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Popular music is often riddled with misogynistic lyrics that objectify and demean women … so why are we listening and dancing to it? Performing a sample of her original song "Top Knot Turn Up" and sharing clips from her female-directed music video of "See Me Thru," activist and musician Madame Gandhi explains why she's making sex-positive music that doesn't contribute to anyone's oppression — and calls on music lovers to get down to tunes that empower everyone.
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1.
The most sexist genre has to be gangster rap…
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Who cares?…she’s an entertainer…probably best that she keep entertaining and leave thinking to the cogent…
I fully agree with the message made here – in any setting, industry, wherever there’s a severe imbalance of gender, race, … there will be discrimination and it’s good to combat that.
What really grinds my gears though is that Madame Gandhi’s rhetoric includes the exact problems that she is fighting against – excluding men from the addressed audience by addressing only “us women”. Or literally using oppressive lyrics saying “the future is female”?
To me, this really breaks a good and strong message because it makes it questionable whether the aim pursued here is equality or whether reversed oppression would be just as good of an outcome. I firmly believe that we’ll never achieve equality as long as we feel like there is two (or more) sides – as long as either side’s rhetoric is essentially advocating division then division and oppression there will be.
It does make men feel like they can only be male stereotypes, can only be men, unless they suddenly declare themselves non-binary, etc. I strive to be Human and liberated from gender stereotypes. Mind you, it is A-OK that she addresses women here, as she is asking that they create/produce their music and songs ; the statistics she states are really extreme and justifies calling out to women and non-binaries. I personally notice that many of the artists I listen to are women. That is a way we can, as men, help.
well said, thank you to her for sharing