There was an online spread by Kris Holt—an advertising and marketing specialist based in ATL, titled: ‘The objectification & Degradation of Black Women is Marketing at its Finest.’ If you’d like to check out the Instagram slide visit her handle: @thekrisholt
(the handle is now deleted but if you’d like to refer to the slide: it is posted by different accounts using the title above)
The spread is self- explanatory as it goes in great detail about media companies predominantly owned by white executives who pay top dollar to plot on black culture.
In this slide she mentions “the media has used Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Suki Hana, Nicki Minaj, etc. to tell the world that black women are happy being objectified and degraded…”
Naturally I had many thoughts as I read through; but after seeing Shenseea’s (Jamaican artist) new music video with Megan Thee Stallion called, ‘Lick’—I couldn’t say she was wrong. I had never seen Shenseea expose herself in that deep of a sexual light.
After the staggering views of songs like Body by Megan Thee Stallion, WAP featuring Cardi B and ‘I Like’ by Rubi Rose—I’d hate to say it, but Shenseea is on time and on trend.
Getting paid through social media on views and not necessarily rating’s makes it far easier for people to get paid.
Example: 1,000,000 people seen a random porn video, but only 100 people actually liked it; meaning the views are high (which includes you watched the advertisement for the video as well) and the ratings are low, allowing creators to get paid anyway.
It makes sense why creators do the most outlandish things with negative feedback because feedback isn’t what totally matters; views are. And whether we like it or not, what catches our attention the most, is SEX.
Is it the objectification of the black female body, or the type of female body black women have? The curves, hourglass frames, voluptuous figures that black women are genetically known for—has influenced every other type of woman to achieve the same figure. Whether black women have curves or not—we add sauce to everything we do.
It is the reason women like the Kardashian’s, Iggy Azalea, and many non-black media influencers, with the same body type are imitating the very black women the world shames.
So, are black women happy being objectified or are they pressured to do so? Maybe for some it is the latter, potentially to keep up with trends, publicity and to stay relevant. Not to say Shenseea wasn't happy prior or even now; but she seemed fine before doing a 180 that was out of her artistic character.
THE RACIAL BIAS
To a powerful extent, the statement, “…media companies predominantly owned by white executives who pay top dollar to plot on black culture…” rings true. When white women are sexualized, they are considered innocent, cute, sexy or just having fun; while black women are often told they’re ghetto, hood-rats and socially chastised. The sheer presence of black women in media birthed the flattery of imitation by Miley Cyrus, Bhad Bhabie, Victoria Rose and plenty others.
...like, what is this?
Twerking Over Murder
Dr. Umar Johnson, A certified school psychologist and Pan-Africanist asked an interesting question on his Instagram live; ‘why hasn’t the black feminist movement created a campaign targeting the sexually exploitative hip hop industry?’
He mentions targeting the music companies, the videographers the production studios on sexually exploiting the black woman’s body.
To Kris Holt and Dr. Umar: how do you prevent grown women from sexually exploiting themselves? Especially if this is something they want to do?
when will we realize ending degradation of black women takes a collective effort from both men and women in the hip hop industry?
It is the reason why Kanye west had average looking white women in the 'Nigga's in Paris' music video, casually riding around; versus the little to nothing Teyana Taylor wore as she was the main highlight of the 'Fade' music video, also produced by Kanye West. Although an artistic masterpiece, the vast differences speak for themselves.
Or the reason why Nicki Minaj whose only had a two year head start has obtained 180million followers in comparison to Iggy whose built 15 million. Mind you Nicki's advantage isn't relevant because talent and interest speak for themselves.
So does Kris Holt have a point on black women being happily objectified by the media? Yes! and unfortunately black women are the only women being succumbed by that narrative. While white women who are often influenced, blatantly stealing from black women for being equally vulgar in media are never spoken of in the same light.
Cant remember Kim K. getting any headlines about degradation. But there were plenty of her apparently 'breaking the internet.'
Nothing To See Here Folks
Over the past few years during the height of their careers, both Megan and Cardi have received numerous amounts of negative responses for their overly sexualized behavior in music; which is confusing because it’s nothing new.
Little Kim, Foxy Brown and hundreds of video vixens seen oiled and nude in music videos since the late 80’s—have never been such a prominent conversation until now.
It seemed as though the world is ok with black women being sexualized as long as a man led the process. When women took the lead in sexualizing themselves, people were all of a sudden outraged with the negative influence it would make on their children—daughters to be exact. As if the same little girls weren’t watching these types of women in the background of previous male rapper’s music videos.
Why Sexualized Women in media Is no Longer An Excuse
There's a volume of society that likes to pretend their moral standards are high as we pick and choose what we'll complain about. I do not agree nor disagree on the actions of adult women in the music industry; their lives, their choice. But the top reasons why sexualized female rappers is no longer an excuse on the impact they make on your children are featured below:
1. The expectation of having former strippers, rappers, mother’s and married women who have no problem showing their ass (Cardi B and Nicki Minaj) to create a positive impact on your daughter, at the equal extent that you do as a parent— is ignorant.
The truth is you can't filter all the inappropriateness of the world, but you can guide your child to having a strong and independent mind.
2. The paradox of women sexualizing themselves considered unacceptable vs. the murder and drug usage by male rappers in hip hop being accepted, is psychotic. Cant say either are ok, but one is far worse than the other, and the latter—spark little to no conversation.
I’d rather see a grown woman twerk than hear rappers talk about murdering other people. I rather see grown women rap about sex than grown men rap about selling drugs or using them to induce someone to take advantage of.
3. Our Mismatched Values
We have a biased of what’s tolerable because of what WE like; as we complain about the explicit music without keeping the same energy for the porn industry. They're both equally exposed and blatantly on media for children to see.
4. As a parent, stop putting so much pressure on yourselves. Remember a loving mother once breast fed a baby named Hitler who grew up to become the breathing Satan we’ve known throughout history. I’m sure she didn’t raise him to be the master Neo Nazi he was.
I say this to say rappers do not control the direction your children will take in life. Children are also individuals—as much as you’ve raised them to be decent human beings; you do not control their interest’s.
Children can be inspired by Michelle Obama or Simone Biles, Malcolm X or Colin Kaepernick--who are also known in mainstream media-- but decided to be inspired by Cardi B anyway. We can’t blame Cardi B. because her content is not for children. Technically, we can’t even blame you because you cant hide your kids from everything.
We don't have full dictatorship on what catches our youth's attention. Non exposure vs. having a variety to choose for one's self, are different things. In a sense, this would put a teens mental independence to the test.
To clarify, I’m not approving nor rejecting female rappers, video vixens or black women in media sexualizing themselves; after all, they’re adults. Until the outcry for the violence and narcotics in the same music we shame said rappers for is equal—the argument will forever be invalid and the utmost fake.
Our Fake Values.
It caught my attention that many who spoke up regarding sexualized female rappers were men. Reasons for such slander is because a nice chunk of the male demographic aren't a fan of these women or their music.
It’s easy to demonize things we don’t value—yet the ongoing silence regarding the porn industry beg to differ that Cardi B, isn’t all that bad. The distaste for modern female hip hop artists isn’t because of the influence on our children, but because many people see no value.
Is the silence toward porn or violent rap lyrics because our value to our personal pleasures is greater than ensuring it’s not seen or heard by our kids?
According to studies 90% of teens between the ages of 13-17 have used social media. 39% got their first accounts as young as 10 years old and 32% as young as seven.
We can’t say female rappers sexual influence has a greater presence on media than porn does when 50% of children have social media accounts. While kids may not be going to porn sites directly, the amount of porn or sexual vulgarity on twitter, Instagram TikTok and Snapchat, is wild. Fighting to remove porn off media is aiding the removal of porn from us as adults. So, we’ll complain about one thing and consciously overlook another for our benefit.
...basically.
Let’s stop pretending we care, when our care doesn’t go beyond our convenience and be honest that we don’t respect the performance, but desperately need the content. There is no medium to having it your way; while disrespecting the very people who provide it for you.
Let's stop telling grown folks what to do. Let's start taking accountability for the impact we have on our kids. It would be silly to tell the judge your 17 year old started gang banging, selling drugs and murdered a few people because of Jay- Z, right? And let's stop shaming people for the very thing we cant stop consuming.
- A Readable Adventure
Sources
1. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/how-to-make-money-with- youtube#:~:text=You%20don't%20get%20paid,%2418%20per%201%2C000%20ad%20views.