~Power In Words~
English 1102 058
Inquiry Research
This is a reminder to myself about how to set up the paper. Star by introducing the infamous Steubenville Trial and rape culture (background story.) These two topics lead you into your ultimate question, since social media played a huge role in the trial, and activists told the claim to rape culture that society and media (books, tv, social media sites, music, movies, games, new, etc.) Does the media portray rape as okay? This can lead you into other questions.. Why does sex have to be what sells? Doesn't showing women as mostly naked devolutize them/ show them respect? How can we change this?
After much research I feel as though I will go in the direction of music and how it relates to rape. there are a lot of songs that seem to encourage rape for some unknown reason. Lil' Wayne and Emmet Till Bring Miley Cyrus into the conversation. Why does sex sell? Bad role model? Desperate? Isn't see the same as the girls in other videos? Is it that much different from the girls that are portrayed differently. The problem with the music, the who media really isn't so much what they say as much as what they do. They show girls as sexual objects, big pouty eyes, small waist, big boobs, something there to use and then leave to the side. Makes rape seem as though they are just using what is already there for them to use regardlessly. How do we change this imagine of women in the music industry?
Pics
I felt that this picture in particular was extremely powerful. Upon the release of this photo a man commented that it was the same as swimming in a meat suit and not expecting sharks to want to eat, however another man then commented very convincingly that they were no where near the same thing. This is the major arguement behind Rape Culture, that rape is not based on what a girl looks like or is wearing, but on whether people have the sence that they should not be raping someone regardless of what they are wearing.
These next three show some very scary statstics about rape and rape culture.
This makes me wonder if this is truly what society teaches and the scary thing is that it seems to be very true.
Many times Rape Culture results in the idea of victim blaming. In which the victim of the crime is blame for how he/she acts or what they were wearing etc.
This ultimately comes down to the concept that our society needs to Respect Women. Women are seen as weaking and have a lot of negative stigmas associated with them, but keep in mind the negative stigmas also attached to males and what it means to be a man.
Ads use the idea of sex and rape all the time. The excuse? Sex simply sells, thats no shocker but why does sex sell? Why is the only thing that most places can do to catch our eyes in add elements of sexual context.
The Steubenville rape case is a huge example of how much there is a real live rape culture among us. The two boys, star football players, raped a girl from their highschool for hours and taped it. The tapes eventually leaked on social media until they were eventually reported. This case shows just how much the idea of rape is acceptable. A lot of people were outraged at the verdict being guilty because they blamed the victim for the rape. They blamed her because she had apparently been drinking and had gotten so drunk that she passed out, upon which the two boys took advantage of her.
Miley Cyrus, once the star of Hannah Montana, shocked everyone and became a huge subject after her infamous VMAs performance with Robin Thicke. Here Miley was seen grinding, twerking and rubbing a foam finger all over her body while wearing barely anything. She was since labeled as a bad influence and looked too as someone who humiliates women. Particularly in the clothing that she chooses to wear, or no clothes at all in the case of her video wrecking ball. But is she just not playing the part that women usually do in the numerous music videos that are out there.
The problem with the music industry is that they show girls as sexual objects, big pouty eyes, small waist, big boobs, something there to use and then leave to the side. Makes rape seem as though they are just using what is already there for them to use regardlessly. How do we change this imagine of women in the music industry?
Videos, Websites and Academic Articles
Numerous different criminals tried to blame their actions on that of the lyrics to songs. This link names just a few of the most famous.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/rape
The defintion of the word rape. Looking at the definition I will probably have to add a defintion of my own.
https://www.rainn.org/statistics
This site goes into a lot of different statisitics that are out there. Don't forget to stress that statistics vary based off of the numerous people that do not report rape each year as well as other facters.
http://www.marshall.edu/wcenter/sexual-assault/rape-culture/
The defintion of "Rape Culture"
http://time.com/40110/rape-culture-is-real/
A rape surviviors account as well of her take on how rape culture is real.
http://time.com/30545/its-time-to-end-rape-culture-hysteria/
An article about how rape culture is not real. Although I believe in Rape Culture I still do not want to limit my information on the topic and want to explore the flipside to what I already believe myself.
http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/18/2/133.full.pdf+html
Research behind the idea of whether rape myths and rape culture for that matter exist or if they do not.
http://pom.sagepub.com/content/34/4/511.full.pdf+html
This academic article is extrmemly important. It tells about the ideas behind songs and emotions in regards to the lyrics and the melody. A lot of people that listen to degrading music justify it by saying that they just like the melody, but this experiment proves that certain songs, with certain musical variables (tempo, dynamics, and rhythm) can in fact influence your emotions. It proved that music with simple melodies(containing fewer variations of melodic contour and more repetition) evoke positive emotions (happy, calm) that can be reduced with lyrics, while music with complex melodies (more variation and less repetition) with lyrics enhance negative emotions (sad, anger). [Reg rhythms= pos, irreg rhythms= neg.] Can be seen in movies with the music of choice.
http://psp.sagepub.com/content/32/9/1165.full.pdf+html
"Research showed that misogynous music increasesaggressive responses of men toward women. As a consequence, music with misogynous song lyrics should beconsidered as a potentially dangerous source that mayelicit male sexual aggression. Male participants in ourstudies only listened to two different songs with misogynous lyrics and showed a considerable increase inaggression toward women. What can be said about thiseffect 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 andcould probably lead to even more severe aggressionagainst women, such as rape or other forms of aggressive assaults. If such a connection could be establishedin real life, misogynous song lyrics need to be considered in a more critical light than has so far been thecase, and might even require censorship by law."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misogyny
Defintion and idea behind misogyny.
http://www.metapress.com/content/n4q77737h2701111/fulltext.pdf
Academic article that explores the effects of music videos on college students perceptions of rape.
http://misogynisticlyricsthatarentrap.tumblr.com/
A site that contains the lyrics of multiple songs that contain misogynistic lyrics.
http://smokingsection.uproxx.com/TSS/2013/04/50-absurd-rape-lyrics#page/1
A site that looks into 32 different overlooked rape lyrics in rap songs. Don't forget to take lyrics from songs and prove their sexual meanings.
The perpetuation of Rape Culture in Hip Hop (Emmett Till)
Response to Rick Ross Song about She Ain't Even Know It
A lInk to the VMAs with Miley and Thicke
http://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/1/post/2013/10/blurred-lines-and-rape-culture.html
Sociological look at the problems with the song blurred lines.
A look at the paraody to blurred lines.
Taking the lyrics from the song blurred lines and showing how they are exact phrases that rapists say to their victims.
http://www.cracked.com/article_18431_8-romantic-songs-you-didnt-know-were-about-rape.html
8 Romantic songs you didnt't know were about rape. I could also include the lyrics to the song Every Breathe You Take.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/7-popular-songs-that-are-too-rapey
7 Songs that are rapey.
This Video is about the Project Unspoken Movement and talking about Rape Stereotypes.
http://www.newstatesman.com/laurie-penny/2013/03/steubenville-rape-cultures-abu-ghraib-moment
A look into the Steubenville Rape Case
The Article by Henry Rollins about his thought on the case and his ultimate question that arose from this. Why do people rape/ what causes rape.
This Video is another attempt at trying to wish away rape and rape culture and it to gives its ideas on what are the causes and what are the ways to stop/ end it.
An attempt to answer the following questions : What are stereotypes and gender roles? How do they develop and where do they originate? What is the force that propels them? Why do we accept them, and what is the outcome of them?
In this Video, Tough Guise, Jackson Katz introduces his idea that violence is usually a men's issue. That men wear a mask, or front that emphasizes the idea of the extreme mastculinity that seems to be pushed upon men.
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=211
This idea, from above is highlighted and explained more indepth in this article.
In this second Video by Jackson Katz, Tough Guise 2, Katz relates his idea better to more current issues and highlights the effects that this labeling can and does have on our culture. He relates his video to violence in gender, but i believe that his concept can be pushed toward my topic of rape culture. That the media is simply playing into the idea of gender roles and how this can pose an ultimate problem, and that bringing light on this issue may hopefully be the first step toward ending it.
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=237
The idea from above is highlighted and explained more indepth in this article.
This video is about Project Unbreakable. In which rape survivors show the words that their attacker spoke to them. It was mentioned previously and gives another insight on the idea of how to possibly end problem with rape culture.
This Video is one that I plan on looking further into.