Analyzing the Music Industry through Feminist Theorists

Ermani Stafford

Critical Response Paper #3: Difference

We Are Not the Same

The differences in people contribute to the way that people are forced to maneuver through life. It also contributes to the way that they are treated in life. Some of the characteristics that were discussed in this module that may make people get treated differently are things like: sex, gender, sexuality, and class. Where some people value the individuality in the billions of humans on earth, others use it as a reason to hate or discriminate. Audre Lorde and Angela Davis examine the effects we see in the lives of people depending on how a person identifies themselves or how they are presented in society.

In “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”, Audre Lorde tackles the topic of differences in society and the way in which the differences in people have contributed to the systematic oppression of several groups. She discusses even further that even in oppressed groups, there can be (and often times is) another group who is even more oppressed. The supporting evidence that she uses throughout this powerful piece is her personal experience, the literature of women of color, experiences between black and white women in the patriarchal power system, wage earning, etc. In every one of these examples, supporting her argument, it sheds light on the realness of the world that we live in today. It sheds light on the realness of the world hundreds of years ago, which is why it makes her argument believable. “Some problems we share as women, some we do not. You fear your children will grow up to join the patriarchy and testify against you, we fear our children will be dragged from a car and shot down in the street, and you will turn your backs upon the reasons they are dying.” (Lorde,7) She shows us things that we are not blind eyed to and things that so many can relate to even if you have not experienced it first-hand. I completely agree with Lorde’s argument because in every group, there is someone who is dealing with something deeper than what they’re group is fighting for. The things that a white person can choose to have blissful ignorance towards a black person cannot. Understanding that there are certain differences in people that some just could never imagine dealing with, simply because they have the luxury to do so.

In the lecture “Feminist and Abolition: Theories and Practices for the 21st Century” Angela Davis discusses how gender and sexuality in both black and brown persons in the prison system contribute to the treatment that they receive while in their “care”. She specifies her lecture example to black trans women who are treated poorly when in the prison system; because regardless of what they identify as they are not placed in women’s prison, but in men’s prison. Her examples only help further prove her points rather than give them lesser value. I completely agree with her, because in order to dismantle a system set up against so many, we have to break everything down that was built by them. We have to start by defining things over again as she states with word “woman” and what it means to be a real woman.

In the music industry we see these same differences contribute to the way they have to move for the public eye. We have seen these differences be a determining factor in how they are portrayed in the media. For example, when Miley Cyrus wants to switch up her looks and become a “bad girl” its okay and in some senses even praised. When Willow Smith did it she was portrayed as wild and it even spiraled onto her parents and their parenting skills. I believe that in this industry anyone who comes in young goes through the challenges of switching up their image. But white artists don’t deal with the same challenges or repercussions in the media as black or brown artists do.

Work Cited

CANTV. “Feminism & Abolition Lecture with Angela Davis”. YouTube, 5 Jun. 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0ieCAUWGnM

Lorde, Audre. “Age, race, class, and sex: Women redefining difference.” Cultural Politics 11 (1997): 374-380.