(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance if anyone is offended by my blog or the videos in my blog as it does contain profanity, sexual reference and other offensive material. What I wrote is just my opinion on the subject I am writing about and I am just using the videos and the excerpts from the reading to prove my point. I personally don’t like rap music that much and the videos I used are of songs that I absolutely despise.)
“Rico” by Peter Bacho
“Rico”, a story written by Peter Bacho is centered on a young, athletic man named Rico. Throughout the story, we see how the successful boxer lives his life and how he views the rest of the world. The one thing that really struck my attention was his view on women, including blondes with long legs, ratted bouffant styled hair and heavy makeup (Bacho, 18).
I personally feel that Rico ‘s view on white females was perceived as degrading. He thought of them as easier to get than other women (Bacho, 18). He didn’t think highly of women, in general and just saw them as nothing but sex objects. Being a woman, the disrespect towards females in this story did upset me.
I feel as if Rico did not have respect for white girls. This could be seen when he gives his friend his little black address book titled as “Ho’s I Know” filled with white girl’s names, mostly of blondes claiming that he will not need it anymore as he is going to change his taste in women to Vietnamese girls stating he was expanding his horizons “to find new pussy”(Bacho, 24-25). His statement towards Vietnamese girls led me to believe that he saw every woman he pursued as nothing but an object of sex and that he had little respect for women as a whole. There is even a point in the story where he refers to the white girls, specifically the blonde, tall, long legged girls as “Devil Bitches” that most bloods don’t mess with (Bacho, 23).
Although Rico and his friend were wrongly judged and stereotyped because of their ethnicity, I feel Rico was just as guilty of stereotyping and judging by the way he referred to women, whether they were blondes or Vietnamese or white girls in general. The disrespect shown towards women reminded me of rap music that portrays women in their songs as nothing but objects of sexual desire just to toy around with. Included in my blog are three videos of songs that show degradation to women.
The first video contains the song “Candy Shop” by 50 Cent. Some lyrics that can be seen as degrading to women in this song include the lines “I’ll let you lick the lollipop”, “Keep going till you hit the spot”, “Got the magic stick” and “I’m the love doctor”. The second video is of the song “Gold Digger” by Kanye West. A few lyrics that can be seen as degrading to girls in this song include lines such as “She’s a gold digger way over town”, “My psychic told me she got an ass like Serena” and “But when you get on, he leave your ass for a white girl”.
Finally, the third video includes the song “Get Low” by Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys featuring Ying Yang Twins. A couple of lyrics that are seen as degrading to females include “Move it to you suck it to me one more time”, “Can she fuck? That question been harassing me”, “In the mind, this bitch is fine”, “Now can I play with your panty line?” and “We all like to see ass and titties. Now bring your ass over here, hoe". I personally think that rap music like this is influencing people to really think of women as only sexual playthings and nothing more. In my opinion, I think this is a negative influence that is causing people to lose respect for women.
Works Cited:
Bacho, Peter. Rico.
I love your post and am definitely on board with you on this one! I wasn't really a fan of Rico at all because not only was he some lazy person who expected self- pity he also was degrading to women. To start off, I will never be picked up at a bar, club, you name it. Rico is out of his mind if he thinks all he has to do is look at me to have me dance with him. Excuse me, but I am not the airhead girl believing she has no self value. I could never look at a guy and decide he was dreamy. Personality truly is the key to my attention. I will refuse the most gorgeous, wealthy, mom loves him kind of guy in the world if I can't talk to him and feel like I just made a best friend. That's what it is all about isn't it? Finding someone to spend your life with who is in actuality your best friend. If I am going to spend my whole life with someone, he better be my best friend. I could never be these girls in these videos, I could never be that degraded. We are all people, never objects, and I refuse to be seen as anything except equal among men. I have to wonder, why would any women think any differently than that? How can these women in these videos have any respect for themselves and still wear these revealing clothes, let famous men grope at them, and dance along to such a disturbing beat. As a person I don't believe in this and am rather disgusted by it. As a women, I'm mad as hell at these disgusting girls giving us all a bad reputation.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Rico's attitude and behavior towards women was degrading and offensive. I think there is still the notion among some men that women's existance is based on the pleasure that they can bring to men. I have to question whether Rico really felt this way about women or if this was all for show. I'm in no way justifying his behavior but clearly Rico was a product of his environment. He maintained a very "machismo" attitude not just toward women but toward life in general. To me, he almost seemed like a scared little boy who his behind this "tough guy" facade. Another take on Rico could be he did think women were lowly enough to use but also saw white women in particular as attaining a higher status in society. It's similar to "Homebase" in which Rainford dreamed of "The Body" who was a white girl who represented all that America had to offer. I think white women represent a certain social status for minority men. I could be completely wrong and off base but I think some men feel that white women are the ticket to gaining legitimacy within a country and culture that traditionally has rejected them. White women give them some level of acceptance. Again, I don't agree with his treatment toward women and I don't think women should be refrenced as "bitches" and "ho's" but for some men, this is the perception of what women are and what they represent. This still goes on today as demonstrated with your choices of music videos. And I agree with Jessica in that the women who allow themselves to be objectified in these videos only create additional battles for other women to combat the notion that we are sexual objects but in this country, as well as in others, sex sells and each of these rappers are selling a product and an image. They will use any means necessary to make money. I've never heard a man sing, or rap, about how great women are and that we should be respected and not treated as objects. Why haven't we heard this? Because it wouldn't sell and it would discredit the man as being "manly". The point is, I wonder if they really believe what they are rapping about or if they too, are fulfilling the normative roles that are established by society as to what it means to be a "real" man. Instead of rejecting such notions they embrace the macho masculine ideals and continue to objectify women through various means. It's not right but unfortunately it is reality and something that women and men continue to fight against and challenge.
ReplyDeleteHey Ashley,
ReplyDeleteYour blog is quite interesting in its own way. I feel funny to be the first male person to be commenting on your blog. Certainly there is a lot of stuffs about gender issue in your blog. However, I do like the way how you integrate the prevalent gender issues nowadays to this week’s reading. I agree with you that the way Rico treats women is not very respectful. His attitude towards “white girl” is especially bad. I also agree with you that a lot of the languages used in both the reading and the songs which you attached are offensive to female audience. However, as we talked about in class, I think guys like Rico were trying to put on a mask on them for the world. People like Rico sometimes are actually very vulnerable. Because they are so vulnerable that they have to put on some protections or else they will always feel unsecure. Certainly, there are men who purely view women as sexual objects, and they are not putting on a show. However, I think Rico is a little bit different. He put on a mask because he wanted to be looked upon as a strong, macho person. Being a non-white man also gives him disadvantages comparing to his white counterparts. Therefore, being macho and treating women badly are just his ways to get all the social status which he was not born with. I see his situation as that he is trying to raise his status up to that of white people. Anyway, I like your blog, and I am not supporting Rico’s action in anyway. Peace :D !!
This is such a fascinating conversation. Is it possible that you're ALL right? (Yes.) :)
ReplyDelete-Dr. K.