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Does listening to rap make you a misogynist?

LionPride

Banned
My 16 (almost 17) year old son is massively into rap. I tried to steer him away from it, but all his friends are into it too. No offense to rap fans here, but I can't stand what he listens too. The few times i've heard it, it has been racist and massively misogynistic. He said he likes the stories rap tells because much of it is a reflection of the rap artist's background. He was just telling me some stories about Kendrick Lamar's new album or something.

I actually had a conversation with my wife recently that I didn't like the way he spoke about women. On TV shows he always hates the female characters. He describes them as annoying, whiny and emotional. He says the same things about girls in his school I try to use those times to correct his perception and point out positive traits too.

I hold my wife in the highest regard and respect the hell out of her and all woman. She's a strong, smart person who's a lawyer by day and amazing mom at night. So I don't know where he picked this nasty side from. He's shy and has gone on one date in his life, so doesn't have really any experience with women. Which could be an issue too.

I'm not saying rap is the problem, but I can't imagine it helps.
That sounds like less of a problem where rap and tv are the issue and more so like he just needs to do better honestly. I'm 17, raised by a single mother, most of my friends have been young women my entire life, rap and hip-hop are my favorite genres and I dunno, maybe something happened to him outside of your control.

If he listens to Kendrick, then he undoubtedly has heard how much Kendrick talks about self love, loving your black self, loving black women and black people in general which would make that specific case even more interesting.
 
Does watching a movie/TV or reading a book with similar topics make you a misogynist?

Right? Rap is no worse than some TV, books, films or let alone other genres of music. Key is recognizing those elements, deciding for yourself if your enjoyment of it trumps the problematic nature and most importantly not reflecting those backwards ideals in how you actually interact with people in society. The only thing that will truly make you a misogynist is treating women like property, denying their humanity, or overall just robbing them of their humanity from how you actually talk to and act with them.
 
It makes you quite self absorbed and lacking in sympathy. It's always written by losers who have chips on their shoulder and have to prove it by telling you how many cars and women they own.

They also cuss like they're in highschool. A place which I believe they never left mentally.

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My 16 (almost 17) year old son is massively into rap. I tried to steer him away from it, but all his friends are into it too. No offense to rap fans here, but I can't stand what he listens too. The few times i've heard it, it has been racist and massively misogynistic. He said he likes the stories rap tells because much of it is a reflection of the rap artist's background. He was just telling me some stories about Kendrick Lamar's new album or something.

I actually had a conversation with my wife recently that I didn't like the way he spoke about women. On TV shows he always hates the female characters. He describes them as annoying, whiny and emotional. He says the same things about girls in his school I try to use those times to correct his perception and point out positive traits too.

I hold my wife in the highest regard and respect the hell out of her and all woman. She's a strong, smart person who's a lawyer by day and amazing mom at night. So I don't know where he picked this nasty side from. He's shy and has gone on one date in his life, so doesn't have really any experience with women. Which could be an issue too.

I'm not saying rap is the problem, but I can't imagine it helps.

I know a lot of people don't like rap and hip hop but frankly this isn't an issue with the music. This is an issue with your son and his friends. Especially in the context that you can listen to rap with pretty nuch no suggestive content if you want to. 17 year old boys are not the epitome of maturity.

If your son likes Kendrick Lamar it's difficult for me to grasp what views on women he is learning that are so posionous tbh.

Also, what do you mean by the music he is listening to is racist? I'd be interested in hearing where that came from.
 

spock

Member
I have been listening to hip-hop since I was like 4 (I'm 39 now) and still listen to it. I don't think it makes you a misogynist or anything in of itself just from listening to it. However, it can contribute to potential dispositions, biases and perceptual frames if they are already there. But this applies to all media and just about everything in your external environment.

Every day most of us get hypnotized, entrained, micro-shaped by what we expose ourselves to. When we're younger this impresses our psyche to a greater degree whereas when we're older it's more of neural reinforcement of what's already there. Because of this at times I'm torn on how to handle and view certain content and experiences when it comes to exposing the youth.

A big problem is while it does affect us, it varies greatly on how much at least on the individual level. With some people the impact is negligible, yet in others, the effect is more pronounced. (other factors and thought patterns cross pollinate each other which creates amplification of said perceptions and frames) But the impact on larger groups and culture, in general, is easier to see on the whole.
 

Jag

Member
Also, what do you mean by the music he is listening to is racist? I'd be interested in hearing where that came from.

Lots of use of the n word, from the stuff I heard. I'm looking at his Spotify now and I see Big Sean, Kodak Black, J. Cole, Future, Kanye and a bunch of names with $ signs I never heard of.

I'm an old fart and classic rock lover. I like that he loves music and I don't want to be the same type of parent when I was a kid who said that Black Sabbath was devil music.
 
Lots of use of the n word, from the stuff I heard. I'm looking at his Spotify now and I see Big Sean, Kodak Black, J. Cole, Future, Kanye and a bunch of names with $ signs I never heard of.

Eh, rappers saying nigga is not racism. You might not like it but it's dishonest to call that racism. Kodak Black is awful though, I will give you that.

I'm an old fart and classic rock lover. I like that he loves music and I don't want to be the same type of parent when I was a kid who said that Black Sabbath was devil music.

There is literally nothing wrong with people having divergent music tastes haha. I love rap but I also get into old school reggae as well. Different strokes for different folks. My parents couldnt listen to 90% of my music collection.
 
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