12-7 Final Draft

Justin Vizcaino                                                                                                                                  

Eng 215

Professor Patel

11/30/2010

The Effects of Media on Gender Roles in America

Hip-Hop music is one of the most influential genres that affect gender roles today. “Misogyny and male dominance run rampant through hip-hop music” (Mook 25). Hip-Hop is often classified as the youth’s preferences of music. “Approximately 80% of youths aged 8-18 stated that they enjoyed hip-hop music” (Mook 41). With such a wide audience, the misogynistic themes of hip-hop music are able to shape gender roles. Numerous rap songs criticize males who are “soft” or who do not exemplify male dominance. These types of criticisms discourage the youth from taking on the stereotypical woman role of “care and compassion”. Women are constantly criticized, and any female rapper in the early 1990’s was labeled as inferior. Although hip-hop music has recently begun to become more progressive, rap music continues to negatively shape and reinforce gender roles and stereotypes.

Men and women have been pigeon holed into the same gender roles for thousands of years. “Men possess a greater physical capacity then women and therefore have always been categorized as the aggressive counterpart” (Justice 60). Women birth children and traditionally raise the youth while taking the nurturing caretaker role. These long lasting gender roles are still being reinforced today by rap music. “Women are pigeonholed into the role of inferior baby mama, and men are gloried as street thugs who have no compassion for their female counterparts” (Mook 12). These gender roles are overdramatized in rap music and are exploited in order to reinforce male dominance.  Rap music encourages our culture to prevent the acceptance of dual gender societal role integration.

Men are portrayed in rap videos as over aggressive barbarians. “The average rock/hip-hop music video will show on average thirty four images of women degradation and violence” (Deveaux 22). Women are often depicted as objects and are often labeled as property. Rappers with the most “girls” are labeled as the most successful and popular. “Rap music also glamorized the idea of pimps and hoes” (Mook 6). Jay-Z’s 2002 song “Big Pimpin” topped the Billboard charts and received constant air play on MTV and BET for its accompanying music video. Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin” video contained images of champagne being poured on girls and subtly reinforced male superiority and woman helplessness.

The girls shown in the music video acted as though they were surprised by being sprayed with champagne. They did not appear that they offered consent. However, the music video did not depict any remorse for Jay-Z’s actions and no repercussions were show to affect Jay-Z. Another theme that is popular in hip-hop is the “diss record.” Jay-Z and many other famous rappers constantly label other rappers as feminine and insult their masculinity. “This feminine label and questioning of manhood is often regarded as one of the most severe insults that can be created. “Terms such as sissy girl and hoe are evidence that men who possess feminine qualities are often shunned from hip-hop society.” (Deveaux 32).

 American society structure was built on the principle of equality for all. However, Rap music is helping to hinder the integration of dual gender roles. “The average person experiences an average of 3000 hip-hop media images a day” (Deveaux 25). Rap music could be used as an optimal vessel to affect the current youth in a positive way. “Misogyny and male dominance run rampant through hip-hop music but the tide is beginning to change.” (Mook 25). Americans need to recognize the power and potential of our hip-hop music outlets, and need to instill better monitoring. Rap music can be used as a positive outlet to promote the acceptance of dual gender roles, and we have seen evidence of this today. “Conscious Rap is beginning to take the forefront in hip-hop music. Artists such as Common, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli have begun to rap about equal rights and discourage misogyny” (Mook 56). Rap music can promote strengthened relationships between sexes, promote integration of dual gender roles, and help our society to evolve.

 http://s0.ilike.com/play#Dr.+Dre:Bitches+Ain%27t+Shit:185503:m32548609

Work Cited

1.Beedles, Bonnie, and Michael Petracca. Academic Communities/disciplinary Conventions. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001. Print.

2.Deveaux, Monique. Feminism and Empowerment: A Critical Reading of Foucault. New York: JSTOR Press, 1994. Print.

3. Justice, Laura M. Communication Sciences and Disorders: A Contemporary Perspective. Pearson Education Inc., 2010. Print.

4. Mook, Richard. Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt, 2009. Print.

12/2 Essay Reviews!

April Page
April, I thoroughly enjoyed your writing and it was extremely well researched, and information packed. I think that one of the strengths of this essay is your use of narrative. I am instantly sucked into your story from the opening paragraph. Since you introduce a story narrative in the opening paragraph, I believe you could do this a little more throughout your paper. You lose the narrative aspect in your third paragraph. Also, I really liked your precision of editing throughout the paper!

I also like the facts you present in your conclusion. However, I think your conclusion could have a little bit more of a bang. You could better integrate some of the information you introduced previously in the paper. Another way you could end your paper is by posing a question to your audience. I really liked your transitions throughout the paper but I think you could quote source material a little more efficiently. Your quotations are not properly formatted! I really enjoyed reading your writing this unit and I wish you the best in the semesters yet to come!

Amara Villa-Rodriguez
I really enjoyed your paper and it is evident that you spent a great amount of time researching. I think that your introduction could be stronger. Your topic sentence is a fact instead of a bold statement or intriguing question. I think you quote beautifully throughout this essay but I think your quotes could be introduced a little bit better. I feel as though your quotes sort of hinder the flow of the essay, especially in the third paragraph. The information you are introducing is very beneficial in the quotes but sometimes they catch me by surprise. If you added legitimacy to why you are introducing these quotes your paper would be stronger.

I really like how your paper comes across as professional and well-edited. Maybe your voice could emerge more? Your paper is very technical, and if your voice came out more I think your paper would be more intriguing. I also like the structural organization of your paper and your thesis is very narrow. I think you could state your thesis one more time throughout the paper that way the audience is reminded of the point you are trying to make, Other than that I thought this was a really wonderful paper and I enjoyed reading your posts all semester long! I hope you have a wonderful holiday!

Amara Villa-Rodriguez Blog Review Nov 23rd

Amara, I really enjoyed your Nov 4th post on financial gains. You are very skilled at covering a wide area of topics. Covering a wide area is beneficial because you are able to enhance your validity. Amara, when you cover a wide area of topics, you are also very good at transitioning. In your Nov 4th post, you were able to comment on the World Wars and psychology. These two subject matters were very different but you flawlessly transitioned and tied the concepts together. You are very talented at tying key concepts together and making them come alive for the reader.

Your Oct 5th post about Bio Love was extremely well written. The introduction was great and I feel that you are very good at enticing your reader from the exposition. Once you grab the audience’s attention, you are also skilled at sustaining that same attention. Throughout your post you directly question the reader and ask them to consider the key concepts you were explaining. You asked “what is the realistic reason for wanting to be with this person?” This type of question engages the audience because it makes them focus more, and conveys that your post discusses events that affect their lives.

I also enjoyed your sept 23 post about technology and family. You discuss how the use of technology could directly threat the stability of the family model. I liked how you were able to discuss these potentially threating topics without seeming like you resented technology. You provided many attention grabbing facts which glued me to my paper. I would love to see you write more posts because your voice is also unique yet non-overbearing. Perhaps you could “let your hair down” in a post and see if that style of writing is exciting to you. I loved all of your writing and I hope you have a wonderful winter break!

April Page Nov 23rd Blog Review

April I greatly enjoyed your writing this semester and it is evident throughout your work that you are a very intelligent person. I liked your post on homosexuality in human society. Such a controversial topic can often lead to ill-taste papers and bias. However, I believe that you approached the topic from a very levelheaded point of view and approached it very scientifically. I also liked how you were able to incorporate your opinion into the paper without pushing it on the reader, or seeming like you were bias.

I also really enjoyed your “marriage will fight post” on sept 30. Your use of quotes helped to make your post have more validity. Also, I admire your skill set of establishing validity yet still being able to engage the audience. I liked your discussion on how men and women can work together. Too often posts will focus on what doesn’t work and only try do disprove other claims. You touched on many different points which allowed me to fully comprehend your posts and allowed me to be fully enveloped in your work.

Your Septetember 9th post on the art was also phenomenal. I love how you chose a picture that could have many different subtexts. I think it was a wise choice to observe the picture from an objective and impressionistic view. Your posts are very informative, yet you still ponder all the hidden subtext. You make this hidden subtext available to your reader, which in turn makes me think deeper about the material. This increased stimulation makes me want to keep reading your post in order to experience your valued opinion. It also help me ponder the materials more extensively. I think you are a wonderful writer and I hope you have a wonderful winter break!

11/09 Blog Reviews

Ricky Kriebel ,
Ricky, I really liked your blog posts and thought that you really cared about the information you were presenting in your blogs. You Nov 4th post presents a lot of good information and I believe you could expand a little bit. In your second paragraph you claim that risk is very complicated but do not elaborate. If you elaborated on why it risk is complicated your argument would gain justification and your post could also become more engaging. Your 11/2 post was very interesting to read and it quickly captivated my attention with a strong introduction and topic sentence.

Tasha Cerimeli
I loved reading your posts! They were very intriguing from the beginning and easily sustained my attention the whole way through. In your Nov 1st post I like how you explored different figures and their impact upon your overall topic. I would introduce a couple of adversary characters that way your argument could gain validity by looking from two different angels. I loved your 11/3 post. I like how you explained all of your facts and I believe that the only I would fix is to add a few more examples. By adding examples, the concepts you are trying to explain would come more alive. Overall I thought it was really good writing!

Pg 455 Freewrite.

The current financial theories emerged from the progress we have made in physics. The law of thermodynamics and elementary mathematical manipulations of infinite series have proven to drastically affect finance. I believe that new financial options are allowed to be created because of post war economic stability that was brought on by the conclusion of World War II. The Great Depression was the result of a stock market failure and I believe the depression created great scrutiny on financial trading. With new interest or scrutiny is placed on a subject, Americans have a tendency to create new methods to understand the subject.

“Much of the quantitative work in finance seeks to establish the value of new and oftentimes complex derivatives” (Beedles 452). Finance has begun to evolve mathematically and I believe that another reason for this is because of the scientific breakthroughs. Instead of relying on religion to explain such things as planetary movements, Einstein and others sought to explain the world via science. The new quest to explain the world in terms of science has led to many discoveries in the science field. However, I believe that too much faith has been placed on these mathematical finance theories.

“The study of finance as scientific entity is relatively new” (Beedles 451). The fact of the matter is that we have not been able to scrutinize financial tendencies long enough to have any definitive theories. All of the theories that are in place explain how the finance market runs currently but we do not know how it will continue to run definitively. “Insider training is a problem that runs rampant in the financial market” (Beedles 453). I believe that the extensive market analysis that has been conducted so far was only done so people could extort the market. However, as more people begin to analyze the market and more time passes, we will be able to create more accurate, effective market models.

11/2 Blog Post Reviews

Jacqueline Pridgett
Your writing is always very informative and it always makes for a good read. The facts you presented in your 10/28 post were amazing and I believe that it really convinced me of the point you were trying to make. The only thing I could say to improve your 10/28 post would be to cite your material and then your post would be a total success. Your 10/26 post is also very well organized and it quickly captured my attention. The only thing I would fix is your conclusion. Your conclusion is very interesting but instead of just making a comment to end the post, perhaps your post would be stronger if you suggested a remedy for the problem. Other than that it was great reading your posts!

Armando Teran
I really like your posts and your voice is always very strong and evident. I like the structure of your paper, but I believe you could transition better. Your ideas jump around sometimes particularly in your 10/28 post. If you find ways to tie your ideas together more fluently, I won’t get distracted from the overall point you are trying to make. On your 10/26 post, I believe you could have a little stronger opening sentence to begin the paper. Other than that your post was amazing and it really captivated me!