Is Censorship the Answer? Misogyny in Rap Lyrics
by Kelly
According to Urban Dictionary (god, I love that site) a “chickenhead” is:
“Usually a female, who likes to give oral sex. The word chickenhead comes from the movement that the females head makes while performing oral sex. Lots of guys like chickenheads because they don’t even have to be in a relationship with them to get their dicks sucked.”
and
“1. a female who likes cock
2. a female who likes giving head, bobbing up and down like a chicken
…not to be confused with “chickens,” or chicks, which is not a deragatory term”
Where does this lovely term show up most often? Rap lyrics, like the following song by Three Six Mafia, entitled (you guessed it) “Chickenhead”:
“…now these chickenhead hoes see this platinum thick as white gold
…a flock of broads follow me
from the club to break they knees
knowin that’s all i want
straight out tha club
tha rest ain’t smellin right
the last thang on they mind is freshin up
its goin down tonight
…i’m tha playa who got u chickenheads knockin at my door
tellin me that you diggin me
tellin me i’m yo man to be
girlfriend its gone cost a fee
get yo rags and work that streets
pay ya boy and make me rich
so we keep them swisher’s lit”
The misogyny in rap lyrics isn’t really news to anyone – in fact, it’s been 4 years since Essence magazine’s campaign to clean up rap lyrics. However, it’s still an issue. Recently, students at Arcadia High School in Pasadena, CA, took steps to clean up their prom by starting a petition to ban certain songs with explicit and derogatory language directed at women. The petition was started by the Women’s Health and Issues Club and got 130 signatures. The students were partially successful – the administrators guaranteed that 20 songs would not be played, because the proposed ban on 300 different songs was too difficult to implement.
In the article I linked to, one of the girls mentions that many other female students at their high school resisted the ban on songs, claiming they liked the songs and banning them would ruin prom.
I’m not a fan of censorship, but as the prom is, in essence, a party for a group of high schoolers, it makes sense that they should be in control of the playlist. If certain songs offend a large enough percentage of students, it does make sense to ban those songs (or some of them). However, as one article argues, “Censorship of hip-hop music is not the solution. Instead, the solution is to change the culture, system, and ideology so misogynist lyrics are not written.”
How do we change the culture and the system? Is banning individual songs helpful in raising awareness or does it do the cause a disservice by focusing on censorship rather than change?
This is, of course, why I blog – I’m a big believer in overhauling the entire system rather than slapping band-aids on various social problems (which is why I have mixed feelings about the legalization of prostitution, for example). I feel that if more people realized how possible it is to change the current system, then we actually…could. Every little bit helps, but in the end we need a mass movement.
So, what do you think? Do you agree with the students at Arcadia? Is it a form of censorship? Is censorship ever okay? What can be done about the misogyny in rap lyrics? These are all big questions, I know, but without discussion there will never be an answer.
– Dollface
Related Links:
The Exploitation of Women in Hip-hop Culture
Misogyny and Rap: ‘Chickenhead’ Means You
Misogyny in Music: What Teens Think
The ‘Nelly Controversy’ — Misogyny And Rap
I am opposed to censorship, I would say censorship is as offensive to me as any other form of oppression. That’s what it is really is the oppression of free thought. I will never agree with most of what anyone is saying, but it is still something they have the right to say. The better idea is like you said, to adjust the culture that creates the problem.
That being said I can say that if there is a majority opinion stating that they do not want something played at their event, that doesn’t really fall into the censorship category.
One of the principals of effective democracy is local government. If they want to ban it in the school, that being their administrative area, I’d say that’s fine.
Also, property owners have the legal right to removed or restrict a person’s rights while on the premise. Your freedom of movement, right to bare arms, right to assemble, etc. are all limited on someone else’s property. Restricting your free speech (which lyrics fall under) is totally reasonable on private property, which the school is. (It’s not public property, like a park. It is private property held by a public agency, like a cop car.)
Tricky.
I’m not a fan of censorship. Rather, I hate when someone tells me I can’t read or listen to something. I’d rather censor myself. If there is something that makes me feel uncomfortable, I’ll turn the radio/tv off, or I’ll put the book down.
But, I think I agree with Arcadia High on this one. Even if it is a form of censorship. If I had to listen to songs about chickenhead hoes at my Prom, I’d probably be pretty upset and uncomfortable.
Although I tend to disagree with censorship, in this case, I think it’s okay. On the other hand, misogyny will never be okay with me.
I agree with the previous commenters – censorship not ok, situation at Arcadia not censorship.
The whole issue is kind of depressing to me, makes me sad to think that anyone is thinking those songs are cool.
May I recommend…
I would say it is indeed censorship and not just at matter of students choosing – in comparascent – one band over another. These people do not want specific songs played because of their – to them – offensive content. But what if it was a song about a realization of God not existing, and the religious students didn’t want to listen to that, or a song about capitalism being the main source of poverty and abuse, and the capitalist students thought that offensive? If we widen cracks in the freedom of speech like that, we’re going down a very bad road. I don’t think censorship is ever the right way to go. Good, strong, informed public debate about any issue is the way forward. Freedom of speech and opinion is for all, not just the elite, not just those determining in any given situation what is right and what is wrong, good or bad.
I do however find it kind of uplifting that they could actually collect enough signatures to avoid the songs being played. That must mean that there are some people who agree that these strongly misogynist lyrics are made of shit and not worth even their danceable beats.
You ask what to do about the misogyny in rap lyrics. I would say that a step that everyone can take is not to buy, download or listen to that crap. Next – and simultaneously – is working on loosing misogyny in general (that’s a big one, of course, but lyrics like that stem from a structurally based misogyny). Also I think both girls and boys must refrain from using the terms used in the lyrics about themselves or other people. I would never refer to myself as a whore or let anyone use the term on any other woman without me making a very critical comment about it. If I did, I would feed it myself. Getting rid of this is about awareness, like so many other things.
Paddington was a gastronomic wasteland untill Roosters hit the scene
Misogyny kicks ass!
I oppose censorship too, generally. However, it makes me so angry when someone claims that certain lyrics are not misogynistic, and I am merely being “too much of a feminist”. Yes, someone actually said that to me.
In terms of censorship in the high school prom’s song list, well I wouldn’t be happy if a bunch of songs filled with profanities were played at my kids school.