18 December 2008

The new misogynistic ideal: "Miss Independent"?

In my list of guilty pleasure - work out (shake it)- music, I've got so many songs about independent women. Destiny's Child, that I-N-D-E-P-E-N-D-E-N-T song, etc.

In a particularly misogynistic industry,

(Byron Hurt's Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes addresses this

Full documnetary here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2020029531334253002
Intro here:
)


there's something so appealing and seemingly uplifting about songs that encourage strong women.

Nevertheless, the videos and lyrics seem to be more about an ideal and less about true female human beings. It's that old mythology of the virgin/mother/perfect vs. the whore/bitch/witch? The rampant hatred of the feminine?

"Independent Queen looking for her throne
I love her because she got her own."

These lines remind me of Sarah Jones' "Revolution."


Their definition of independent women seems to be contingent upon this perfection of being without needs -- no needs from men (except some not so subversive ideas about sexual needs or male attention of course) and perhaps no needs at all? What happened to interdependency? Is this really healthy?


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