This section focused more on women’s experiences in Hip Hop and I feel like the same theme always pops up: fighting to forge your own space, which to me is informed by intersectionality. In the Pheminist reading on page 139, Morgan writes, “They knew that their men’s notion of a better world was to have the same power of white men, and they knew that that notion of power included the subjugation of women.” While people of color were the creators of Hip Hop, there are still hierarchies and power dynamics within oppressed groups and while these young boys/men weren’t privileged due to their skin color, they had gender privilege. This ties into the Multiracial Macho reading because while Kemo is a black Latinx man and therefore experiences anti-blackness and racism, he still benefits from patriarchy and treats women as objects to propel his success. It feels like no matter what arena women enter they always have to prove their worth and skill just to be considered and are not encouraged to continue trying. (And if they do want to succeed, more often than not they have to use their sexuality to help them achieve said success.) It’s not that women aren’t as talented or capable, we just aren’t given the same chances.
A large part of Hip Hop is the performance and production of misogyny which is openly hostile towards women and pretty discouraging, to say the least. Nonetheless, women still find their voices and refuse to allow men to block them from creative spaces where they have as much right to be as anyone else. This extends to the LGBT community as highlighted in the Total Chaos reading. Non-men have always been involved in Hip Hop but that doesn’t mean they were welcomed. I personally identify as an intersectional feminist and so a lot of the information in this section feels familiar because it’s essentially the same story no matter what the topic is. I definitely learned much more of the details that relate specifically to Hip Hop but I definitely wasn’t surprised by anything we read.
In the future, I’d like to learn more about communities within Hip Hop’s larger culture that might not be as obvious to us, like the LGBT community as an example.
