Hip-Hop Has 99 Problems, But #MeToo Ain’t One | Feminista Jones on Patreon
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don’t think Hip-Hop will have it’s so-called #MeToo moment for three main reasons:
In Hip-Hop, the majority of the victims are be Black/Latinx cis women, and few people care enough about this less-likely-to-be-believed demographic to risk their careers, reputations, and personal safety offering support to those who claim to have been victimized by male artists;
Hip-Hop art imitates life and there are a lot of violent muthafuckas out there—those outside of Hip-Hop tend to view those of us who embody the culture as wanting and even deserving of whatever treatment we endure, since we’re full aware of the messaging and themes;
There’s too much money to be made in the objectification of women game, especially in Hip-Hop music. If one or two go down, they’ll all go down, and White people like Lyor Cohen and Jimmy Iovine ain’t having none of that.
Sexual assault and harassment are heavily reliant upon proximity and access. As expected, then, those within Hip-Hop’s cluster would perpetrate and experience harassment with people they have the most frequent direct contact. In Hip-Hop, that means Black/Latinx women and girls are more susceptible to unwanted advances, harassment, assault, and gender-based punishments as a result of non-compliance with the male-dominated status quo. This isn’t to say others are not vulnerable, because we know for certain they are (as exhibited with Afrika Bambaataa), but the majority of victims of these acts are women and girls and the majority of the predators are men and boys. Since its inception, women have struggled with finding a place in Hip-Hop that doesn’t diminish their authenticity and allows for them to experience the same levels of success as the men. As rapped by Salt-N-Pepa in “Ain’t Nothing But A She Thang”:
“Got to break my neck just to get my respect
Go to work and get paid less than a man
When I’m doin’ the same damn thing that he can
When I’m aggressive then I’m a bitch
When I got attitude you call me a witch
Treat me like a sex-object (that ain’t smooth)
Underestimate the mind, oh yeah, you’re a fool
Weaker sex, yeah, right, that’s the joke (ha!)
