By: Brandon M. Frame
America: the land of the free and home of the brave.
America. Yes, it was founded on freedom, justice, and equality; but, it was also founded on racism, classism, and sexism.
When we take a deep look inside of the male privilege that exists within hop-hop culture, we must first take a serious look at the institutions that have created it. Male Privilege would not exist within hip-hop culture if it did not first exist within the society we currently live.
America was founded on sexism. It is rooted in the male dominance and privilege that allows us to be raised and socialized to believe that women and girls are not equal to men and boys. We can find evidence of this belief system all throughout the educational pipeline from early childhood to college and beyond.
As I sit and reflect, I think about the lyrics of popular artists like Drake, Lil’ Wayne and so many other rappers, I become disgusted once I remove the beat and listen to how degrading their lyrics are to women and girls. I, however, have to remember not to heap all of my criticisms onto hip-hop and these men because, at its core, it is society and the social constructs of manhood which have led them to think, speak, and act the way they do. Some of you reading this right now live by definitions of manhood that are rooted in violence, domination and sexism for the same reasons these lyricists are successful. The fact that we live in and through these distorted definitions of what it means to be a man allows for us not to have the basic respect women and girls deserve. You know, the same respect we men give one another? It allows for us to live in a culture where we shout, “Don’t get raped,” instead of, “Don’t rape!”
The sad thing is, violence and prejudice against women and girls knows no religion, socio-economic status, color, or race. I put out a call to action to all of the men who read this article to stop, rethink your privilege, and be the change. Our disrespect to women and girls is only going to come to a screeching halt if we become participants—active change agents in challenging this behavior, this culture.
I challenge you to take a deep long look at how you have learned your definition of what it means to be a man. Remember, we live in a male-dominated society so think about the privileges you have simply because you are a male.
If we take a serious look at our privilege we cannot help but to realize that sexism is a means to an end. You will realize that the belief in sexism is as destructive to us as it is to women and girls. If we sit and analyze these lyrics to understand that they are birthed out of privileges and distorted views of manhood, we can start to hear and, more importantly, listen to the voices of our women and girls.
I think of the young man who walk the hallways of my school as he recite Rick Ross’ lyrics condoning rape and that alone tells me how our destructive privilege and belief in sexism will not just impact women and girls, but men and boys—the cycle is something vicious! I ask, “Will you confront your peers,” “Will you challenge yourself, the likes of Rick Ross or, even bigger than him, the hip-hop industry to think about how destructive male privilege is becoming?”
In the end let’s think of it this way: part of having privilege is being able not to acknowledge that you have privilege. If you’re struggling to relate, just think of this as a race issue. How frustrating is it to hear a white person say they’re not privileged just because they’re white? Male privilege is the same. It oppresses women. It teaches girls to objectify themselves and look for men who do the same to them. It teaches boys to abuse their privilege. It teaches men to deliberately perpetuate it. So where do we start? One male at a time.
Photo credit: Shutterstock
Brandon Frame is a school administrator at High School, Inc. in Hartford, CT. He is also the Chief Visionary Officer of TheBlackManCan.org and Author of Define Yourself, Redefine the World: A Guided Journal for Black Boys and Men. You can reach Brandon on Twitter at @BrandonFrame @TheBlackManCan
