from Left of Center
Another Love TKO:
Teens Grapple With Rihanna and Chris Brown
by Raquel Cepeda
...Author and cultural critic Joan Morgan, who coined the term “hip-hop feminism,” remembers a pivotal moment in 1991, when women in the entertainment industry-led by the pre-eminent fashion model, agent, and activist Bethann Hardison-came together to support one of their own, rallying around rapper and Pump It Up host Denise “Dee” Barnes, who was very publicly and viciously assaulted by super-producer and then-N.W.A. member Dr. Dre at a record-release party while a bodyguard reportedly held off the crowd. (Dre eventually settled out of court.) “It was really a rallying cry for many people,” Morgan says now. “And it really started to plant what became a very directly feminist commitment to analyzing hip-hop.”
Since, we’ve moved into a viral world without boundaries, where more voices are heard, raw and uncensored, because of the anonymity the Web offers. And now, nearly two decades later, the conversation about misogyny among young people, hip-hop culture, and society in general needs to address another very real facet: the hatred of women by women. “By definition, misogyny is about the hatred of women. It’s not gender-specific,” says Morgan, who saw gender-trumping violence when covering the Mike Tyson rape trial for the Voice in ‘91. “So there are men who hate women, and other women who hate women.” The teenage girls’ unconditional, sometimes puzzling support of Chris Brown isn’t necessarily misogynistic; their acrimonious contempt for Rihanna-their hatred-is.
Read the Full Essay @
Teens Grapple With Rihanna and Chris Brown
by Raquel Cepeda
...Author and cultural critic Joan Morgan, who coined the term “hip-hop feminism,” remembers a pivotal moment in 1991, when women in the entertainment industry-led by the pre-eminent fashion model, agent, and activist Bethann Hardison-came together to support one of their own, rallying around rapper and Pump It Up host Denise “Dee” Barnes, who was very publicly and viciously assaulted by super-producer and then-N.W.A. member Dr. Dre at a record-release party while a bodyguard reportedly held off the crowd. (Dre eventually settled out of court.) “It was really a rallying cry for many people,” Morgan says now. “And it really started to plant what became a very directly feminist commitment to analyzing hip-hop.”
Since, we’ve moved into a viral world without boundaries, where more voices are heard, raw and uncensored, because of the anonymity the Web offers. And now, nearly two decades later, the conversation about misogyny among young people, hip-hop culture, and society in general needs to address another very real facet: the hatred of women by women. “By definition, misogyny is about the hatred of women. It’s not gender-specific,” says Morgan, who saw gender-trumping violence when covering the Mike Tyson rape trial for the Voice in ‘91. “So there are men who hate women, and other women who hate women.” The teenage girls’ unconditional, sometimes puzzling support of Chris Brown isn’t necessarily misogynistic; their acrimonious contempt for Rihanna-their hatred-is.
Read the Full Essay @
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