This week, Tyrone Taborn, co-founder of the Women of Color STEM Conference, wrote a commentary on misogyny in music.
Taborn, a HistoryMaker and a longtime advocate for diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) wrote about how the same attitudes, which championed tools of denigration and have long been a mirror reflecting the patriarchy that seeks to control women, are being reinforced in 2024.
Taborn went on to say that controversial music tracks, often criticized for their portrayal of women, have contributed to normalizing derogatory views of women.
"This isn't just about music; it's a reflection of broader societal issues," Taborn added."
Misogynistic lyrics became a tool for artists to assert dominance and critique social injustices, often at the expense of women.
"Originally, culturally-relevant rap expressed the views and struggles of communities, but it has been manipulated to include misogynistic elements, just as political leaders now normalize overt sexism in everyday language," Taborn wrote, adding that recent comments from political figures are a glaring example of how misogyny is being normalized in everyday language.
One cultural historian noted that the statement was too decisive in signaling a rupture. As a reflector of society, there has always been some element of misogyny in hip-hop, and sometimes that has come from young men, who people would describe as culturally relevant.
Taborn blamed outdated views on gender roles, further underscoring this disturbing trend. Derogatory remarks about women have targeted everyone from Hillary Clinton to Kamala Harris, revealing an unsettling acceptance of sexist attitudes. These comments not only reflect but also reinforce a culture that devalues and disrespects women, making them targets of control and aggression.
An explorer of the interconnections of race, class, and geography in rap music thought that while it can be argued that music reflects society and has a complex relationship to gender attitudes that, in turn, helps reinforce and promote those normative attitudes, there is room for a bit more nuance.
Rap has never just been one thing, the source said. It has always been a mish-mash of competing arguments and ideas, some of them shaped historically by white supremacist power.
That said, the point is valid that, over time, misogyny has been increasingly normalized, which is a complex society-wide dynamic that points to the elevation of political figures as cultural heroes for vast swathes of the population.
This process is partly a self-perpetuating issue around artists, managers, and executives' assumptions about what sells. A good analogy for what goes on in the recording industry is the representation of book publishing in the film American Fiction.
The historian thought there was no harm in claiming rap as a Black cultural movement, i.e., struggles within Black communities. Whether or not rap has issues around women, it is also a font of Black cultural genius whose origins are essential.