Myths and stereotypes of blackness perpetrated through television come to light in Kathryn Gines ' essay, “Queen Bees and Big Pimps: Sex and Sexuality in Hip Hop” published in 2005. Through existentialist philosophical notions of objectification, “the gaze,” and performativity, she creates a framework readers can use to determine their authenticity; either choosing to conform to society’s standard of Black or create new and radical performances in this social group. The essay follows a path of contrasting gender roles in hip-hop, focusing on how they each uphold the world’s understanding of sexuality in the Black community. Kathryn Gines was deliberate in the composition of her essay to persuade readers to perform authentically to overturn
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She uses four central philosophical notions to drive her conclusion. Objectification describes reducing a person to an object that can be easily manipulated or controlled. Non-recognition uses the object, making it viewable by an unknown subject for entertainment. To establish her positioning, she targets mainstream hip-hop artists including Tupac, Nelly, and Lil Kim, who prove her point of misogyny in hip hop and the general disdain for women displayed in videos, lyrics, and overall content. The anonymity of the subject describes the concept of the gaze. However, this concept can only exist in a society where there are clear social hierarchal distinctions. Society, in turn, develops roles of gender, race, and class; furthermore, when people conform to society’s standards, they start to engage in performativity. Gines concludes that to discontinue the circulation of these stereotypes and myths; Black people must choose to be authentic in our performance. As long as consumers educated themselves to realize they are part of the systematic deterioration of the Black image, hip hop provides an environment that can eradicate preexisting …show more content…
She began by identifying the myths and stereotypes that exist and are perpetuated by television. The structure of Gines essay was successful in creating this narrow interest in the problem. Her flow is purposeful; she first identifies the Jezebel, the Black welfare mother, and her unambitious offspring, which all contribute to the stereotype of the angry Black woman. It is important to note the unambitious Black welfare mother was propaganda used to implement welfare reform and harvest the Black woman’s sexuality. Next, she examines how artists criminalize this image of the Black woman and how she is motivated to emasculate Black men, creating conflict within the dynamic of the Black woman and man – a dynamic which should be unified. This rift in the Black relationship creates a space where Black men in return objectify these women, reducing them to bitches and hos who only want their money, as seen in Nelly 's video, Tip Drill. Gines use of this video is initially to discuss the gaze where Black men are the subjects and their female counterparts are the objects. This presents the two historical stereotypes of the Black man and woman, falsely assumed during slavery, where the man is perceived as a sexualized predator with an overactive sexual appetite and the woman is viewed as sexually willing and loose. Even though women such as Lil Kim attempt to reverse this image by embracing her sexuality, this only
She uses four central philosophical notions to drive her conclusion. Objectification describes reducing a person to an object that can be easily manipulated or controlled. Non-recognition uses the object, making it viewable by an unknown subject for entertainment. To establish her positioning, she targets mainstream hip-hop artists including Tupac, Nelly, and Lil Kim, who prove her point of misogyny in hip hop and the general disdain for women displayed in videos, lyrics, and overall content. The anonymity of the subject describes the concept of the gaze. However, this concept can only exist in a society where there are clear social hierarchal distinctions. Society, in turn, develops roles of gender, race, and class; furthermore, when people conform to society’s standards, they start to engage in performativity. Gines concludes that to discontinue the circulation of these stereotypes and myths; Black people must choose to be authentic in our performance. As long as consumers educated themselves to realize they are part of the systematic deterioration of the Black image, hip hop provides an environment that can eradicate preexisting …show more content…
She began by identifying the myths and stereotypes that exist and are perpetuated by television. The structure of Gines essay was successful in creating this narrow interest in the problem. Her flow is purposeful; she first identifies the Jezebel, the Black welfare mother, and her unambitious offspring, which all contribute to the stereotype of the angry Black woman. It is important to note the unambitious Black welfare mother was propaganda used to implement welfare reform and harvest the Black woman’s sexuality. Next, she examines how artists criminalize this image of the Black woman and how she is motivated to emasculate Black men, creating conflict within the dynamic of the Black woman and man – a dynamic which should be unified. This rift in the Black relationship creates a space where Black men in return objectify these women, reducing them to bitches and hos who only want their money, as seen in Nelly 's video, Tip Drill. Gines use of this video is initially to discuss the gaze where Black men are the subjects and their female counterparts are the objects. This presents the two historical stereotypes of the Black man and woman, falsely assumed during slavery, where the man is perceived as a sexualized predator with an overactive sexual appetite and the woman is viewed as sexually willing and loose. Even though women such as Lil Kim attempt to reverse this image by embracing her sexuality, this only