reid, they would have summoned someone from the New York Times to take their dictation, guaranteeing saturation coverage on every MSM outlet for at least a couple of days, and probably much longer.

[JoeSixPack1]

"We realized that, my God, we were right on point! What we were feeling and what we were finding out in our research was all correct. It was time. Women were no longer going to sit still."

I'm happy to see rap getting the bad rap it deserves.

BUT:

This black woman's magazine finally taking the high horse of being gender offended after years of praise and promotion, is highly suspect as to their true motivation.

[AppyPappy]

It ain't like hip-hop just started with the disrespect. It's been going on for decades.

[JoeSixPack1]

Thanks, That's the thought I was trying to express. :-)

[Southack]

"I was in on the discussion of this on another thread a few days ago, and held the most cynical point of view of Watt's criticism of Reid, namely that it was nothing but window dressing meant to tell us conservatives to bugger off with our hypocrisy charges. I'm still not convinced to totally let that theory go, but it definitely looks like there is some real movement toward the mainstream (or at the very least, some real unease about their current course) within the liberal black establishment that I failed to take into account."

I'm pretty OK with a little skepticism, but I suspect that you'll come around further to what I was saying as time progresses. The treatment of Black Leaders by the Democratic Party establishment is simply too awful and too overt to go unnoticed for much longer...and the treatment of Black issues such as private school vouchers for inner city minority chidlren, which the Democratic Party leadership openly opposes, and then again on privatizing social security (the only way that Black men, who die on average by age 61 when SS payments don't begin until age 65 - will ever have a chance at passing some of their retirement benefits on to their heirs) where the Dems openly oppose the only plan around that benefits Blacks, adds up to some major disrespect...no, outright hostility toward Blacks by liberal White "leaders" in the Democratic Party.

[OldFriend]

Guess they never noticed MTV on in their homes.

[BobL]

Thanks very much for pulling me in. My point on the significance of events like the one on this thread, Mel Watts, and Bill Cosby, is that blacks and liberal whites have very little in common, and blacks are slowly wising up to it. It is difficult for them - the northeast liberals were out there organizing and supporting them in the civil rights struggles, while the conservatives (Democrat and Republican), by and large stayed clear or opposed those efforts (I know the Republicans were generally more helpful to them than the Dems were back then, but neither was really on the front lines like the NE liberals).

There was a lot of blood spilled back then, so it should be understandable that it's difficult for the blacks to divorce this bunch on a whim.

But the NE libs (who now control the Dem party), having successfully achieved all that they could hope for out of the civil rights movement have moved on to things like gay marriage, bashing religion, legalizing drugs and other crime, and overall just glorifying the decedent rap culture. Unfortunately for the libs, that's a bit too much for the blacks to handle, as many, if not most blacks, have more in common socially with Pat Robertson than they will have in common with the Dem leaders (white or black).

So, now, the sand is beginning to slowly shift under the Dem party. If the Dems lose their lock on the black vote - say by going just 30% Republican, that's basically the end of the Dem party. Let's all hope this happens and do what we can to make it so (and make sure no one on our side puts their foot in their mouth, again).

[Major Matt Mason]

The fact that a two-bit thug like Snoop Doggy Doo is now considered acceptable enough to be a pitchman for various products shows how far our popular culture has gone in the tank.

[blackie]

Roger That ~ Bump!

[SauronOfMordor]

The trouble is, they have to say no as a group. Because if the individual woman says no to the individual man, he just moves on to a member of the Immoral Majority, the women who are more willing. If the women of America were to stand up as a group and say no--no to immoral behavior, no to low expectations, no to ugly, unfeminine behavior--they might start getting some of the engagement rings they aren't able to get now.

It used to be part of "proper" female culture that the "easy" girls were ostracized, for just this reason: once the number of "easy" girls passes a threshold, the "not so easy" girls are at a severe disadvantage

[libs_kma]

I never did understand the acceptance of the rap music disrespect of black females and even the disrespect of themselves too. And instead of rejecting it, they bought into and supported it.

It's going to take much more than a Bill Cosby and Essence magazine to get it straightened out, but 2 voices are better than none.

[libs_kma]

I never did understand the acceptance of the rap music disrespect of black females and even the disrespect of themselves too. And instead of rejecting it, they bought into and supported it.

It's going to take much more than a Bill Cosby and Essence magazine to get it straightened out, but 2 voices are better than none.

[Maigrey]

I can tell you that she already does.

I work in a diverse environment, and I've quietly asked a couple of minority ladies' what their opinion of Dr. Rice is. One had no clue who she was (outside of name recognition only) and the other's comment was, "What has she done for Black America?" Not, what successes does she have, or helping all people, but, "What has she done for Black America." I'm at a loss to explain this to people who are only looking for a handout or a hook-up.

Most of the ladies' I work with are so influenced by their morals (or, in some cases, lack of them) that they see Men as an advesary, and not someone who can be a partner. That is what truly saddens me.

What also bothers me is certain viewpoints, which are decimating the black community, and they still support it! I've tried logic and reason, but you can't use such when you are dealing with someone who only "feels". Argh!

[Capriole]

It used to be part of "proper" female culture that the "easy" girls were ostracized, for just this reason: once the number of "easy" girls passes a threshold, the "not so easy" girls are at a severe disadvantage

Yep. Those of us who, for whatever reasons of ethics or faith, choose not to behave like sluts can find ourselves pretty lonely. But one is even more lonely if screwed and discarded. The feminists have really ruined American life and the relations between the sexes, and I don't just mean in ruining the temperament of women.