RA#2

Title: From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos

Author: Joan Morgan

Date: 1999

Topic: Causes and effects of sexism in hip-hop music and culture

Exigence: To create a better and deeper understanding of why sexism is used in hip-hop music/culture.

Intended Audience: The general public, but possibly more specifically, females and feminists, and white people.

Purpose: To enlighten people as to why African-Americans might use derogatory language and action towards females in their culture.

Claim: To establish the healing and progress of females in the Black community, it will take more than simply stating that the misogyny of woman in hip-hop music is wrong and inappropriate; it will first take the acceptance and emotionally distancing of females from the presence of black male misogyny, and, second, the understanding of the origins of said misogyny before any other action towards healing can begin.

Main Evidence: Morgan states that, “As a black woman and a feminist I listen to the music with a willingness to see past the machismo in order to be clear about what I’m really dealing with” and that, “…good time in most of hip-hop is really alcoholism, substance abuse…they have no expectation to see their twenty-first birthday…” Morgan clearly sees that there is a lot more going on in the realm of hip-hop music and black men then just the objectification of the female gender, and the it truly is useless to just say, “Don’t speak like that about your sisters; it’s bad,” when the problems behind the objectification is rooted in problems that stem from things that go much deeper.

Pathos: Morgan made an emotional appeals to her audience by using direct and first person questions like in her writing that she states are meant for her hip-hop writing brothers; “ Why is disrespecting me one of the few things that make them feel like men? What’s the haps, what are you going through on the daily that’s got you action so foul?”(603). Morgan says these questions are intended for her “brothers” but seeing as it was audience that were the ones who ended up reading the questions, it was her audience that were put in the position to answer those questions, or at least to consider what it would mean to answer those questions, instead of the hip-hop singing black men that Morgan says the questions are for.

Logos: Morgan brings logic into this exert by making a direct quote from an actual hip-hop artist, Biggie Smalls, or Notorius B.I.G., stating, “I don’t wanna live no more/Sometimes I see death knockin’ at my front door…”(603) making it irrefutable for her audience to deny that the hip-hop artists that are accused of objectifying women are simply just that, and proving her point that there’s much more to them than just their objectification.

Ethos: Several times throughout her piece Morgan states that she is both a feminist and black female, “…Being black and a woman makes me very fluent in both isms…” (605). By make this statement, she makes her audience aware that her words is on that has a first person, non objective view, of the argument that is being made and is therefore on to be taken very seriously and without question.

My Response: Morgan did a beautiful job at drawing attention to an issue that I think is definitely one that is a sad reality of the world we live in today; males in the black community, like most other males all communities, has been made subject to many expectations and requirements as to what it means for them to be a man and to be made worthy by their peers and society. As well as being made subject to these expectations Morgan’s brothers have also been made subject to the oppression of America and all of its past, and existing, prejudices and racism, which demeans them as humans and provides them with even more difficulties and hardships to face on top of trying to be the machismo man that is expected of them by their own community. With this combination of oppressions, I’m sure that the demeaning of their sistas is one of the only ways present for the black male to feel like they are the man they feel like they need to be, and I think it is this that Morgan makes a beautiful point of drawing light on for her audience’s better understanding of her brother’s struggles.