Help Black College Women Reconcile Hip‐Hop's Misogyny

Abstract

Hip-hop music has a huge presence on college campuses. It's played in dorm rooms, at parties, at college events and even studied in classes. Yet the music can be very demeaning to women, especially black women. What are its effects, and how can colleges intervene? One solution is to teach black college women to be conscious consumers of this type of media, said Dr. Wilma Henry of the University of South Florida. Based on her research, she discussed hip-hop feminism and psychosocial issues among black college women at the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) conference in Chicago in March. A VP in student services administration for 35 years, Henry has returned to faculty in college student affairs. Co-presenters were USF doctoral candidate Nicole West and graduate student Brittany Stokes. Within the context of black feminist thought, West said student affairs professionals can use hip-hop feminism to aid the psychosocial development of black college women, said the trio. The trick is to engage college students in exploring the verbal messages. It is especially crucial during the college years, because that is when a pronounced search for identity occurs. Hip-hop is both a music genre and a cultural movement. Born in New York City during the 1970s, it helped black and Latino youth voice their discontentment with racism and low socio-economic status. In the early stages, it was aligned with other artistic forms of creative expression such as DJing, emceeing, break dancing and graffiti, West said. Although many confuse the two, hip-hop and the genre now known as rap are not synonymous. Hip-hop tends to be lighter and more socially conscious, while rap is harsher and more beat-driven—and more violent and misogynistic. There are multiple forms of hip-hop and types of expression within the music. Why study hip-hop? Hip-hop has a contradictory relationship with young, black women, and vice versa, said the women. Black women have an extremely visibly role in the music and in the videos, but it's rarely positive. Yet black women are some of the biggest consumers of the product. The result is that young black women receive a “barrage of conflicting positive and negative messages,” said West, citing results of their literature review. The women presented a slide show of images of black women in hip-hop, set to music playing “I don't know why I love you but I do.” Images ranged from explicit sexual pictures to those of strong black female artists such as Queen Latifah. “Hip-hop is the one I hate to love and love to hate,” said West. “We want to acknowledge our own role in creating/promoting/enjoying/hating this movement. How do I reconcile this generation of mine? Although we are denigrated by the words and images, we are also the majority of the consumers of hip-hop material.” It's a feeling others share. Sharpley-Writing wrote in 2007: “We must acknowledge our own role in this troubling relationship. We are enthralled by hip-hop culture, and we conspicuously (and happily) consume its primary products—music, fashion and values.” Early black feminism in America started with the slavery abolition movement, including Sojourner Truth and the National Association of Colored Women, which was formed in 1896. These early feminists focused on race, Henry explained. In white America, the first wave of feminism was the suffragist movement, with voting and political presence at the forefront. The Second Wave was the sexual revolution, focused on women's rights. Black women were absent from these first two waves. During the 2nd wave, black women were working on human rights and civil rights issues. Males took the lead, but women were right there working with them. Black women initially centered their work around the race question, she said, and although the intersection of race and gender was important, it wasn't coherent as a movement: “White women were seeking women's rights, and black women were seeking civil rights.” In the 3rd wave, a term coined by Rebecca Walker in 1992, gender, race and culture all became entwined. “This wave was to include voices of all human beings towards social justice,” said Henry. “It married all the previous struggles.” Each wave was a building block for future struggles. Hip-hop feminism, said Stokes, is about confronting the negativity toward women in hip-hop. It's about exploring the dualism and dissonance between formulating a healthy self-concept, yet respecting what's in the culture of hip-hop. “I don't like to hear ‘bitches' and ‘hos' in my music, but it's my generation,” she said. She's noticed that the statement “I'm black and I'm proud” is coming into its own in hip-hop. And there is a new representation of black womanhood: “We didn't want to give up our booties, and we now have images coming from Beyonce, Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige that are changing the message,” she said. Hip-hop feminism, she explained, can be used to empower women to engage in popular culture, while at the same time help them to strengthen a positive sense of themselves during the formative years of college. Black feminism and black feminist thought, as outlined by Dr. Patricia Hill Collins, is a complex theory encompassing different levels that may be part of one's identity. It explores: “There are great variations in each individual's response to an event,” explained Stokes. “We all have shared experiences, but they are reactive, colored by education, geography, etc. Standpoint needs to be defined.” These thoughts will then lead us to action, she said. This standpoint theory, when meshed with hip-hop, can serve as a theoretical framework in helping student affairs professionals to understand the influences of feminism, hip-hop and culture. It's also a way to strengthen the identity development of black college women. What does meshing hip-hop with feminism accomplish? “It's a rationale for active resistance,” said Stokes, acknowledging that hip-hop can be oppressive, but also honoring the empowering aspects of the genre. Educators can use hip-hop feminism to advance the psychosocial development for young black college women, with goals to: – Empower black college women. – Encourage black college women. – Engage black college women. – Enlist allies. – Educate others. Start by creating sister circles with seasoned women who are interested in leading discussions, they advised. Some campus Women's Centers are educating students about the lyrics of hip-hop songs insulting women. They invite students to bring in their favorite songs, find the lyrics online and print them out for students to read aloud. Students are surprised and embarrassed at the lyrics, having ignored their negativity while being “seduced by the beat,” as described by poet Bridget Gray. In their presentation, the trio played her powerful video “letter” ending her relationship with hip-hop. Check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfIBAWAneoo Another option is to eschew the prepackaged media and allow students to create their own. Give them the space to create their own music or stage a poetry slam, where they can make their own messages. Such “Take Back the Beat” efforts can help young black women reject the negativity of hip-hop and become empowered to create positive self-images. Contacts: Wilma Henry at whenry@usf.edu Nicole West at nwest@mail.usf.edu Brittany Stokes at bstokes@mail.usf.edu