Examples of misogyny exist in many published forms, within multiple cultures and well-observed works.Hashmi, Taj. Popular Islam and Misogyny: A Case Study of Bangladesh . Retrieved October 19, 2011.Rogers, Katharine M. The Troublesome Helpmate: A History of Misogyny in Literature, 1966. Technological advances in the modern era have contributed proficient means to media and marketing to the resultant mass media in the 21st century. The merging of misogyny and mass media has made numerous examples where studies have concluded correlations between misogynous messages, both obvious and subliminal. Corresponding physical appearance of violence and hateful conduct may be seen relative to exposure.
Music, violence, and aggression
Messages containing misogynous views are found commonly in the media.Nagayama Hall, Gordon C. "The Influence of Misogynous Rap Music on Sexual Aggression Against Women." Psychology of Women Quarterly. By Christy Barongan. Cambridge UP, 1995. 195–207. Web. Cooper (1985) found after analyzing popular music over 30 years, that there was a tendency to describe women in terms of physical attributes or as evil, as possessions of men, or as dependent upon men. Dietz states that the concept of masculinity has come to be associated with sexual aggression. It is thought that audiences of unpunished violent behavior, compared to audiences of punished violent behavior are more likely to take part in violence. Some musical themes and lyrics can be compared to the negative attitude toward women found within some pornographic movies and magazines. This negative attitude and acceptance of violence towards women shows the possible likelihood of rape or sexual coercion. Fischer and Greitemeyer found that men who listened to sexually aggressive music reported that their relationship with women was more troublesome. Media Violence research has found that aggressive music adds an accessibility of aggressive related attitudes and emotions. Roberta Hamilton in her book Does Misogyny Matter? (1987) stated, "Misogyny is not a word useful simply for describing particularly nasty bits of behavior, but rather it directs us to a set of relations, attitudes, and behaviors that are embedded within all social relations" (p. 123).Hamilton, Roberta. Does Misogyny Matter?: Its Reproduction and Its Consequences for Social Progress. Kingston, Ont.: Programme of Studies in National and International Development, Queenś University, 1987 Violence in the form of linguistics is in fact a form of physical violence.
Rubin, West and Mitchell (2001) found that many studies have seen consumers of rap and heavy metal music as having more hostile attitudes, higher sexual activity and more drug use than consumers of other music.
Gangsta rap
Themes of misogyny can be seen in much gangsta rap (GR) music. This music elevates degradations of women such as rape, torment, and violence. In a study conducted by Armstrong in 2001, he found after examining 490 GR songs, that 22 percent contained violent and misogynist lyrics. Wester, Crown, Quatman, and Heesacker state that, "The increasing popularity of GR, coupled with documentation of society's increased sexism,Faludi, 1991; Zillmann &Bryant, 1982, 1984 domestic violence,Koss et al. 1994; Catharine MacKinnon 1993 sexual assaultMacKinnon, 1993; Malamuth, 1981 and other forms of degradation of womenAndrea Dworkin, 1979, 1988; MacKinnon, 1985, 1989, 1993 suggest that perhaps GR is partly to blame for an increase in anti-female attitudes and behaviors. It is difficult to tell whether GR directly causes misogynous attitudes or if it serves to increase preexisting anti-female cultural values.Bryant, Jennings, and Dolf Zillmann. Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. Mahwah, NJ: L. Elbaum Associates, 2002. web.Faludi, Susan. Backlash: the Undeclared War against American Women. New York: Anchor, 1992. Web.MacKinnon, Catharine A. Women's Lives, Men's Laws. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP.2005. Web.Dworkin, Andrea. "Against the Male Flood: Censorship, Pornography and Equality." Harvard Women's Law Journal (1985). The difference between rap music and other types of music is that the lyrics are generally the main focus of attention. Rappers seem to commit themselves to worst impulses by telling their stories in the first-person.
In a study conducted by Barongan and Hall (1995), they had male college students listen to rap music with misogynous or neutral song lyrics. After listening to the different music, they viewed three different vignettes. These vignettes were either sexual-violent, neutral, or assaultive. Then the students were asked to choose one of the three vignettes to show a female. Those who had listened to the misogynous music were significantly more likely to show the female the assaultive vignette.
Regarding gangsta rap Yo-Yo states that, "The harder that you are, sad to say, the more you sell".Jones, James T. IV. 1993. "Female Rappers Go With the Gangsta Flow." USA Today (October 5): 6D.
Hip-hop Misogyny was not found in rap music until the 1980s even though it had been in the commercial market for 10 years. Some artists such as 2 Live Crew, Ice-T, and N.W.A. integrated misogynous lyrics into their rap songs. Women are reduced to objects – specifically objects that are only good for abuse, sex and for the most part are just trouble for men within misogynous rap. Using such misogynistic lyrics allows degradation of their female counterparts while boosting themselves up.
This acceptance of misogyny can be seen in many rap lyrics. For example, in N.W.A's "She Swallowed It" (1991) gives a clear description;"One Less Bitch." Efil4zaggin. Ruthless/Priority. CDL 57126.
Scenes of physical harm can be seen in Too $hort "All My Bitches Are Gone"(1993);1993a. "All My Bitches Are Gone." Get In Where You Fit In. Jive/Zomba. 01241-41526-2.
The artist Eminem is well known for his rap music containing extremely misogynous lyrics. In 2002 his Album The Eminem Show sold 7.4 million copies.
Heavy metal In a study conducted by Lawrence and Joyner with research participants who were white males between the ages of 18 and 24 and reported belonging to Protestant religious denominations (p. 52), it was found that the research participants exposed to sexually violent heavy metal music were found to have a higher tendency on sex-role stereotyping in comparison to those who listened to classical music. Nine participants (12%) indicated that their typical music listening preference was heavy-metal rock music; these participants were equally distributed across cells of the data collection (p. 52). Researchers suggest that; distrust, assault, and negative regard for women are common attitudes experienced by fans of different types of rock music.
Although the conclusions made in article must be correct, the article examines misogyny in a very specific context. It is not that the entirely of heavy metal rock music is misogynistic, it is the specific instances within these contexts that must be addressed. There is misogyny within heavy metal rock music through sexually violent content that must be addressed by the smaller interactions between people. In order to correctly identify misogyny in the heavy metal rock industry, the people identifying and critiquing must be familiar with the platform and musical techniques so that biases are not clouding a whole musical discipline.
Inconclusive link Most violent lyrics are not heard due to the fact a large number of listeners are not actually listening to the lyrics. This is very different from video-based media, in which the audience can see the violent message very clearly. It has also been found that some rock lyrics are so distorted that people just assume what they are actually saying. A majority of people often listen to just the music and not the lyrics while some listen to it while focusing on other tasks.Anderson, Craig A., Nicholas L. Carnagey, and Janie Eubanks. "Exposure to Violent Media: The Effects of Songs With Violent Lyrics on Aggressive Thoughts and Feelings." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 5th ser. 84 (2003): 960–71. Web.
Rap music also may contain positive images. Zillman et al. proposed that rap music is used as a way to fight oppression from the dominant culture. It was also found by Kubrin that 68 percent of all gangsta rap's focal point is about respect. It is a "cultural response to historic oppression and racism, [and] a system for communication among black communities throughout the United States." With both gleeful and aggressive views on the situation of black Americans, Hip Hop artists were spread reality and lessons learned in a way that is understandable by a younger generation. Some call it a "street-leveling language".
Violent and aggressive videos
In music
Felson, professor of crime, law, and justice and sociology at Penn State, states that a crowd of onlookers enjoys a street fight just as the Romans enjoyed the gladiators. Found frequently in MTV music videos are images of crime, sex, dance, visual abstraction and violence. Audiences of MTV tend to be between the ages of fourteen and thirty-four, therefore has potential of contributing to cultural norms. Smith and Boyson found that fifteen percent of music videos contain violence.Smith, Stacy L., and Aaron R. Boyson. Violence in Music Videos: Examining the Prevalence and Context of Physical Aggression. Michigan State University, Department of Communication. International Communication Association, 2002. Before the introduction of music videos, research found that both music and television retained adolescents' attention, but music effectively connected with their emotions. It is far more common to see a man being dominant over a woman, rather than a woman being dominant over a man in music videos.Andsager, Julie, and Kimberly Roe. "What's Your Definition of Dirty, Baby?" Sexuality and Culture. School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Iowa, 2003. A study conducted by Rich, Woods, Goodman, Emans, and DuRant found that out of 518 music videos and among the 391 acts of violence the aggressors were 78 percent male and the victims were 46 percent female. The need for artists to fill hours of airtime on television make certain that artists and their videos increasingly become more shocking, as to be noticed. Violence and sex or the combination of the two, are most often used for a shocking effect on viewers.
Findings in a 2012 article by Tobias Greitemeyer and Jack Hollingdale titled, "Changing the Track in Music and Misogyny: Listening to Music With Pro-Equality Lyrics Improves Attitudes and Behavior Toward Women" that the notion that media exposure may not only harm attitudes toward women (as previous research has documented), it may even improve people' images of women (p.61). The authors note that in their study they found it is likely the content of the lyrics that drives the effect a song has on people, and not the mood and arousal properties of the song. It is also noted that a variety of songs were used through their studies, making their findings not limited to a specific group of songs (p.64). Taking into consideration the emerging research into the effects that media has on people and how large of a role mass media plays on public opinions, it would be worthwhile to use music as a way to dismantle the misogyny embedded within the streams of mass media.Greitemeyer, Tobias; Hollingdale, Jack (November 12, 2012). "Changing the Track in Music and Misogyny: Listening to Music With Pro-Equality Lyrics Improves Attitudes and Behavior Toward Women". Psychology of Popular Media Culture. 4 (1): 56–67. doi:10.1037/a0030689.
Rock