~Power In Words~
English 1102 058
Is the of Music Nothing but
Bass
Treble
Everywhere you turn it’s going to be there, whether you’re sitting in a car, watching a movie, shopping in the stores, or sitting in the library, it’s almost a guarantee that if you look around long enough, you’re sure to find someone listening to music. The sweet collaboration of melody, rhythm, harmony and emotions has become what some would consider a necessity, as many voice the now common phrases “Music is my life” or “No music, no life.” There are many different variations of this saying, but they all serve to prove one thing, that in today’s society music has become something that people rely on. People protest that they “need” music, that it’s a form of expression and that in general music can lift the spirits when they are down. Many people give music a sort of agency, and raise it on a pedestal to glorify the great power it possesses, emphasizing on its enormous positive features. But have many people truly looked into the negative aspects that this great power could hold within it as well?
It is no secret that music, especially genres like rap and rock, has gotten a bad reputation now-a-days with several criminals blaming their actions on lyrics to songs. The accusations seem hard to swallow, and at first glance people would probably discount them entirely, but if music has the power to inflict positive emotions, is it really that far-fetched to believe that it would have the power to encourage negative ones as well? The new found interest in this concept, whether music can evoke feelings like anger, hatred, or even rage, is sparked by the widespread anti-rape movement that has grown tremendously in recent years. It is primarily based on the ideas of Rape Culture, a term coined by feminists in the United States in the 1970’s. The argument is based on the idea that the United States culture breads an environment in which rape and violence against women is normalized and excused in all forms of the media, this definition including the glorious world of music. There is no denying that there are some extremely hardcore lyrics associated with songs across all genres, but could music, a substance that so many people cannot go a day without, really be a source for Rape Culture?
A Sharp Chorus of Believers
My Inquiry Project
According to many different researchers, studying different aspects of music, the idea of music playing a major role on our emotions is not so crazy after all. In the psychological
"Songs and Emotions” experiment, researchers conducted four different
tests in the hopes of revealing whether the lyrics or the melodies of songs
played a dominate role on a person’s emotional response. In the first of the
series of experiments conducted by the researchers, participates rated the
intensity of their emotions while listening to melodies alone and while
listening to those same melodies paired with lyrics that matched the
intended emotions of those melodies. The test served to determine whether
the presence of the lyrics affected the emotional judgment of the music. In
the second of such experiments, an entire new group of participates was
studied, this time listening to music with only lyrics and then adding a melody
that was different from the emotions conveyed in the lyrics. The final two
experiments in the series, also involving no previous participates, were
constructed to test a person’s emotions in association with an object
mentioned in the song while the melodies and lyrics matched in their
intended emotions, as well as while they differed (Ali et al. , “Songs and
emotions: are lyrics and melodies equal partners?”).
The results of the experiment were fascinating. Though some people that
listen to misogynous music justify it by saying that they just like the
melody, the results to this experiment proved that certain songs, with
certain musical variables (tempo, dynamics, and rhythm) can in fact
influence your emotions. It proved that music with simple melodies (i.e.
containing fewer variations of melodic contour and more repetition) evoke
positive emotions (happiest, calm) that can be reduced with lyrics, while music with complex melodies (i.e. containing more variation anrepetition) produce negative emotions (sadness, anger) that are enhanced when paired with lyrics. This idea may seem hard to wrap your mind around, but it is in fact the same technique that is often portrayed in a lot of movies, as different forms of music blare through the speakers setting the tone for the scene on the screen.
Another study, perhaps closer linked toward the idea of music aiding Rape Culture, was the “Music and Aggression” experiment which was constructed to study the impact of sexual-aggressive song lyrics on aggression-related thoughts, emotions and behavior toward the same and the opposite sex. The experiment revolved around three separate studies, the first of which the researchers controlled the type of music participates listened to (misogynous, man-hating or neutral song lyrics) and measured the aggressive behavior that participates experienced. In the second study, participates were asked to recall their feelings upon the moment of hearing the song lyrics from the first study and indicate to what extent they experienced the feeling of vengeance. The final study of this series replicated the findings in the previous two studies, this time having the participates listen to a set of songs different from previous studies, in which researchers expected increased aggressive inclinations from one sex toward the other.
Upon finishing the experiment the researchers concluded with a sort of warning toward the public.
“Overall, the present research mainly focused on the impact of misogynous music on men’s aggression toward woman because this kind of aggression is a much more serious and frequent problem in society than female aggression toward men. Most important, our research showed that misogynous music increases aggressive responses of men toward women. As a consequence, music with misogynous song lyrics should be considered as a potentially dangerous source that may elicit male sexual aggression. Male participates in our studies only listened to two different songs with misogynous lyrics and showed a considerable increase in aggression toward women. What can be said about this effect in real life, where men probably listen to hundreds of misogynous songs during their life span? The effect is likely to become even more pronounced and could probably lead to even more severe aggression against women, such as rape or other forms of aggressive assaults. If such a connection could be established in real life, misogynous songs need to be considered in a more critical light than has so far been the case, and might even require censorship by law.”
Though the researchers admit that further investigation needs to be gathered
to support their cause, the findings and their conclusion are enough to cause alarm
(Fisher et al. , “Music and Aggression: The Impact of Sexual-Aggressive Song Lyrics on
Aggression-Related Thoughts, Emotions, and Behavior Toward the Same and the Opposite Sex”).
Music from all genres has been connected with the idea of rape. Rap songs, rock songs, R&B songs, romantic songs, and even Christmas songs, all have lyrics that would support this idea. Recently, famous rappers like Rick Ross and Lil’ Wayne has even lost endorsements because of their choices in lyrics. Their controversial word choice has been banned from several radio stations and has sparked heated discussions that have made both artists publicly apologize for their words. Other singers, like Robin Thicke have been banned from numerous universities and used as the face behind the reality of Rape Culture. His choice in words has been highlighted as phrases that rapists have often said repeatedly to their victims. Songs like this, however, have been around long before now. The Christmas classic “Baby it’s Cold Outside” that can be heard almost everywhere you turn during Christmas season even has lyrics about men slipping things into a women’s drink.
“Put Molly all in the champagne. She ain't even know it. I took her home and I enjoy that. She ain't even know it.”
“Beat that pussy up like Emmett Till"
“I always wanted a good girl. I know you want it”
But lyrics are not the only problem. According to the study of “The Effect of Music Videos on College Students’ Perceptions of Rape” music videos can change a persons’ perception of their actions. Given that previous research has found that music videos are associated with both stereotyped sex roles and frequent behavioral health issues, the researchers hypothesized that the sexualization and objectification present in their experiment would also show a change in the participates. The study focused around college students, for which participates were students earning research credits for their classes. During the experiment, students viewed a music video that contained either high [started at 1:30] or low levels of sexuality and sexual objectification before reading a date-rape scenario and being asked to rate their opinions on the guilt of the male in the scenario, the empathy they felt toward the victim, and the responsibility that the female had in regards to the males actions on a scale from one to nine. After watching the music video with high-sexualization, changes in the participants were seen across the board. The male participates found date rapists to be less guilty of their actions, both male and female participates expressed less empathy for the victim, and female participates believed that more responsibility of the crime should be placed on the victim (Burgess et al. , “The Effect of Music Videos on College Students’ Perception of Rape”). These findings are astonishing with current music videos becoming more and more hyper-sexualized and statistical information validating that one in every four college women report surviving rape or attempted rape at least once in their life since their fourteenth birthday.
A Key Dissonance in Opinions
On the opposite side of the argument, many people stand with the position that Rape Culture does not exist. The statistical evidence behind Rape Culture (like the one mentioned above) could easily be considered extremely exaggerated from the broad spectrum that the Justice Department has qualified as sexual assault. In its definition “forced kissing” and even “attempted forced kissing” are forms of sexual assault. A survey conducted by the Department of Justice that ran from the year 1995 to 2002 actually countered this information when it found that there were just six rapes or sexual assaults per thousand per year which averaged out to about one victim in every forty students. This survey can be backed by the fact that other statistical information estimates that sexual assault victimizations have decreased about sixty percent since 1995.
But the statistical information is not the only argument that this side possess. Rape Culture revolves around highlighting and bringing to light the fact that women are constantly stereotyped in today’s society. But is Rape Culture doing anything more than shifting the stereotypes from one gender to the other? A famous quote from the movement is “teach your sons not to rape.” The phrase implies that all men have this demonic urge inside them that needs to be taught to control. It implies that true acts of evil could simply be prevented through education, but is this true? Can you teach a sexual psychopath how to feel emotions, or how to behavior in a social environment when the definition of the word specifies that the individual lacks the ability to do such things?
An article in Times’ that focuses on sexual assaults on college campuses thoroughly expresses the feelings of the opposition toward Rape Culture.
“In the last few years, there has been an unfortunate trend towards blaming ‘rape culture’ for the extensive problem of sexual violence on campus. While it is helpful to point out the systemic barriers to addressing the problem, it is important not to lose sight of a simple fact: Rape is caused not by cultural factors but by the conscious decisions, of a small percentage of the community, to commit a violent crime.”
That ‘simple fact’ is what the opposition believes the activists for Rape Culture
clearly overlook. The question is daunting; can you truly blame culture for the way that a small group of individuals behave?
A Cappella End Notes
No matter what side of the argument you choose to take, one thing that cannot be denied is that rape is real. One position of the argument highlights the stereotypes on women, while the other highlights the stereotypes that the former places on men, but each fails to take into account the severity of the others position. In her speech, Chimamanda Adichie discusses this as a concept that she calls the danger of a single story. Adichie protests that a single story is when you “show a people as one thing, as only one thing over and over again and that is what they become.” The problems with this, however, are that when you take a single definitive story and apply it to all others you have an incomplete story that has robbed you of the truth. You cannot judge every rape as a false claim, no more than you can judge every accused rapist as a guilty criminal. In this same light, you cannot protest that all song lyrics are a form of expression, no more than you can protests that all songs have hidden meanings behind their lyrics.
Both sides also fail to mention why there is a need for such profound lyrics to be used in the first place. Whether you believe that music is a form of expression, or whether the underlining meanings can cause a crime; you have to ask yourself, is it really necessary to have lyrics about rape and murder? Can feelings of anger not be expressed without degrading a woman in the process?
To try and answer these never ending questions, I constructed an online survey that showcased twenty different song lyrics in which participates had to guess whether the singer was a male or a female. The survey contained four different groupings of songs that were each divided equally amongst the
genders. There were six song lyrics that were predominantly about sex
(three songs by females and three by males), six song lyrics that were
predominantly about love (three songs by females and three by males),
four song lyrics that were predominately about drugs (two songs by
females and two songs by males), and four songs that were predominately
about happiness (two songs by females and two songs by males). I gathered
songs from various genres of music and picked out subtle lyrics in hopes
of hiding the identity of the original song. I hypothesized that participates
would choose the songs that best stereotypically fit the gender (males as
sex and drugs and females as love and happiness.) My findings were, that for songs about sex, love, and happiness participates overwhelming fit the gender into the stereotypes, but when it came to the lyrics about drugs participates often used their discretion according to the words in the lyrics to pick the gender (i.e. lyrics about drugs that contained concepts of control and addiction [predominantly male traits] were viewed as male whereas lyrics that contained the concept of a release from life were viewed as female).
The results to my survey undeniable supported the ideas behind three very prominent videos that I had encountered while doing my research on the topic (all featured below.) Each video was constructed around the idea of gender stereotypes and introduced the concept about how these stereotypes could have the power to deeply affect the words that we use, as well as the person that we portray ourselves to be. In the first, a speech delivered by Kacey Singletary and Alexis Stratton, the two discuss the reality that gender stereotypes of women place on language. Furthering their argument toward a slightly different direction, Jackson Katz is featured in a documentary series he created where he discusses how violence is an issue centered around the gender stereotypes placed on men. Though the two voice from seemingly opposite spectrums they both vocalize the importance of understanding the two variations of stereotypes and the immense power that they have in affecting the outside world around them.
But what does this all have to do with music, you may ask yourself? All the information that I have acquired up to this point has now lead me to a single conclusion about why music is the way that it is. I do not believe that the lyrics are necessarily just a form of expression, nor do I believe that the lyrics are necessarily filled with hidden meanings. What I do believe however, is a concept that most probably overlook, that lyrics are a product of the stereotypes that have been placed in society.