Idolator
Do-gooding researchers whose findings will invariably be twisted by politicos and other civic leaders are at it again—this time at science hub North Carolina State University, where a pair of professors have undertaken an experiment to determine whether hip-hop causes men (and ladies) to act in a more misogynistic manner. The answer? Maybe, if you're already a sexist jerk. Alas, society looks to once again be to blame, as while auditioning records by noted woman-hating jackass Eminem did seem to cause a spike in subjects' sexist thinking, it turns out those cuddly Buddhists the Beastie Boys likewise had men exhibiting a certain anitpathy towards the ladies.
Men in the first group, exposed to overtly sexist Hip-Hop lyrics, via Eminem's "Kill You," and the second group, exposed to Beastie Boys' "Sabotage," a song without any misogynistic lyrics, expressed stronger sexist attitudes after exposure to the music than those in the control group, which was not exposed to rap music at all.
"It's like hearing the word 'chocolate' and suddenly having a craving for a candy bar," says Dr. Cobb. "Sexism is imbedded in the culture we live in and hearing rap music can spontaneously activate pre-existing awareness of sexist beliefs. Rap music, fairly or unfairly, has become associated with misogyny, and even minimal exposure to it can automatically activate these mental associations and increase their application, at least temporarily.
"At worst, we could conclude that rap music might exacerbate pre-existing tendencies," he continued, "but so too can other genres of music and varied forms of entertainment. There is not much evidence in our study to support an argument in favor of censorship."
But let's not let that stop anyone from making one within the week on one of the nation's finer right-leaning chat shows. Women taking part in the study had a poor reaction to "Sabotage" even without the naughty words, while the more virulent language of "Kill You" provoked them into "a more careful interpretation and rejection of the premises in the song"; gents, on the other hand, didn't really devote much time towards self-examination or rejecting their own shitty attitudes, which should surprise no one and can be chalked up to planet-wide male privilege more than hip-hop, sending science types right back to the chicken-egg bad behavior questions that lead to these essentially specious studies in the first place. Still, looks like you're off the hook for the moment, hip-hop, unless the patriarchy gets dismantled before your sales dip too low for anyone to care about your effect on society.
NC State U Study Connects Hip-Hop/Sexism [AllHipHop]
Comments
I hope they thought to cross-reference the study with music that wasn't made by weasely high-pitched white rappers. These people could merely be responding to an overt racial inferiority complex.
My research into this issue has revealed that the video for Sabotage is awesome. Wait, what were they studying again?
ah, non-musicologists and how they only focus on lyrics....perhaps they would do well to note that "misogynist" reactions are consistent across lyrical content b/c gendered structures persist also (and most insidiously) at the level of musical form.
No, but it does make you hate melody, harmony, etc.
Which is a bad thing.
Jeez, Idolator commentariat, this has been live for hours and no one has said it yet -- what is up with you people? Sleeping on the job? Okay, I'll say it:
How, exactly, is "Sabotage" a rap song?
Pause before you respond...
Yes, the Beasties came to prominence as a hip-hop act. (They started as a hardcore punk act, but never mind that...)
Yes, Ad-Rock is, at best, sing-talking in the song. Yes, it could be argued that he has some form of "flow."
But there's just no way the Beasties in their instrument-playing, heavy-thrashing, post-Check Your Head incarnation can be considered a traditional or even tangential hip-hop act. (If we were talking about something from the later Hello Nasty period I might buy it.)
Yes, I realize the song is used as a "control group" in this experiment, but any scientist will tell you: a worthy control is supposed to change one key element, in this case the elimination of misogynistic lyrics. To my mind, there are multiple key elements changed in the shift from "Kill You" to "Sabotage." A successful control would be something like, I dunno, "Mama Said Knock You Out"; or, even better, another, ho-hating-free Eminem song like "Lose Yourself."
I call bullshit on the execution, if not the premise, of this entire experiment.
@Chris Molanphy: If I sound pissy in my comment above, it's just that this whole thing smells of another media shitstorm I lived through (and debated in college), the Ice-T/Body Count "Cop Killer" imbroglio of '92.
Back then, it was seemingly way, way too complicated for the media to explain how indisputable hip-hop figure Ice-T was drawing controversy for a song from his non-hip-hop side project, and hence the whole thing became a "rap vs. the rest of culture" battle. With a nasty racist overtone -- I guarantee you no one would have complained about "Cop Killer" if it had been a Dead Kennedys joint.
In the same way, I hate it when an act that flowed over a beat for two albums, then picked up instruments for two albums and tried to sound more like Bad Brains, are basically "rappers" for life.
@doctaj: All my rape fantasies are set to I IV V progressions.
@Chris Molanphy: The caffeine wasn't working yet.
I'm not surprised. State fans hated when Rashad McCants did the Jay-Z diamond sign while he was at Carolina.
So people listen to a catchy misogynistic track and then show a more misogynist attiude after the song? This is just priming. There is no study of the habitual effects of the music. I am prone to laughter after I listen to some comedy -- ugh.
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