When thinking about sexism in rock, what primarily comes to mind are the �hair bands� of the mid to late 1980�s. This music is still relevant today because it is heard on many rock format radio stations across the country. These bands are like rap in that they objectify women but differ in their sexism from rap because they don�t use derogatory names like �bitch� and �hoe�. Motley Crue was one of the most popular of these bands. And being the most popular, you might think they have a decent amount of sexism in their songs. This is true for them, proved by their song �Girls, Girls,Girls,� in which they sing: �Yankee girls ya just can't be beat/ But you're the best when you're off your feet� and �I just need a new toy/ I tell ya what, girl/ Dance for me, Ill keep you overemployed� like the sex object he sees her to be. The videos in this sub-genre are famous for their portrayal of women as scantily clad ornaments. Mademoiselle writer Nina Malkin comments on the sexism in these videos, "Its not just the lyrics, but also the way women are depicted in videos-as mindless leather-clad bunnies" (Malkin, 1990).
A currently popular group named Korn also employs this sex object perspective towards women in their song �A.D.I.D.A.S.� One of the main lyrics is, �I don't know your fucking name, so what let's fuck� in which the singer implies that women are just objects for sexual gratification without any human aspect to them that would warrant basic respect.
Kid Rock is another highly popular rock turned pop artist with the help of Mtv. His videos are seen in the most popular after-school show called TRL. In his videos, he borrows from his �hair band� predecessors. His videos consist of women that are wearing the least amount of clothing that is legal on television and are serving the role of his ornaments. In Kid Rock�s most recent song, �American Badass,� he exclaims, �I'm gonna fuck some hoes after I rock this place� and in the even more popular �Cowboy� he sings �I'm a headin out west where real women come equipped with scripts and fake breasts� and �I'm gonna paint his town red then paint his wife white/�/get some west coast pussy for my Detroit playas.� (lyrics.astraweb.com, 2001)
Rock�s demographic overlaps with rap�s. It is targeted to young males but also includes those in their late twenties to early thirties. But this music reaches the kids just as much as any kind does. It is also very popular among blue-collar people, the very people that commonly have posters of half naked women up in their garages or factories where they work. Men like rock because it seems to be testosterone-driven �manly� music. What seems to go hand in hand with that is the objectification of women. A man I�ve dated is a deejay at one of the radio stations that plays this format. He made me angry one night when he was on the air speaking about Marilyn Manson�s girlfriend. Instead ofusing the word girlfriend, he used bitch, as in �Manson�s bitch.� Not only did he use the word bitch but he implied that Marilyn Manson owned her. I called him out on it and he attempted to excuse it by saying that is how his listeners talk and he needs to talk like them to appeal to them. I guess his demographic just eats up that kind of misogynistic language.
POP
Pop music has a different, more subtle sexism. The three main forms of it were actually given by female artists and those were women�s dependence on men, the knight in shining armor myth, and the labeling of women for negative feminine qualities. An example of the former is in Jennifer Lopez�s �If You Had My Love.� She sings, "If you had my love and I gave you all my trust, would you comfort me?." She�s basically saying that men are sought for by women for security because women can�t be secure on their own. In another song by her, �Waiting for Tonight�, she describes a knight in shining armor story in which he saves her from utter loneliness and despair. You picture her lying in her bed all day with no motivation because she doesn�t have a man. Likewise, Faith Hill also describes her knight fantasy she�s always had,�All I wanted was a white knight/ with a good heart, soft touch, fast horse/ ride me off into the sunset/ baby, I'm forever yours� implying ownership of her. The example of labeling women with only negative aspects of
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