Posted by Samael at 11:03pm Aug 1 '09Can you be feminist and still like things that conflict with the values you have? Absolutely.
Otherwise, it'd be expecting intellectual purity and perfection, and I think that's rubbish. Almost everyone sometimes enjoys something that they don't actually support in terms of values. The fact that you're engaging with it, and can recognize the bad aspects of it matters a lot, I think.
Personally, I try to avoid the really egregious examples. I won't play video games, for example, that are particularly bad about dealing with sexism or racism. But, the sad reality is that many, many games have some pretty sexist material. Sucks, but there it is. You just have to recognize it, avoid the stuff that's really bad, and try to support the stuff that gets it right.
Do I think that the music does objectify women? Sure, some of it does. And, I don't think that the fact that they love their mothers and are good to them excuses it. Lots of shitty sexist people are good to their mothers, because they're their mothers. When they sing shitty lyrics about women being whores and hos and bitches, they're not talking about their mothers.
The same is true in rock, though, too. There are many rock songs that are shitty about their portrayals of women, too. 80s rock, in particular, was really bad, but modern rock continues, in many ways, to embrace that image, too.
Otherwise, it'd be expecting intellectual purity and perfection, and I think that's rubbish. Almost everyone sometimes enjoys something that they don't actually support in terms of values. The fact that you're engaging with it, and can recognize the bad aspects of it matters a lot, I think.
Personally, I try to avoid the really egregious examples. I won't play video games, for example, that are particularly bad about dealing with sexism or racism. But, the sad reality is that many, many games have some pretty sexist material. Sucks, but there it is. You just have to recognize it, avoid the stuff that's really bad, and try to support the stuff that gets it right.
Do I think that the music does objectify women? Sure, some of it does. And, I don't think that the fact that they love their mothers and are good to them excuses it. Lots of shitty sexist people are good to their mothers, because they're their mothers. When they sing shitty lyrics about women being whores and hos and bitches, they're not talking about their mothers.
The same is true in rock, though, too. There are many rock songs that are shitty about their portrayals of women, too. 80s rock, in particular, was really bad, but modern rock continues, in many ways, to embrace that image, too.
Re: Rap Music and the objectification of women - Samael