Akon is not one for metaphors. With song titles such as “Smack That” and “ I Wanna Fuck You,” his intended meaning is clear. What’s worse is that he isn’t the only one adopting this recent trend of womanizing. I cannot count the number of artists who objectify woman -- not on one hand, not on two hands, nor on any other combination of body parts short of cells and hair follicles. Not all of them are men either. The Pussycat Dolls, Fergie, and Nelly Furtado also choose to objectify themselves. Songs like “Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls and “Promiscuous’ by Nelly Furtado give listeners the distinct impression that women are sexual objects. While the willingness of  these women to become objectified is unnerving, perhaps it’s the new “in” thing to do. After all, 80 years of suffrage and even fewer years of equal treatment can get boring pretty quickly.
Not two weeks ago, I was walking up the steps to The Rave, only to be greeted by a chorus of young women singing Shawnna’s “Gettin’ Some.” The chorus of this song is the repetition of the line, “I was gettin’ some head/ gettin’ gettin’ some head.” The United States has progressed to the point where all citizens, regardless of race, gender, or intelligence level, are ideally given equal rights. While attaining equality for minorities such as African Americans and Women was not easy, citizens of the past soldiered on in order to reach the current status of luxury we enjoy today.
Are the women of today ungrateful towards the women who made advances in the past? Probably not. In fact, women’s right experts such as Ariel Levy, the author of Female Chauvinist Pigs, say that a culture of sex for sex’s sake is the new way for women to feel liberated. They want to enjoy sex as much as men, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, it is more of a huge step backwards because their new liberation only makes men look down on them and objectify them. Rap lyrics are the voice of this supposed liberation, and they serve only to further this movement. Rap culture has undone decades of progress and shows neither signs of slowing down nor any sings of remorse.
Rap can’t shoulder all the blame, however. The true enemy is unrelenting, unshakable, and perhaps worse of all, unwitting. Females of the modern world, the blame lies also with you. Akon may clearly be after tail, but he is also in pursuit of something much more valuable to him: record sales.
The driving force of the economy is such that where there is a market; there will be sellers. Akon, Snoop Dogg, The Pussycat Dolls, and other artists only sell what people want to buy. Nelly Furtado, for example, went as far as to changer her style in order to reach this huge niche of the music industry, and reaped major profit because of it. It’s a simple fact of today’s market: sex sells, even to women. Of course, male consumers buy it too, but what do they have to lose? Certainly not their dignity, and certainly not their equality. Ladies, if you can’t protect your own interests, who will?
Objectifying women isn’t limited to music either. IT has spread through every media outlet. This is largely due to rap culture spreading into areas such as TV and movies.
The most stunningly blunt of them all is Flavor of Love. Flavor Flav, a rapper turned TV star, has a battalion of women come to his house and try to win his love. This is not unlike other popular shows such as The Bachelor. However, Flavor of Love is largely based around sex and the physical aspects of relationships. At the beginning of the season, Flav has the women get up on stage and do a dance for him stripper-style. After this dance he chooses a nickname for each girl. Not only does he degrade them by taking away their name, but most of his nicknames are also highly offensive and degrading in nature. What’s worse is that those women willingly go on this show and allow this to happen to them. If women can’t respect themselves, how can they expect men to respect them?
It took years of work and two world wars for women to be seen as more than sex objects. Now, it seems popular culture is coming full circle. Women will never be equal to men while these songs are being produced. However these songs will be produced until women refuse to sit idly by as their dignity vanishes in a puff of cigar smoke and a flash of oversized jewelry.
There is only one solution to the problems that rap has caused for women’s rights, and that’s activism. In the past, the word “activism” was used to represent progress, forward thinking, and improvement to life. In current society, it is scoffed at and looked down upon. If women are to regain their equality, the need for activism is dire. So boycott the womanizers albums and complain to the radio stations that play their music. Soon, they’re be singing a different tune, or at the very least, singing about different content.
Realistically, the great rap boycott of the 21st century will never happen, because popular culture is popular for a reason. If change does happen, it will be gradual. Until it does change, the minority offended by the music will just have to wait -- or adjust.
On my way in the door to The Rave two weeks ago, I stopped and asked the girls if they knew what the lyrics meant. One responded with “Yes, I’m not stupid.” I asked if it bothered her, and most of the group shot back with a resounding “No.” However a few said it did, and that “We just like the beat.”
Women of America, you need to make a decision: is that beat worth your dignity?