Mekhatansh K. McGuire, Jacqueline Couti, Gender & Women's
Studies, University of Kentucky
Sat 9:00-9:20 The White Hall 205 - The University of Kentucky
Mekhatansh K. McGuire - African American and Africana Studies Minor, University of Kentucky
This oral presentation will be exploring how women
rappers appropriate tenets of hegemonic masculinity centering around the
necessity to possess a high sexual prowess to legitimize and solidify the
desired dominant position within the male-centered framework of hip hop. By
using the contemporary artist Shystie and the more classic artist Foxy Brown; I
come to conclusions about themes of resistance, dominance, black feminism and
racism within the lyrical content of each artist. This sexual domination has a
layer that seeks power and supremacy through one’s sexual prowess exposing a
superficial testament to the power of a vagina which can be seen as empowering
or pro-woman with residue from cultural feminism. But if you look deeper , what
is revealed is a belief that a woman’s power rests solely in the her sexual
prowess because without her ability to please or attach herself to a man she
has nothing in this society that is rooted in a white supremacist, racist,
sexist, patriarchal framework. In examining each of these women, I will show
the nuanced relationship that Black women have with problematic cultural fixtures
as well as how they negotiate success within the specific hegemonic masculine
framework of mainstream hip hop as a means of creating scholarship that is in
direct conversation with the culture that creates the need for these
problematic appropriation.
Sat 9:00-9:20 The White Hall 205 - The University of Kentucky
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