The Motives Behind Misogyny
对厌女主义动机的分析
Misogyny is a central theme in gangsta rap and Black literature during the hip-hop era. It is expressed in various forms, but all pointing to the objectification of women as sex tools. Using representative gangsta rapper Snoop Dogg’s “Ain’t No Fun” (1993) as a point of entry, this paper explores the hidden motive of misogyny, particularly, how this sexist view toward women serves as a mirror to reflect Black men’s own needs for capital, power, and male allegiance.
“Ain’t No Fun” was released in Snoop Dogg’s debut album Doggystyle, largely recognized as one of the most influential hip-hop albums in the 1990s that contribute greatly to the West Coast hip-hop scene and the g-funk subgenre. Compared to the serious, elaborate and conscious style of East Coast hip-hop, g-funk in the West Coast embraces the “thug” lifestyle. In the bouncy, sensual, dance-inducing grooves it glorifies hedonism and deviant behaviors such as illicit sex, drug and violence. Misogyny is embedded in this aesthetic.
In “Ain’t No Fun,” the lyrics primarily expresses a detached, impersonal attitude toward treating women as sex objects. It focuses on the body, the carnal aspect of sex that abates the woman into a mere tool. “Next time I'm feeling kinda horny / You can come on over / And I'll break you off / And if you can't fuck that day baby / Just lay back and open your mouth” (“Ain’t No Fun” 19-23). The woman is deprived of personality and identity – we don’t now who she is; all we know is that she is reduced to her sex-centered utilitarian value, used to satisfy man’s sexual needs after he gives her a “duty call.”
This trope manifests throughout Iceberg Slim’s Pimp, in which all the women are objectified as sex tools under the male gaze. In the book, when a pimp “cops” a whore, the criteria are age, appearance and “mileage.” The woman is considered as human resource, traded or sold to be used and exploited. All the whores call the pimp “Daddy,” a gesture that reduces the woman into a minor status, who needs to be supported, mastered and approved by the man. All the pimps call the whore “bitch,” further lessening her into a sub-human, pet-like status.
One key motive to objectify women as sex resource lies in Black men’s desire to conquer – as a man who conquers woman, or as a pimp who conquers the whore market – which lifts his social status and gives him social and financial capital. In Pimp, the more women the pimp has, the more capital he owns, and the more successful his business. Women, in this case, are resources that carry exchange value. Conquering women leads to acquiring capital, which allows Black men to have a place in society, and to have the luxury of earning basic dignity. Iceberg Slim notices how prostitution fulfills this need when he was a child working in his mother’s shop, “Her clientele was for the most part whores, pimps, and hustlers from the sprawling red light district in Rockford. They were the only ones who always had the money to spend on their appearance” (4). Prostitution, in the eyes of the child, is a ladder to move up in class, and therefore to live a decent life.
Acquiring capital also allows Black man to have the power to fight against oppression. Iceberg Slim compared his crew of whores to “a small army” in a conversation with the newly copped Jo Ann (202-3). For Black men, the army’s opponent is the unfathomably oppressive society at large, the system that marginalizes, disenfranchises and emasculates the race. When most high-paying legal jobs are unavailable to Black people, their only choices are left to shadow businesses. It is in the toil and moil of the black market they form a bitter bond, antagonistic to the society, its “tricks” and its “heat.”
Not only is this power tangible in the form of capital, but it is also psychological. In “On Becoming,” Eldridge Cleaver speaks of the violent assertion of masculinity and power in the act of rape. “Rape was an insurrectionary act. It delighted me that I was defying and trampling upon the white man’s law, upon his system of values, and that I was defiling his women … I felt I was getting revenge” (33). This feeling of getting revenge is essential. Although raping does not directly empower men, undermining and vandalizing established laws and values obliquely satisfies the need to conquer, to defeat and retaliate. Weakening the other thus strengthens the self. Unlike Iceberg Slim, Cleaver’s ultimate goal was to rape White women as his way to resist the White society. Yet, like Iceberg Slim, both Black and White women are Cleaver’s targets. In this sense, women become the object – or better, the scapegoat for the society – for men to trample on in order to gain psychological triumph.
Men (self) obtain power in relation to women (other). This connection recalls Edward Said’s orientalism, a concept that centers on the master-slave/exploitator-exploited dynamic. Specifically, the slave supports the status of the master. In other words, centrality is dependent on the “Other” in the periphery. Masculinity, in this regard and in certain ways, is defined by misogyny. This concept is implied in The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Malcolm states how he was elevated through his White girlfriend, Sophia, “Even among Harlem Negros, her looks gave me status” (“Detroit Red”). Although this elevation is achieved through associating with a woman, rather than subjugating her, it is clear that woman has a significant impact on the formation of man’s masculinity and subjectivity.
Last but not least, misogyny provides men a sense of affiliation. Particularly, this is achieved through sharing women as sex objects among a group of men. In “Ain’t No Fun,” the chorus repeats “It ain't no fun, if the homies can't have none” (33-7). This points to French structuralist Levi Strauss’ idea on kinship as the exchange of women, especially for the effect of reciprocity, “The principle of reciprocity, essentially the recognition that gifts set up a series of mutual obligations between those who give and receive them, lies at the heart of human culture” (Encyclopedia Britannica, ed., s.v. “Allegiance Theory”). Sharing women as gifts suggests trust, alignment and brotherhood that make up male allegiance and kinship ties. Women, in this case, are objectified as substitute for currency.
This operation is also seen in Pimp. When Iceberg Slim asks Sweet for advice on his whore who refuses to work, Sweet promised him a “gift.” “If you do like I say and blow her, I’ll give you a whore” (179). This gesture demonstrates Sweet’s approval of and affinity toward Iceberg Slim. It makes Iceberg an “insider” to Sweet’s world, mitigates the threat Sweet imposes to Iceberg, and changes the dynamic between the two brothers from competitors to allies. This idea echoes in “Ain’t No Fun” when the four rappers bonded over using one woman, and collectively declared the importance of reciprocity.
Despite the innumerable negativity of misogyny, this paper focuses more on the motives behind this attitude. I locate misogyny in the self-other discourse, and use this concept as a reflector for the formulation of masculinity. Based on the many cases from literatures, I point out that masculinity is tied to class, resistance, and male sociality. Further analysis should be done to explore the detrimental effect that these misogynistic motives bring to women.
