Ashley Judd’s Remarks about Hip-Hop and Misogyny…..Why Are People Upset?

• Share This Post
• Pin It
• 0
• 0
• Sparkle (
  0
  )
   

It seems that these days when a celebrity has something to promote, they ( or their publicist) release something provocative (even though it usually has nothing to do with the actual product) in order to gain attention. For the actor/activist Ashley Judd, a snippet of her memoir, All That Is Bitter And Sweet was, ahem, “leaked” -- and Judd was forced to give a public apology.

From her book:

“Along with other performers, YouthAIDS was supported by rap and hip-hop artists like Snoop Dogg and P. Diddy to spread the message...um, who? Those names were a red flag.”

“As far as I'm concerned, most rap and hip-hop music - with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women as 'ho's' - is the contemporary soundtrack of misogyny.…….. I believe that the social construction of gender - the cultural beliefs and practices that divide the sexes and institutionalize and normalize the unequal treatment of girls and women, privilege the interests of boys and men, and, most nefariously, incessantly sexualize girls and women - is the root cause of poverty and suffering around the world." 

After various Hip-Hop / Urban-centric websites and blogs reported on the story, Judd was forced to offer a public apology:

"The outcry regarding my remarks, 2 paragraphs of my 400+ page book, regarding hip hop and rap, has been as astounding as it is out of context … I have looked closely at the feedback I have received about those two paragraphs, and absolutely see your points, and I fully capitulate to your rightness, and again humbly offer my heartfelt amends for not having been able to see the fault in my writing, and not having anticipated it would be painful for so many. Crucial words are missing that could have made a giant difference.”

So why were people upset? First, some thought that Judd generalized a musical genre, a culture that is extremely important, emotionally and culturally relevant to many people (and extremely profitable) with one sweeping generalization -- they are all sexist bastards that oppress women. There are a number of Hip-Hop artists, like …..umm ….hold on….yeah, Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli, K'naan and several more who have been quite successful avoiding lyrics that demean women and violence. What happened to them?

Some artists went to Twitter to express their distain with Judd. From ?uestlove from The Roots:

From Jay Smooth, a popular Hip-Hop DJ, journalist and cultural critic:

Here in an interesting response: