Emma:
Megan Thee Stallion will still fuck on her exs because she doesn’t want to run up her body count and doesn’t care if they’re in a relationship 👀 pic.twitter.com/xki0fpYwu1
— 💔 👑 💔 (@SplashyStackss) June 5, 2019
Megan Thee Stallion’s expression of her sexuality is at first glance, empowering and not unlike the female rappers who have come before her like Lil Kim. However, the woman who claims to be all about a “Big Ole Freak” doesn’t want to “up her body count”. In modern terms, this means she limits who she has sex with based on a number – based on societies views of what’s still deemed acceptable.
It’s as if she’s purposefully playing into the classic “look but don’t touch” expression, where a woman dresses “provocatively” and dances “sexually”, yet is still “unattainable” and a man needs to “work” to get her to sleep with him. By being a public figure, she’s encouraging women to have a “Hot Girl Summer”, yet is simultaneously worried about her body count.
On the other hand, a lot of Thee Stallion’s work also includes objectifying men like women have been objectified. Personally, I don’t believe this is the way to heal the wound that the objectification of women has caused, yet it’s a new approach that earns Megan some points in terms of her respectability.
This contradiction is part of what makes Megan such an interesting point of discussion. People love discussing women’s choices with their bodies, and the age old question is in whether or not the intention behind her sexualized lyrics, videos, and social media shares align with the results she desires. The question remains though, as to what her intention truly is behind the attention she receives. In lyrics like “Eat that dick up even when I’m going vegan” and “Break up with my n*gga every season” from her song “Hot Girl Summer“, it’s not evident at all that Megan’s worried about any sort of body count. The lyrics and type of message she sends through her music and the way she describes her life in interviews is incredibly contradictory, leaving one to question whether her music is genuine, or if it’s a product of the “Sex Sells” culture that hip hop/rap is inevitably looped into….
Christine:
In hip hop there are a lot of female rappers in the music business. They are trying to get their names out there and to make something for themselves and we know that. According to the Kulture Hub “The community continues to try to pit female rappers against each other like the “beef” between Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.”. The “beef” between Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B backfired on the people who have tried to spread rumors or put them against each other. The community believes that there should only be ONE female rapper at the top of the rap world. It is okay to compete against each other but it should be a healthy competition against one another. People making up rumors just to get these women to throw shade at each other or just be mean is really just a waste of time on both female artists. When looking at the article by capitalxtra Cardi B made it clear that she never ever had any beef with Megan Thee Stallion. Cardi B said herself to keep her name out of rumors. Surprisingly Cardi B and Megan kept it professional on twitter sending out positive tweets. Both of them sending positive tweets about how we should stay positive. Both Megan and Cardi have both made it to the top in the hip hop community. At the end of the day women in the hip hop community should be supporting each other for making music in the hip-hop community.
Sophie: New Wave of Black Feminism
Female rappers, such as Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, have received recognition lately among the public eye for their themes of sexual autonomy and pro-feminist political stances in their work. Some argue that it has pushed the next wave of Black feminism that is more characterized by female independence and reversing the stereotypical gender roles that tend to plague hip hop. This wave of feminism is performed through sexually explicit female rap that is not new- rappers such as Lil Kim have been ushering this movement for years but were only able to do so under the authority of street smart men. Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion were able to achieve success without a male to support and promote them, and while simultaneously treating men as they typically do to women in the hip hop community- as accessories. Surprisingly, their marketability remains undamaged despite their clear gender role reversal. So, what feminist influence have they really had in the hip hop community? A few years ago when Cardi B made a name for herself in the music industry, everyone was shocked to learn that someone who was regarded as being overtly sexual and “hood” had taken Advanced Placement courses and attended college for political science. Both of these characteristics are often considered to be synonymous with being unintelligent and uneducated, with female rapper’s talents usually glossed over as their successes are frequently attributed to their sexual personas. When Megan Thee Stallion rose to fame in recent months, there was already a difference in the response to her being a college student with a profound concern for social issues. In such a short amount of time Cardi B, and many other artists like her were able to change the public’s perception of female rappers of being “dumb” and “ghetto” into capable, intelligent and self-sufficient.
Question: What are the dangers of intersectional feminist approaches that lack intersectionality?
Miranda:
Internalized Misogyny
The hip hop industry has made an endless amount of money at the expense of women. The fact that misogyny has been rebranded and marketed as entertainment only reinforces the oppressive effects on women. In recent years hip hop has scaled to the top, becoming the number one selling genre. Taking this information into consideration we can only imagine the impact it has on those who listen. Addressing the perpetuation of internalized misogyny has always been an issue in need of discussion. Though many have worked towards the deconstruction of this toxicity existing within the culture, it still hasn’t stopped hip hop from gaining the reputation of being a “women-hating” genre with problematic lyrics. These misogynistic ideals over-sexualize and objectify women and in return, women are expected to show complete tolerance towards this behavior.
Megan Thee Stallion, an up and coming female rapper has recently gained publicity for her sex positivity and promotion of sex appeal. Though she strives to resist the pressures of our misogynistic culture, she has received a large amount of criticism in regard to her discussions on gender and sexuality. In a recent interview, she touches on the subject of women not only owning their sexuality but having the ability to talk freely about it. She then continues by explaining her goal to keep her “body count” low by repetitively sleeping with the same men. These very actions clearly feed into the oppressive nature of hip hop culture. This reinforcement of internalized misogyny places importance on an arbitrary concept that aims to restrict women from owning their sexuality. With this being said her counteractive ways are ultimately seen as a futile attempt to create space for women in hip hop. This causes issues for other female rappers who happen to be maneuvering through this same male-dominated culture. Megan’s message comes with many repercussions that in the long run lead to the perpetuation of internalized misogyny by her continuous participation in the patriarchy.
Question: If the content of hip hop music shifted from being overly objectifying to less discriminatory would we see an overall change within the hip hop culture that ultimately leads towards the eradication of misogyny?
articles used by all:
https://thegrio.com/2019/06/28/are-raunchy-female-rappers-ushering-in-the-next-wave-of-feminism/
https://kulturehub.com/megan-thee-stallion-embodies-feminism/
https://www.capitalxtra.com/artists/cardi-b/news/addresses-online-beef-rapper-megan-thee-stallion
/https://cassiuslife.com/92174/megan-thee-stallion-rap-double-standard/
