Rap music’s detractors have used Hip Hop
videos to criticize the misogynistic messages in
some parts of the music. A recent article by Paul
Porter and Lisa Fagers entitled Radio: The New
Child Predatoris the latest example of the
growing concerns that many people have with some
of the messages that are being expressed in rap
music. Fagers and Porter are especially disturbed
with the proliferation of Bubba Sparxxx’s
new song Ms. New Booty. Along with the questionable
content of the song, Sparxxx has partnered with
Girls Gone Wild Inc. and provided a website that
allows women to submit photos of their butts and
be judged in a Ms. New Booty Contest. Porter and
Fagers have labeled the song and the marketing
of the website as “another conduit to sex,
pornography and misogyny aimed at children.”
Sparxxx was forced to respond to the controversy
and released a statement last week; “Ms.
New Booty to me, is about a woman who exudes confidence
and does her thing with a swagger that's unique
to her and only her…You take a woman, she's
a flower waiting to bloom. Sometimes you meet a
woman, a woman that maybe most people don't see
her beauty. You know with some adjustments you
can bring her beauty out."
Although Sparxxx raises a valid and interesting
point, he seems to misunderstand the larger issue.
Reporters such as Porter and Fagaers are not concerned
with the self-esteem of adult women; they are focusing
on the inappropriate material that is being directed
at children. The Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) says that it is illegal to broadcast sexually
explicit material between the hours of 6am and
10pm daily. The Ms. New Booty Contest is promoted
during the hours when 12-17 year old children are
most likely to be listening, 6am and 10pm. Sparxxx
may have intended for the song to raise the self-image
of female Hip Hop listeners, but he is merely promoting
a message of sex to minors. Teenage children do
not need this type of encouragement and the song
should only be played when a majority adult audience
is listening.
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