From: minor@rtsg.mot.com (Kevin Minor)
Subject: Re: Women Bashing
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 22:37:43 GMT

edsum02@venus.lerc.nasa.gov (Cassondra Pope) writes:

|>As an about-to-be-alumna(sp?) of Spelman College, it has been my experience
|>that men-of-Morehouse speak in the same manor about women as you men from
|>"different socioeconomic areas.  Most of these young men come from middle-class
|>to upper-middle class background but they still talk about women like dirt.
|>Now, I'm not dissin' the Morehouse brothas but the general trend among 
|>twentysomething Black men is to speak of women in the vain of hiphop artists
|>Black Sheep. I know some brothas who LOVE them because there are two sides to
|>BS: side 1--> treat the honeys (women) like queens; side 2--> talk about um
|>like hos. BS subscribes to the philosophy that "ho" is short for "honey" and
|>as soon as there album (I still say album, I cant help it) came out Black
|>men jumped on this "ho" philosophy bandwagon. I know that BS is mild in
|>comparison to Too $hort or NWA, but I use them as a example because to me
|>they epitomize how the average young Black man feels about women.

[Other comments deleted]

I missed the beginning of this thread but taking a step back...

Well, I'd just to like to let you know that there are plenty of black men
that do respect black women. But I'll agree perhaps the majority do not.
However, that is not an ailment that is reserved for black men or for
that matter, men alone.

Let's not consider rap for now but music in general. A great number of
songs out today talk about sex and not in a respectful sense.
When BBD first brought there album out, I was seriously angered by the
contents all nearly all their lyrics. What made it worse was that Michael
Bivens' public apperances were truly embarrassing to me as a black man.
As far as I'm concerned, he has a great deal of negative influence on
whatever he is associated with. The first video of Another Bad Creation
had the young brothas wearing beepers - hell it looked like they were
barely strong enough to carry the damn things. And what the hell do a
bunch of children need with beepers ?

And let's not talk about LL's "Round the way girl" (I probably don't have 
the title right, but I don't give a sh*t as it doesn't deserve that much
respect)... Here we are trying to tell ourselves to be proud of who we
are and of our African characteristics. We have made it a laughing
matter to get extensions and contacts... And here comes LL, talking
about the round the way girl...

I'm very concerned at the image that is presented to the younger
generation. I even talked to a local DJ around here about the racy
lyrics/videos. And he agreed with me, but also mentioned that when
those albums go double platnium that is big business.
And that is the same big business that is seen in commericials, movies,
TV shows, etc. It is all sex and for the most part, sex where respect for 
the partner is not a main concern. But that business exists because we
as a public pay to get it. When that big record executive has to decide
on new talent, he is only going with what sells. And right now what is 
selling is the attitude that you have a problem with.

Now AIDS has put a slight damper on that business but it is still there.
And it is there because of us. Hell, how many times have you found 
yourself jamin to some of the same songs which you find insulting ?

We as a society need to wake up on this issue.
We as blacks need to wake up ASAP because anything which plagues us is
a burden that is completely disproportionate when compared to our
ethnic conterparts.

In an age where we try to improve our self-image, we should address
this problem seriously. So don't place the blame on any sex because
when it comes down to it, we all had a part in it.
-- 
	/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\
	|	Kevin Minor	UUCP: ...uunet!mcdchg!motcid!minor	|
	|			Mail: minor@rtsg.mot.com		|
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Newsgroups: soc.culture.african.american,misc.headlines