Shake like a feminist

Get low.\nIn fall of 2003 Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz hit it big with a track by that name. If you don’t recall, maybe these lyrics will refresh your memory: “to the window, to the wall, to the sweat drip down my balls, to all these bitches crawl.” The songs lyrics are all demanding of females, probably in a nightclub sort of scenario, in which sex at the end of the night is hoped for and presumed – by both men and women. Still, the words are aggressive towards women and express little thought for what she might find enjoyable. \nSurely I could make these statements about any number of popular songs – rap and other genres – by male songwriters. If a song isn’t explicitly sexually demanding of a woman, it is describing her lips or her legs or the way her body looks when she’s grindin’ on the dance flo’. (Ludacris’ “Pimpin all over the world” is a relevant example for this.)\nMy intent isn’t to directly condemn this type of music – it danceable and gets ample mainstream radio time. But I want to consider that these rappers aren’t often marked by critics in reviews as addressing gender in their music. Lyrics sexualizing (and, a lot of times, degrading) women are “normal.” \nReinforcing this point is Peaches, an electro punk rocker (woman) with songs like “Fuck the Pain Away” and “Boys Wanna Be Her” and lyrics like “Feels great, just simulate, your prostrate.” Yes, Peaches is the one calling the shots in her largely obscene songs about sex.\nI’m not necessarily Peaches biggest fan, but I can understand her intent to even things out when it comes to objectifying one’s opposite sex in popular culture. What’s interesting about Peaches though is that, unlike her male counterparts in the music industry, she is pegged as being preoccupied with “gender bending” and singing primarily about sex.\nA Lexis Nexis search of “Peahces music” for articles in the past year retrieves 125 results with headlines containing the words “saucy,” “gender politics,” and “unabashedly raunchy.” A search for “Lil Jon” in the past year produces headlines about “complex beats” and “hip hop’s hottest hitmaker” – nothing about lyrics about gender. \nThe message here is that a woman expressing sexuality and enjoying a man’s body is remarkable, while a man can degrade a woman all day without sparking much conversation or being excluded from mainstream pop culture.\nPeaches’ has expressed interest in evening out the objectification of men with women in pop culture. But I don’t think men should be objectified more, I think women should be objectified less. Songs that instruct women to get on their hands and knees and suck it like they like it should be discussed on radio shows and blogs more about their implications. All popular culture text producers should consider having more respect for human being’s bodies and how the words they put out for millions to hear can make an impact.