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Greg Williams
Professor Adrienne Carthon
ENGW 103-25
8 March 2017
Masculinity and Misogyny
Men are limited to showing certain emotions such as anger and aggressiveness because of
the rules of masculinity. Men are expected to never show their feelings, to never give up, to be
strong, to be aggressive and to show no mercy or fear. Men have to always seem like everything
is fine and that they have everything in control. Men subscribe to these ideals not because they
want to impress women, but to test themselves against some abstract standards. They do it
because they want to be positively evaluated by other men (Kimmel 543). Masculinity is a
“homo social” experience that is performed for, and judged by, other men (Kimmel 543). When
a man lives by this sort of ideal of masculinity, he does not view or respect a woman as she
should be viewed and respected. He views a woman as a possession that can be used to negotiate
their approval status of masculinity with other men (Kimmel 543).
The lack of respect men have for women causes artists of hip hop to mistreat women
through their lyrics. Rappers continuously disrespect women when they refer to them as
“bitches” and “hos” in their songs. They do not do it because they are trying to intentionally be
rude, they do it because music is a public outlet where they have to follow that ideal of
masculinity. Men hide and express their pain at the same time through hip hop. A man cannot
express his love for women if he does not love himself. A man has to love himself for who he
really is and not who his male peers expect him to be. Women do play a part in continuing the
mistreatment of females through hip hop lyrics. Women tend to show men unconditional love
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and support from a distance even though they refer to them as “bitches” and “hos”. Women
make excuses for men and say that the lyrics are not personal and that it is a part of the illness
that men go through when dealing with masculinity (Morgan 536). Women contribute by giving
men their permission and cooperation to exploit their images. They give men permission by
using sex to gain material wealth and fame from the rappers.
The most diffused influence of hip hop artists portraying women negatively is the larger
gender order, which includes the cultural value of a certain type of masculinity (Weitzer 5). The
artists of hip hop are victims of hegemonic masculinity (Weitzer 5). Hegemonic masculinity is
defined as the current configuration of practice that legitimizes a man’s dominant position in
society and justifies the subordination of a woman. According to hegemonic masculinity, to be a
“man” one must accept attitudes that objectify women and practices that subordinate women
