Take Back the Dignity
by Ambra Nykol

A riddle for the masses: What's black, and round, and shakes all over? Answer: the rear-end of the typical video girl. If you've tuned-in to BET lately, that answer should come easily.

The demeaning tripe being passed off as "creative" in these modern-day music videos is disappointing. As it stands, Hip Hop is perhaps the biggest repeat offender in mass-producing videos with gratuitous amounts of scantily clad women.

The folks at Essence Magazine, leading publication geared towards black women, have had enough of the madness. They recently launched the "Take Back the Music" campaign, an effort to wage war against hip hop's misogynistic undertones. Truth be told, much of hip hop doesn't just have misogynistic undertones. It has misogynistic under, over, all the way through, up, down and around tones. It is safe to say that the "tones" are ubiquitous.

The year-long "Take Back the Music" campaign came onto the scene with a big and somewhat promising agenda. One action items with promise is an upcoming statistical study on how young girls who watch hours of music videos are affected. Organizers have made it clear that facts, not just feelings, are necessary to prove to people how dangerous degrading lyrics and images can be. Apparently teen pregnancies, arrests, killings, stabbings, and fights during award shows haven't been evidence enough.

Another ray of hope is the campaign's partnership with well-known historically black women's college, Spelman. Many may recall last year when some Spelman College women protested the on-campus performance of rapper and licensed misogynist Nelly, causing him to cancel his performance. These are all fantastic strides in fighting the false images perpetuated by hip hop.

But as always, there's a "but(t)".

Although it's easy to run the risk of becoming that jerk who always comes into the room you just spent all day painting and proudly declares, "um, hey you missed a spot", it should be stated that Essence Magazine's "stop the men from being ignorant" tactics are not entirely impressive.

This "take a stand" thing may catch-on for the moment, but as women, we should at least be honest in our approach. A first stab at honesty would require us to answer the following questions: Weren't we the ones taking off our clothes and dropping it like it's hot? Did we not call ourselves female dogs on more than one album? Was anyone being held hostage and forced to don dental floss and red pleather with rivets? When was the last time anyone had to twist some girl's arm to become a video ho? And are we not the same women that allow our children to watch the music videos we say we hate so much?

This entire "Take Back the Music" effort will be in vain if the mirror doesn't get pulled out expeditiously.

Should the men in the music industry be held accountable to properly represent women? Absolutely. As leaders, protectors, heads of households, and fathers, they should be ensuring that women are treated with the utmost respect. Men certainly hold a great deal of responsibility in this whole female image disaster.

Women however, should not be without standard. Of all the talk about against Gangsta Rap's foes (and it should be noted that Gangsta Rap in and of itself is one gigantic foe), rarely do we hear the flip side of the coin discussed. Granted, there is clearly some mental slavery that needs to be broken in our thinking, but no woman is being forced to partake in or support the dog and pony show within hip hop culture.

Still, the issue is greater than just some song lyrics and music videos. Liza Weisstuch of the Christian Science Monitor came to a most excellent conclusion in her recent column. She commented, "Hip-hop is hardly the first, or only, form of contemporary music to portray women in an unflattering light," Weisstuch continues, "The demeaning of women - and even misogyny - is a part of a wider societal problem that isn't peculiar to hip-hop. Nor is it just a black problem, since white consumers account for a huge share of hip-hop sales."

Now we're cooking with gas. This isn't just a "black problem". Once we realize this, our problem-solving tactics will kick in with force.

It doesn't exactly help that the conquistadors of hip hop are completely nonchalant about the way women are portrayed. In a recent interview on the topic, mogul Russell Simmons made the following defense of the industry:

"Although these records and videos are offensive, young girls can learn a lot about the mind-set of the young guys they're going to school with. Now that the truth is out there more, young girls can learn how to deal with guys."

Seems like Russell "I'm too rich and prideful to have my speech impediment fixed" Simmons must be smoking the same mind-altering substance his wife Kimora Lee Simmons was a few months ago when she got pulled over in her Land Rover. All things considered, it's still a safe bet that 15 years from now we wouldn't see Aoki Lee and Ming Lee (Simmons's daughters) shaking their behinds on high definition television.

The attack on self-image is a much bigger problem than a single genre of music. All over the world, women are whoring themselves in and out of the limelight. It's a statement about the values of our culture. Fifty years ago, girls wouldn't get away with half of what they're currently wearing. Today one has to wonder, "Is that a shirt, a skirt, a belt or a headband?" It's all the same size. Modesty and propriety are but a vapor.

Taking back our dignity is a process that beckons more than just some chastising of the music industry. We must first self-examine, and also cultivate an atmosphere where women can be taught to see themselves properly and take responsibility for their bodies and their purpose in this life. This peep show and the degrading names are robbing people of their true identity.

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