RA#2

Title: From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos

Author: Joan Morgan

Date:1999

Topic: Finding the Root to sexism in rap

Exigence: All the sexism and misogyny found in raps.

Intended audience: Anyone involved in rap culture, the black sistas and brothers, American society as a whole.

Purpose: To defeat the misogyny in the black community and understand why its happening

Claims: If rap artists have a safe space to talk and process all the “ uncomfortable issues of our failing self-esteem” (606), serious depression and pain, then maybe they wouldn’t demean and objectify women as a mask of all the misery they are going through.

Main Evidence: Morgan’s main evidence comes from her own experience being apart of the black community. She also uses lyrics from very popular Rap artist such as Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. to show examples of their self-loathing and inopportunity. Her main evidence is also seen through a feminist point of view. And she uses her analyzing of the hip-hop community to describe her claims.

Morgan uses Narration to explain what happens when she looks at the core of what is actually is happening behind all the sexism in rap music. She says “ I hear brothers talking about spending each day high as hell on malt liquor and chronic…What passes for ’40 and a blunt’ good times in most of hip hop is really alcoholism, substance abuse, and chemical dependency. Brothers… talk so cavalierly about killing each other then reveal that they have no expectation to see their twenty-first birthday” (603). Not only does this give a good description of what type of attitude rap music is composed of. Rap artists are deeply depressed in their social world and they demean themselves and especially women to mask their sadness and depression that they are feeling deep down. This narration also overlaps into Aristotle’s emotional appeal, pathos. Knowing that these young potential-filled men don’t have any expectation to live very long can definitely make you feel bad for them and maybe understand why they seem so angry in their music.

Morgan shows an example of cause and effect when she talks about the sistas that uses sex, and free participation in music videos to promote womens’ oppression. As she states, “ Many of the ways men exploit our images and sexuality in hip-hop is done with our permission and cooperation.” (605).  It seems as if women are being hypocritical by continually pointing out sexism and the objectification of women, yet thousands of women line up and willingly throw themselves at these rap artists so that they can sleep with them or even appear in one of the music videos. Morgan is saying that the cause of all the misogyny isn’t just the rap artists fault, it is women’s fault too because we aide to the promotion of our own objectification.

Pathos is also used to prove Morgans point. Emotion is prodded at when Morgan makes connections to the readers and to herself. She says “ So sista friends, we gotta do what any rational, survivalist-minded person would do after finding herself in a relationship with someone whose pain makes him abusive” (604). By talking to the reader in a casual way she connects with them. Once that connection is established, making herself and the readers a team by saying “ we gotta do” gives the reader a sense of unity. Then, when she talks about the type of abusive relationship that many women are in and need to escape, that gives you some empowerment and makes you want to act with her and your fellow sistas.