Romanticizing misogynistic images: Adolescent girls and rap music

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Content ROMANTICIZING MISOGYNISTIC IMAGES: ADOLESCENT GIRLS AND RAP MUSIC by Carmela Lomonaco A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SOCIOLOGY) December 2005 Copyright 2005 Carmela Lomonaco Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. UMI Number: 3222546 Copyright 2005 by Lomonaco, Carmela All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3222546 Copyright 2006 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. DEDICATION For Haley & Emily It is our duty to pass on a society to you that is both equitable and engaging for strong smart women. Your joy and potential fuels my work. This project marks the beginning of my promise to help you see your potential and never lose yourjoy. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At the end of this journey, I understand that I would never have completed this task without the support of my family, friends, and colleagues. I would like to start by thanking my cohort (what is left of us), Belinda Lum and Ynez Wilson Hirst, for understanding the pushes and pulls of working towards a Ph.D. and moving me past that with laughter and encouragement. There were two other graduate students (now professors) that showed me the way and never let me feel that I couldn’t' make it - so thank you to Monica Whitlock and Karen Sternheimer. Karen, your advice has never failed me and I thank you for assuring me that my ideas and instincts were good ones. A special thanks to the Sociology staff - Dora Lara, Monique Thomas, Pat Adolph and Stachelle Overland. Stachelle, your words of wisdom, advice and friendship were some of the reasons I finished. Tracey Ginter was an enthusiastic and trusty transcriber; Ginger Hahn was a supportive but critical reader of the final write up of this project. Sarah Novak made sure I crossed my t’s and dotted my i’s. It was great to have these strong women in my comer. A special acknowledgment goes to the members of my committee for their time, expertise and encouragement which strengthened my ability as a social scientist. I am grateful to work with three scholars who I wish to emulate in my own professional career. Dr. Barry Glassner, my chair and longtime mentor, has been my strongest supporter. What an honor and a privilege to work with him. I iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. will be forever grateful for his recognition of a lost graduate student in search of a mentor and his willingness to guide my intellectual growth. I worked very hard to live up to his expectations and I am so much better as a researcher and a person for having his guidance and support. I was able to work with Dr. Darnell Hunt and receive insight into studying media and culture that I would have not received without him. His advice and suggestions were always intellectually engaging, but what I appreciated the most was the practicality he brought to our discussions of this project and other professional endeavors I was contemplating. I trust his advice and honesty. His knowledge about media and race still amazes me and I realize how lucky I am to have had him help steer my research interests and abilities. I never felt like a graduate student with Dr. Lyndee Knox. I was privileged to work with Dr. Knox as a member of my dissertation committee but also as a researcher in Family Medicine. She always thought that I could engage in research from its inception to its completion as a colleague. With her confidence in my ability, I was able to accomplish things that graduate students only dream about. My interest in advocacy was nurtured by her encouragement and probably more importantly, by her example. There were other researchers and faculty at USC that were pivotal in my training as a researcher. Dr. Malcolm Klein saw a naive and quite ‘green’ potential graduate student who wanted to research gangs and gave her a chance and a home at USC. I thank him for his continued (and frank) advice about everything. iv permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Dr. Cheryl Maxson for giving a first semester graduate student the opportunity to work on a dream come true - a ‘real’ federally funded research project. She gave me the freedom to devise research projects and methodologies that proved to be a vital aspect of my early training. Other faculty members were very helpful in their suggestions for the trajectory of this project: Dr. Mike Messner; Dr. Greg Hise; Dr. Todd Boyd; Dr. Marita Sturken; Dr. Lynn Mikel Brown; and Dr. Elaine Bell Kaplan. I was lucky to have amazing mentors during my undergraduate days that opened up the doors to academia for me and for that, I owe them my thanks and recognition: Dr. Shelley Taylor; Dr. Marilynn Brewer; Dr. Anne Peplau; and Dr. Bemie Weiner. Also, I appreciate Fred Slabach, Chloe Reid and the late John FitzRandolph who were honest with me and told me to quit my job to go back to graduate school and fulfill my dreams. Going through graduate school is pretty daunting and there is a group of friends and family that put up with me and helped me see that I could accomplish it. I began graduate school and work at UCLA Athletics the same year and so they saw the very best and very worst of what the first years of graduate school can do. To this day, I am so grateful for them at that point in my life because they made me feel as though I could do good work and make life better for young people. Special thanks to my colleagues there: Sheila Gardette; Kim Barger (Durand); and of course, Coach K, my biggest supporter and ally. I am so glad to be an honorary member of your family. To my students (the ‘boys’), I know I influenced your lives but what you may not know is how much you influenced mine. I am grateful Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for all of you, especially your instruction and advice about rap music: Jason, Jermaine; Durell; DeShaun; Robert; Rusty; Ricky; and all the others who touched my life - thank you - all of you hold a small place in my heart. Kay Kezirian was my guardian angel. Without her, I would not have been able to conduct my research or meet such a wonderful group on middle school girls. The administration, faculty and staff at the middle school were so supportive of my work and the student body offered me a glimpse into their school environment with open arms. I had a great time ‘hanging out’ at lunch, in the attendance office and during firedrills! The girls in this sample were amazingly open and honest with me. They let me into their worlds with no hesitations and to this day, I think of their futures and hope only the best for them because each one has the potential for great things. My family and friends are my foundation and my legs when I thought I just couldn't finish. My posse of amazing women - Sarah, Suzanne, Elisa, Gail, Alex, Gretchen, and Brynn - we may be on divergent paths but I know we'll still be friends when we are old and gray. And to my family - Uncle Chuck, Aunt Muffin, Chuck, JR and Lynn - who put up with my long dialogues about my work and still liked having me around. Monica - my cousin and my sister, from the time we were kids, we looked out for each other and were each other’s biggest fans - 1 can’t imagine how I’d accomplish this or anything without you in my comer. Many thanks and much love to my dad and Rosalie for visiting me in Los Angeles often to provide relief and support over the years. To my mom, you are always there to vi permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. support and remind me of what I can do and you inspired me to want to do more and more importantly, feel that I can. For that, I am grateful. Thanks just doesn't seem to do it justice. I dedicate this dissertation to Haley & Emily. Two precious young girls who daily inspire and remind me to try to do what I can to make our society better for them. The legacy we leave for them is completely up to us. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii ABSTRACT xiii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1 II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 12 The Process of Consuming Culture 13 Age and Gender Implications for the Study of Culture 22 Rap Music as a Cultural Symbol 30 Rap Artists and Their Status in Society: The Case of 50-cent 34 Public Discourse on Rap Music 37 Psychological Theories to Understand Processing of Cultural Symbols 41 Theories on Adolescent Development 48 Bringing External and Internal Factors Together: The Relationship between Culture, Thought and Action 52 Research Questions 55 III METHODS 61 Sample Characteristics 63 Research Design and Recruitment Procedures 65 Focus Groups 68 Interviews 73 Sampled Video Content 74 Analysis Plan 77 Representativeness and Data Quality 80 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER IV THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT IN THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS 84 The Community and Culture of a Suburban Middle School 85 The Sampled Girls 92 Focus Group Compositions 94 V FINDINGS: GENDERED AND RACIAL REPRESENTATIONS IN RAP MUSIC 100 A Gendered Romance Narrative: ‘Thug Love’ 101 Emotional Attachment to ‘Thug Love’ 106 Adolescent Romance: Interaction Between Development and Cultural Scripts 109 The Influence of Peers 113 Competing Feelings and Attitudes About ‘Thug Love’ 116 The Uneasy Position: The Female Rap Fan 122 ‘Thug Love’ and Adolescent Girls: A Summary 127 A Racialized Image: The ‘Video Whore’ 132 Racial Differences in Viewing Rap Images 135 Racial Ideology in Discussing Rap Music 140 Meaning of the ‘Video Whore’ 143 Accepting and Rejecting Representation: A Summary of Reading Rap Music 153 VI FINDINGS: RATIONALIZING CONTRADICTIONS REGARDING GENDER AND RACIAL REPRESENTATIONS 157 The Rationalization of Intended Audience: Justifying the ‘Video Whore’ 161 Anatomy of a Rap Video: Normative Expectations for Authentic Black Culture 189 Internalizing and Rejecting the ‘Video Whore’ 194 VII CONCLUSIONS 205 Summary of Findings 208 Implications 220 ix Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER VII Limitations 236 Methodology 236 Sample Size and Representativeness 237 Capturing Internal Processes 238 Future Research 239 The Final Word 240 BIBLIOGRAPHY 246 APPENDIX A ANNOUNCEMENT 267 B HIP HOP VIDEOS RESEARCH PROJECT (SIGN-IN SHEET) 268 C BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE 269 D “I WANNA GET TO KNOW YA” LYRICS 270 E ANALYTICAL NOTES 272 F NAME GRID 282 x Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. Race/Ethnicity by Age (N = 31) 66 2. Composition of Focus Groups (N = 31) 70 3. Focus Group Questions 72 4. Interview Questions 73 5. Focus Group Video Characteristics 74 6. Components of the “Listening Guide” 78 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF FIGURES 13 67 234 FIGURE 1. Circuit of Culture (Hall et al., 1997) 2. Research Design 3. Process of Making Meaning xii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT Adolescent girls occupy a precarious place in society as they negotiate their social lives. They must come to understand themselves as gendered beings and as racial beings. These understandings are not simple to maintain because of the contradictory images and messages about and for women within popular culture and larger society. How they make sense of these contradictions has lasting implications for the girls themselves and society as a whole. Rap music has integrated into many aspects of society, but is contested for its glorification of drugs and violence and its stereotypic images of race and gender. There is a gap in our understanding surrounding rap music and its use by the adolescents, particularly girls. This project captures the process of consumption and interpretation of rap music by adolescent girls through an approach that considers the complex interweaving of intrinsic and extrinsic factors occurring in an ever changing, dynamic environment we all live in on a daily basis. Thirty-one adolescent 13-14 year old girls participated in the study. The girls both reject and embrace images of race and gender with rap music. The girls devised elaborate rationalizations for their engagement and enjoyment of the song. The simultaneous (and contradictory) ‘reading’ of the images and messages within rap music speaks to the complexity of engagement with popular culture. How individuals deal with these contradictions varies and fluctuates depending on situational and internal factors. These girls use rap music to xiii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. reinforce existing racial and gendered expectations reproduces the existing hierarchies. The girls occupy an outsider (‘Other’) status within rap music culture and negotiate this status through distancing and tolerating problematic images with rationalizations they construct. These rationalizations are fragile minefields of contradicting images and messages that influence attitudes and behavior expectations. The girls’ ability to normalize the contradictions mid the ‘Other’ position illustrates the unique factors that influence adolescent girls’ formation of attitudes and behaviors that make up their identities. The difficulties faced by adolescent girls as they negotiate social life have been partially uncovered by how they read and process rap music. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION “If you long to be crunk, you must embrace ho-dom in all its semi-nude glory, for the ho is the very glue that holds the rap world together.”1 This quote from Hold Mv Gold: A White Girl's Guide to the Hip Hop World, summarizes the discourse around the presence of women in a pervasive form of popular culture - rap music. Rap music has integrated into many aspects of society, but is contested for its glorification of drugs and violence as well as its stereotypic images of race and gender. At the very center of these contested images is the video ‘ho’ (or whore) who embodies all that is troubling about rap music. The ‘video ho’ is a sexualized objectification of women that is actually a part of a long legacy of images of women in American society. The ‘video ho’ is both a sexualized and racialized representation of this marginalization, as women (especially Black women) are relegated to ‘body parts’. ‘Video ho’ represents the intersection of race and gender hierarchies affecting women of color, in particular. Hold Mv Gold can be found at any retail book chain. Its intention is to 'assist' White women with how to become part of the world of rap music though 1 Quoted on pg. 180 o f Rizzo & McCall (2005). Crunk refers to “good feelings resulting from, or relating to, alcohol, gold, luxury goods, large breasts and buttocks, rare gems, boisterous noises and gyration” (Rizzo & McCall, 2005, 1). 2 Rizzo & McCall, 2005. 1 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. they are, because of race (White) and gender (female), not considered ‘members’ of the rap culture. You've tried everything to make yourself less wack3 and, with every desperate attempt, you feel even lamer than when you started .... You head out to buy a forty oz. of Olde English '800' Malt Liquor and always return home with the same 1.5 ounce container of Twinning’s English Breakfast Tea. You begin to wonder whether you will ever overcome your wackness or if all White girls are destined to remain wack for the rest of your lives. (Rizzo & McCall, 2005) Although envisioned to be a tongue-in-cheek look at rap music and White women's interest in it, Hold Mv Gold frames racial (Black/White) and gender (male/ female) difference with age-old references to stereotypes about Black men (and culture) and White women. For example, one passage reads: When a rapper visits your crib, the first thing you should show him is: a. Your antique Limoges egg collection b. Your new cross-country skis c. The wind chimes you bought this summer in Maine d. Your breast (Correct answer is D)4 The passage illustrates the fascination within this society about Black music and White interest in Black music (Leonard, 1962; Ross, 1989; Stephens, 1992). A discussion about the place of music in culture as well as communities (both physical and virtual communities and racial/ethnic communities) is a useful start to tease out the contexts for these debates. From slave songs to today’s bumping 3 Rizzo & McCall (2005) define wack as “bad feelings resulting from, or relating to, brussel sprouts, John Tesh, herpes, polka, root canals, Beanie Baby collections, quicksand, flat tires, knitting circles, and kidney stones” (1). 4 Rizzo & McCall, 2005, 147. 2 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. beats, a main component of Black culture in the United States has been music.5 Since the days of slavery, music’s function for the Black community has been the voice against oppression and a call for a rise in Black solidarity (Baskerville, 1994; Ellison, 1989 & 2000; Floyd, 1990; Kelley, 1996; Levine, 1977; Southern, 1971). The focus on White consumption of a racialized cultural form is not new. Whites’ interest in African-American music began from the time of slavery and progressed through the adoption of African-American melody and timbre into Rock and Roll (Southern, 1971). Cultural studies suggest White interest may also stem from being attracted to racial difference because this difference defines one’s identity as a White person. “Like generations of White teenagers before them, White teenage rap fans are listening in on Black culture, fascinated by its differences, drawn in by mainstream social constructions of Black culture as forbidden narrative, as a symbol rebellion” (Rose, 1994, 5).6 Music offers a glimpse into Black culture and life for the audience. In fact, “a call and response - a dialectic - has been going on between these parallel cultures long enough that we can discern the beginnings of a mutually created language” (Stephens, 1992, 71). In the 1950s, Norman Mailer’s work on the ‘White Negro’ was criticized as “romanticism”7 for painting a positive picture of race relations at a time when the United States was heavily segregated with Jim Crow laws. Mailer’s work, however, marked early inquiry on modem-versions of 5 Tricia Rose (1994) made an outstanding argument that connects rap to all other Black musical traditions. 6 Robin Kelley (1996) expressed a similar sentiment. 7 See Ross, 1989. 3 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. this ‘dialectic’. Even more compelling work on the role of culture, race and class conflict in White interest o f ‘Black’ music occurred during the 1960s regarding the White Intellectuals and the Harlem Renaissance (Leonard, 1962). This comparative dialogue continues to this day with rap music (Ross, 1989). As the concern shifts from White ‘intellectuals’ during the Harlem Renaissance to White teenagers and rap music, the adoption of a Black cultural aesthetic comes under debate from White and Black critics alike and the pitch in concern takes on heightened levels. The perspective voices in Hold Mv Gold. hardly reflects the lives of girls (White or otherwise) who enjoy rap music. The book illustrates how girls’ and women’s experiences, intelligence and attitudes often are de-legitimized. This guide will teach you how to recognize and adopt the key characteristics of a rapper and rap music. You will excel in basic hip-hop subjects such as loose women, violence, gratuitous sex, extremely expensive cars and houses, nightclubs, illicit drugs, alcohol, gold dental work, and exceedingly large shiny jewelry. By the time you reach the end of this book, you will have earned a Ph.D. in thuggin' and will be ready to journey out of your pasty, rhythmless shell and into the world of hip-hop splendor! The book represents some of the more problematic examples of public discourse about White women (and their relationship to Black men) through a discussion about their engagement and consumption of rap music. These stereotypic portrayals of Black men (and culture) and White women (their wants and desires) undermine women's power and agency. “Protecting the virtue of White women” 8 Rizzo & McCall, 2005, 21. 4 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. keeps White women subordinate and offers the rationale for the subordination of Black men as well, because ideologies of Black male sexuality and White female victimization continue to pervade in our cultural landscape. “Particular ideas about White and Black femininity work against each other in relation to Black and White masculinity to legitimate different types of power and domination which affect everyone” (Ware, 1992, 4). The ideology of White women as victims in need of protection or sexually promiscuous in need of proper standards and control is reinforced and reinforces the view of Black men as sexually driven to take advantage of these weaknesses of White women. Although there are few cases of physical or overt reproductions of this ideology surrounding White women and Black men, it can be found, albeit subtly, within the public discourse about rap music and its effects on White audience, particularly adolescent girls. One needs look no further than Hold Mv Gold for supporting evidence to this statement. (Excerpted from “Da Twelve Steps to Wackovery”) I. We admitted we are powerless over Whiteness and that our wackness had become unmanageable . . . II. Sought, through smoking blunts and gyrating in bikinis, to improve our chances of possible contact with Lil Jon, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry it out.9 Despite these representations, rap music is popular among male and female adolescent youth. The salience of rap music to adolescent populations could justify 9 Rizzo & McCall, 2005, 11-12. 5 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the argument that rap music and youth culture1 0 are synonymous. The pervasiveness and popularity of rap music among adolescents and the representations of gender, race and the association with risky behaviors have led to both public and academic interest about the influence of rap music in young people's lives (Rich et al., 1998; Wingood et al., 2003). There is a paradox, however, within both public and academic discourses about rap music. One side of this paradox suggests that rap music is detrimental to youth and to society, while the other side suggests rap music is a positive influence, particularly as it embodies and empowers disenfranchised racial groups (Black men in particular) (Cruz, 1986; Dawson, 1999; Dimitriadis, 2001; Rose, 1994). In fact, many race scholars see Black music as the avenue for the Black community to protest discrimination and to teach others about the experience of African Americans (Dawson, 1999). The ‘voice’ of the disenfranchised has allowed alternative ideologies about and against American goals and values to surface (Ellison, 2000; Rose, 1994). “Music was - and still is - central to the Black experience in America” (Cruz, 1986, 3 8).1 1 This racial marker placed on rap music and the function associated with it (dissent), has certainly caused heated debate 1 0 Although most scholars discuss youth culture and use the term, ‘subculture’, youth culture within this analysis will not be relegated to a ‘less than’ culture. Youth culture will be given status as a culture in and of itself. But for sake of clarity, youth culture, as it is written here, may actually refer to academia’s discussion o f “subculture.” 1 1 In fact, there is considerable debate surrounding rap/hip hop and its identification as a legitimate form o f Black music (and Black culture). Squarely within this debate is the inclusion of rap/hip hop as the current form o f Black music in the same vein as gospel music and jazz o f earlier eras (Krims, 2001). 6 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. surrounding its function for individuals, communities and society, especially when White audience engage with the music (Dawson, 1999). While debates within the academic and public spheres continue, the adolescent ‘voice’ remains absent. In particular, the positive or negative influences of the images and messages within the music are not discussed with young people to understand how they may actually read and use rap music in the development of their thoughts, attitudes and choices of action. Engagement with young people to determine the influence of images like the video ho (whore) is necessary to understand how it may affect their thoughts and actions. McClary (1994) suggested these histories of race, class and gender - as they are constructed through (rap) music - are especially relevant to understand how racial, class and gender identities are manifested and negotiated within adolescent culture and within individuals. The youth of today are in increasingly diverse environments and often, through media, are confronted with a diverse set of peoples, locations and ideologies.1 2 Youth can give us important clues to the images and messages that affect them by simply telling us how they perceive what is around them. Adolescents are bombarded by images and messages from a variety of places, people and media. How they interpret rap music is just one factor that may or may not influence their thoughts and actions. These interpretations must be contextualized in order to gage the salience of the images and messages within rap music. 1 2 See Gaines, 1998. 7 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The intersection of race and gender in the consumption of rap music is more complex than Hold Mv Gold or the larger public discourse depicts and these consumption patterns are elucidated by the academic theories and concepts. The debates in public discourse lack the depth found in rigorous scientific inquiry and therefore, claim a simple causal argument about listening to rap music and ‘bad’ or ‘at-risk’ attitudes and behavior in young people. The public debates are largely unsubstantiated. These public debates about rap song lyrics have led to the creation of the Parent’s Resource Center in 1985 that successfully put warning labels on albums with explicit lyrics. More recently, a conservative news personality, Bill O'Reilly, effectively led a campaign to force Pepsi to drop its ad campaign with rapper, Ludacris, because of his offensive lyrics.1 3 And yet, with all the interest focused on rap music lyrics, less attention is paid within this dominant public discourse to the images in rap videos, particularly the misogynistic images of women. Equally or more importantly, efforts to alleviate the violence and despair in some of our cities across the nation are receiving less attention. Fewer resources are available to address urban violence when concerns and attention shift to these largely ideological debates. Strong theories have emerged from the scientific discourse about the relationship between rap music consumption and effects on an individual’s attitudes and behaviors and even more broadly, about the consumption of popular culture and the meaning of rap music to larger issues and social 1 3 Interestingly, Ludacris was replaced by heavy metal artist, Ozzy Osbourne, who has publicly admitted and used drugs and alcohol. Incidentally, Ozzy is White while Ludacris is Black. 8 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. structure. Less time has been spent on empirically capturing these theories or listening to adolescent voices. The relationship between rap music and ‘bad’ attitudes or actions has not been fully explored, especially regarding how culture is used by young people as they form their attitudes and choose behaviors. What is missing is the dynamic processing that young people undergo when they consume cultural messages such as those found in rap music. Young people consume negative and positive images and messages around them. This consumption gets at the heart of how young people negotiate social life and how consumption patterns and processing differ by gender and by race. Although the focus on adolescence revolves around “storm and stress,” there are many young people who do not engage in at-risk behavior at all or do not continue the behaviors past simple experimentation (Checkoway et al., 2003; Gaines, 1998; Hersch, 1998). Our preoccupation with the impact of rap music on youth attitudes and behaviors is partially explained by structural hierarchies surrounding race, class and gender. Rap music is widely understood to be an African-American musical form and its content is said to originate from conditions in impoverished, high crime, inner-city neighborhoods. The lyrics can be sexist with components that degrade and objectify women. Although magnified, they certainly are not novel images or messages about women (Pough, 2004). Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The largest consumer group of rap music is suburban, White teenagers1 4 . If the demographics shifted and non-White, non-middle class children were the larger group of consumers, it is quite possible that the pitch in public concern would not be as strong. It is not because the effects on lower income, Black/Latina youth are less important or significant but because this society continues to emphasize White superiority and predominance over all others. While it is relevant and prudent to understand the influence of rap music on youth attitudes and behaviors because the images and messages promote values about gender, race and class, the writings on the topic are incomplete. Youths themselves have not yet been involved in explaining their understanding and use of the music. Young people are typically assumed to be a passive audience to negative forces and are not expected to have cognitive ability to make decisions about images and messages as they formulate their thoughts and actions. Not only do we overlook young people’s interpretations regarding their own thoughts and behaviors, we often pass over girls and their experiences altogether. Adolescent girls are almost completely absent in these discussions but there is an implicit assumption that girls’ interest (especially White girls) in a male-identified cultural genre like rap music must either make them victims or sexually promiscuous (Ware, 1992.) There is a gap in our understanding surrounding rap music and its use by the adolescent girls. How adolescent girls use a male-identified cultural genre is important to understand because how they negotiate gender in relationship 1 4 Bryson (1996) estimated that 74% o f rap fans are non-Black. 10 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to rap's images and messages, while being mindful of the other competing or complementary images and messages, can tell us much about the social, and possibly the internal lives of girls. This project seeks to capture the process of consumption and interpretation of rap music by adolescent girls through an approach that considers the complex interweaving of intrinsic and extrinsic factors that occur in an ever changing, dynamic environment we all live in on a daily basis. 11 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE This project aims to understand what adolescent girls “read” (see and hear) rap music and how they “interpret” or assign meaning to what they’ve “read.” A review of the relevant literature from cultural studies to adolescent development provides grounding for the research design. The first half of this chapter highlights predominantly the cultural studies literature that seek to explain the role of culture in individual’s lives, how culture is produced and reproduced within a society and the meaning of culture for societies and for individuals. An understanding of culture’s ‘place’ in society and within individuals’ lives confirms the need to understand how a pervasive, yet controversial aspect of culture, rap/hip hop music, is ‘read’. The literature will also present the importance of exploring how young girls may be affected by aspects of culture, either by exclusion or by stereotypic and ultimately, misogynistic images and messages (texts). The second half of this chapter focuses on factors that fall predominantly in the developmental psychology literature that give insight into the internal processes that have an influence on how adolescent girls consume rap music. Developmental phases during adolescence certainly influence the ways adolescent girls interpret these texts, leading to either acceptance or rejection of the images and messages. The integration of these bodies of literature inform this project by combining internal and external factors that impact consumption of rap and the meaning assigned to it, and help shed light 12 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. on the processes surrounding how adolescent girls negotiate larger culture and social life. Cultural studies is perfectly suited to give a foundation and context in exploring how adolescent girls consume or ‘read’ rap/hip hop music. In fact, the “Circuit of Culture” best illustrates the complexity of consuming culture and it is used as the framework for this project for the external factors (Hall, 1997). According to this model, shared meanings (which are building blocks of culture) are produced through various processes that add and build the meanings within one culture and even, across cultures (see Figure 1). The Process of Consuming Culture Representation Identity Regulation Consumption Production Figure 1. Circuit of Culture (Hall et al., 1997) 13 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The first process of the Circuit of Culture is representation, which consists of symbols that are accepted and understood - given meaning - through language to members of the same culture. Language, meaning and representation allow a culture and its members a basis “to think and feel about the world, and thus, interpret the world in similar ways” (Hall, 1997). The second process within this framework, identity, suggests these ‘meanings’ give us identity. Culture allows us to distinguish difference between individuals or groups and provides individuals the means or symbols to reinforce our identities. Production and consumption (the third and fourth processes within the model) center on the production and reproduction of these symbols. Meaning is reinforced, transferred and produced from person to person. Consumption represents the process by which individuals incorporate cultural symbols and meanings (or alternate meanings) into their lives. Finally, the last process within the Circuit of Culture, regulation, references the ways in which culture polices action and attitudes, maintaining the continuity of social life for both individuals and the culture at large. The images and messages in rap music may or may not influence a youth’s self-understanding and understanding of others in the society’s social structure. This project seeks to explore whether rap music influences adolescent girls’ understandings about social life, individual actions and attitudes and also offers empirical support to Hall's model and its accompanying concepts. Stuart Hall (1997; 1998; 2001) has explored the process of consuming culture and the fundamental process of applying meaning (through language) to 14 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cultural symbols. How is meaning represented through language? Cultural studies sees the representation of ‘things’ in one’s culture as produced or constructed through the interaction between members of the society. Meaning (or the representation of meaning) does not lie in the symbol (e.g., women in a rap video) but within the interaction between symbols, and is therefore, relational. An important aspect of the meaning, according to this perspective, is through comparison of symbols. The detection of significant differences between symbols creates meaning (e.g., women in one’s life or environment versus women in a rap video). Here, meaning is best expressed through difference. For instance, how do images of women (symbols) as represented in rap music give meaning to common understandings of what it is to be a woman compared to a man in this culture? Representation, as explained within this model, suggests a way to understand what adolescent girls see or hear within rap music. A component of representation is the understanding that there is more than one possible meaning attached to a cultural symbol. Cultural studies theorists also insist that within all these meanings, there is one dominant meaning while the others are subverted. For instance, if women are portrayed as promiscuous or ‘possessions’ in rap music, this representation reinforces the dominant reading of the ‘way’ women are in this society, which justifies the manner in which they are viewed and treated. All other meanings for “women” are subverted. This reading reinforces women’s place in the current social structure and justifies the gender hierarchy. However, these readings are filtered through the interpretation of individuals. In fact, 15 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “interpretation becomes an essential aspect of the process . . . the reader is as important as the writer in the production of meaning” (Hall, 1997, 33). The interpretation of symbols within culture is especially relevant to this project. If meaning ‘slides’ as Hall suggested, it is important to note which ‘representations’ of women in rap/hip hop music are recognized by adolescent girls. Do adolescent girls ‘read’ meaning outside of the dominant readings or accept the dominant one? The cultural studies literature suggests compelling and provocative insights into the place of culture in individuals’ lives. The interest lies in how different peoples are represented. Stuart Hall (1997) suggested race, class and gender are often expressed through binary opposites to understand those that are not ‘us’ (e.g., White/Black; rich/poor; male/female). We cannot really know ourselves unless we know who we are not (e.g., not Black; not poor; not female). Through the recognition of these opposites, the “Spectacle of the Other” is produced and meaning is made (Hall, 1997). According to Lott (1993), there is a “fascination and fear” with the ‘Other’, particularly the Black male ‘Other’. This ‘fascination and fear’ contributes to the popularity of highly commodified Black cultural forms (e.g., rap music) within the dominant culture.1 5 These meanings are reinforced across various texts “where one image refers to another, or has its meaning altered by being ‘read’ in the context of other images . . . (or)... intertextuality” (Hall, 1997,232). Order (or for societies, hierarchies) is made through the understanding 1 5 Lott used the term, hybridization, for this occurrence. He is not the first to discuss the hybridization o f the cultural icons or symbols of a dominated group. He pulled inspiration from works by Homi Bhabha (1990). 16 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of different values placed on these opposites because these opposites are not equal. One side of the binary is usually seen as positive (e.g., male), while the other is seen as having a negative value (e.g., female). Understanding how images and messages of women within rap music relate to images of men or to other images of women, provides important cues about the relevance and influence of popular culture in individuals’ attitudes and actions. Certainly, rap music has elements that reinforce hierarchies based on difference (racial, gender and class-based) but what is still unclear is how individuals (specifically, young people) ‘read’ these hierarchies within rap and how they apply these readings to the world around them. The debate about rap music is expressed as a concern for adolescent well being, but is the core discussion really about difference (male/female; White/Black; rich/poor difference)? It can be argued that the concern is more about the legacy of this society’s immersion in racial, classed and gendered hierarchies and ideology than about the virtues or faults of rap music. The continued reliance of stereotypic images of Black male youth and their approach to women, money and power as status markers produced within the rap genre highlights the negative meanings attributed to raced and gendered communities, which justifies alienation based on difference instead of integration and recognition of similarities. The question becomes whether adolescent girls attribute the negative meanings such as the representation of what it is to be Black or to be male to Black males they encounter 17 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in their social lives, and whether these meanings produce the justification to continue to alienate and disassociate as separate communities. Ultimately, representation is the convergence of three processes - physical and tangible ‘things’ (e.g., people, situations, circumstances), the conceptual aspects of these ‘things’ (e.g., images in our heads) and the symbols or ‘signs’ that allow us to ‘communicate these concepts’ (Hall, 1997, 61). Certainly, as Du Gray (1997) has illustrated through a case study of the Sony Walkman, cultural symbols or items can be constructed to represent ‘youth culture’. Thus, the application of cultural studies to the representation and use of rap culture in the lives of young people seems useful. Although compelling in scope and useful in theory, much of cultural studies are theoretical in nature and its methodology is often textual and/or narrative analysis (Wolff, 1999). What very few of them do, however, is move past the text to explore individuals' reading to form meaning or, in other words, to test how meaning is made and used. For instance, how does a text suggest a dominant or ‘preferred’ meaning? If “representation is a key site in such struggle, since the power of definition is a major source of hegemony,” how does the struggle occur (Gledhill, 1997, 348)? Cultural studies theorists provide the conceptually appealing mechanisms that produce meaning but never actually empirically test them. For instance, the process of representation requires both decoding and encoding the text. The interpretation of texts lies within the “reading competence . . . (or)... the learned interpretative frameworks and reading skills employed by 18 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. different social groups or ‘readerships’ to decode signs and representation” (Gledhill, 1997, 375). This project proposes to apply other research methodology to capture empirically how meaning is made or how it informs identity. In addition, by using these understandings and representations as a springboard, this project moves further into an understudied area within cultural studies - active agency and interpersonal (re)production of culture (Hall, 1997). Departing from the interpretation or reading of texts, this project explores the dynamic process of aesthetics and understanding of style, attitudes and actions in youth as they form their identities and it seeks to explore the uses of these texts (Bourdieu, 1984; du Gray, 1997). This project attempts to bridge cultural studies to other disciplines by applying sociological and psychological principles to an analysis of and empirical support for both the concepts and theories within the discipline and Stuart Hall's “Circuit of Culture.”1 6 British Cultural Studies have often been criticized for focusing too much on class and not including issues of race and gender (Bettie, 2003; McRobbie, 1990). For instance, Paul Willis’ classic work, Learning to Labor, demonstrated how class could be replicated across generations through culture. Race and gender were “not seen to be central as class struggle” (Bettie, 2003, 39). Literatures on youth culture and influence on attitudes and actions have seldom incorporated all three aspects 1 6 Janet W olff (1999) discussed the chasm between cultural studies and sociology. Through this analysis, she points to the ways that interdisciplinary study (sociology and cultural studies) of culture. In the spirit o f W olffs points, the integration o f cultural studies with other social science disciplines seems useful as well to be able to incorporate the strengths of each discipline (leading to a rich look at social life. 19 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (race, class and gender) without preferring one over the others. However, promising developments within the literature on girl culture suggest it can be done (Bettie, 2003).1 7 Focusing specifically on adolescent girls, cultural studies do contain a subdiscipline on girl culture that originally began as a critique of traditional cultural studies. Early girl culture scholar, Angela McRobbie, charged cultural studies with having a male-centered focus and orientation. For McRobbie (1990), girl culture is separate from boy culture and ultimately, reproduces traditional femininity. She illustrated gendered differences in experiencing and consuming culture by finding that girl culture occurs at home in private. She suggested that girls experience culture ‘in public’ as girlfriends or along the periphery of boy culture.1 8 Another girl culture theorist, Kearney (1998) refined McRobbie’s ideas by pointing out that marginalization of girls from the public sphere (or male-centered culture) produced the rise of a private, girl culture. Understanding how girls negotiate public male- centered culture can help us to see where girls fit themselves into it. It is also noteworthy to remember the devalued status of the realm of the private sphere where girl culture resides. Rap music is a male-dominated enterprise. By exploring how young girls experience rap music, read its texts, and make meaning, 1 7 Vron Ware (1992) pointed to the intersection of race and gender when discussing domination over subordinate groups. In fact, Ware did so without preferencing one over the other. 1 8 In fact, she shared this with Simon Frith (who she initially reacts against in her early research) as Kearney (1998) & Driscoll (2002) pointed out. Girl culture is seen by both McRobbie and Frith as in the private sphere or the ‘bedroom’ as Frith stated in Sound Effects (1981). 20 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. we begin to truly delve into the unexplored areas of cultural studies literature (e.g., active agency). Rap music is a male-dominated enterprise. By exploring how young girls experience rap music, read its texts and make meaning, we begin to truly delve into the unexplored areas of cultural studies literature (e.g., active agency). Scholars suggest research on gender has the “problem of myth and reality” (Ortner & Whithead, 10). Gender studies can be divided into two categories of inquiry. One category focus is on lived experience of gender (the ‘reality’ category), while the other category focuses on the representation of gender in culture and society (the ‘myth’ category). Each category contains a cadre of researchers opposed to the integration of both categories. This project bridges ‘myth’ and ‘reality’ together to explore how adolescent girls ‘read’ a popular and pervasive form of culture (rap music) and make sense of it in their understanding of self and of others. One Foucaultian concept used by cultural studies theorists that makes sense to apply to this project is the subject-position, which is defined as: individuals may differ as to their social class; gendered, racial... characteristics . . . but they will not be able to take meaning until they have identified with those positions which the discourse constructs, subjected themselves to its power/knowledge (Hall, 1997, 56). The attempt to explore reception of the meaning(s) derived from gendered and racial aspects of rap music makes the idea of the subject-position or the adoption of a subject-position by these girls a key concept to utilize and explore. In 21 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. addition, girls have “multiple and contradictory subjectivities” (Kearney, 1999) and thus it also seems prudent to accept the possibility that these girls (and actually all people) may have conflicting ‘subject-positions’ much in the same way as they may gather different ‘meanings’ in different situations or even over different times in their lives. Kenny (2000) discussed how the girls she observed became ‘cultured’ beings, taking on the designated roles and practices for their social position (subject-position). In fact, her concept of ‘insider-Other’ represents the place of girls within this culture and complements the notion of subject-position. “Girls occupy an ambivalent and at times, contradictory position and in relation to the norm . . . (and)... are figures who are both insiders and outsiders” (2000, 3). This concept seems useful to this project for not only how girls are placed in general mainstream society but also may account for how they place themselves within rap music. What is the subject-position of these girls as they ‘read’ rap music? Are they ‘insider-Others’ when they view these images and messages and if so, how do girls make sense of this position? These questions form the basis for the research project. Age and Gender Implications for the Study of Culture The key to answering these questions is to determine how individuals negotiate their various subject-positions and if possible, to determine what affects the acceptance or rejection of subject-positions or meanings of a cultural text (in this case, a rap song). Brown and Gilligan (1991) illustrated that girls often “dumb 22 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. down” their intelligence before their male peers at school. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to withdraw and ‘self-silence’ (Ward, 2000). How do adolescent girls make sense of contradicting images of and messages regarding women within rap music if they compare these images and messages to their own lives or those around them? With the changes in cognition associated with adolescent development, how do adolescent girls interpret and identify with their subject-position and reject others? What factors influence these interpretations? This project will explore how interpretations occur within adolescent girls and how the competing meanings get processed leading to acceptance or rejection of the images and messages. Adolescence is seen as a time of angst (‘storm and stress’) for youth, their parents and for society as they begin to mature out of childhood. Adolescence is especially noted for the importance in personality formation and often the time we see young people engage in at-risk behaviors including violence. The behaviors at this time in young people’s lives can have implications for adulthood. There are roughly 42,000,000 adolescents (10-19 years of age) in the United States, with 6,000,000 in California alone (Berglas et al., 2003). With 42,000,000 young people living in a society that denies any active participation and agency in the meaning they make of their lives and the symbols that represent their lifestyles, there are often inaccuracies in the way we perceive young people’s lifestyles. The representations about youth behavior are usually not rooted within any concrete research and are often over-exaggerations of the facts. 23 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For example, there is a cultural assumption that youth involved in a youth culture (punk, Goth or rap) will automatically reject and disengage from “mainstream culture” (especially the cultural expectations of their parents). But recent scholarship suggests quite the opposite. Youth can listen to Marilyn Manson and/or OutKast and still go to church on Sunday, get good grades and volunteer to serve meals to the homeless (Gaines, 1998; Hersch, 1998).1 9 Patricia Hersch (1998) provided an excellent exploration of youth as they negotiate the varying stages of adolescence and maturity. Hersch’s portrayal of these youth illustrated the complexity of their lives and their decisions regarding how they live their lives. Their decision-making processes are dynamic and illustrate good and bad decisions, normal and ‘deviant’ behaviors. The result is, according to Giroux, “American society at present exudes both a deep-rooted hostility and chilling indifference toward youth, reinforcing the dismal conditions under which young people increasingly are living” (1997, 37). Many scholars (Theodor Adorno, Guy Debord among others) argue that youth culture is nothing more than a commodity because it “continues to represent itself in terms of the products it buys” (Lewis, 1992, 4). Some suggest that children • • 20 represent $175 billion dollars through their consumption of products and services. In an increasingly materialistic society, children stand at the apex of the industry. There is a cruel duality represented here. Paradoxically, children are actively 1 9 Walkerdine (1997) made a similar argument for girls specifically. 2 0 Whitman, D. (2005). “The Next Great Generation?” U.S. World & News Report: Mysteries of the Teen Years. 24 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. targeted to consume products that they are often criticized for having or wanting (e.g., McDonald’s Big Mac or Sony Play Station). Images of adolescents in our o t society are both innocent and threatening. Fine and Mechling (1991) argued that children are often viewed in contradictory ways and in particular, contend that children are both isolated and included in adult society. These contradictions lead to a reality for children that are both confusing and exasperating as they try to 00 develop their sense of themselves and their places in society. Does this picture change when the focus is specifically on adolescent girls? What does life look like for our society’s adolescent girls? How do the previous discussions about rap music and society’s depiction and reaction to young people affect girls specifically? In 2003, there were roughly 4 million girls in the age 0 '3 range of the girls in this project, ages 13-14. Of the 4 million girls, roughly 33,000 had been assaulted, with about 7,200 of those assaults being sexual. Both White and Black girls, by and large, are victims of these assaults.2 4 Thirteen thousand girls in this age range tried to commit suicide during 2003 with 50% of the girls being White. According the National Council for the Research on Women, girls are two times more likely to be depressed than boys. Ninety percent 2 1 See Giroux (2001). 2 2 We can trace some o f these contradictions to the scholarship in both sociology and psychology during the 1960s. See Griffin (1993) for a sound discussion of the scholarship on youth in both the United States and Great Britain. 2 3 Statistics obtained from National Electronic Injury Surveillance System through the CDC’s WISQUARS. 2 4 These numbers must be reviewed with the reminder that there are more White girls in the population than Black girls. So even though their numbers are similar, one could suggest that given the total population of Black girls in this age bracket in the population, they are overrepresented as victims o f assault. 25 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of all eating disorders affect young women; and girls have a much higher chance of becoming victims of violence than boys (Phillips, 1998). Between 11 and 42% of adolescents 10-19 have been victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) (Hyman, 1999). Although both boys and girls can experience IPV, girls are disportionately victimized compared to boys. One-third of all 9th grade girls have reported that they are sexually active, with 6.6% having sex before they were 13 years of age (Berglas et al., 2003). This marks an increase in the number of girls having sex at an early age. Studies have shown that young girls are less likely to use contraception, which leads to increased risk for teenage pregnancy, HIV and STDs. One in ten U.S. adolescent girls becomes pregnant each year, with California having the highest ratio of teen pregnancies each year among the states (Berglas et al., 2003). Despite these disturbing trends that affect our adolescent girls, their experience are underrepresented in both research and policy (Philips, 1998). This omission has been noted by many feminist scholars and many have devoted their work to rectifying this omission. From cultural studies (Angela McRobbie and Lorraine Kenny) to psychology (Carol Gilligan), girls’ relationships to and with culture are beginning to be explored. Research has shown that girls engage in popular, youth culture in dynamic and diverse ways. Girls actively engage in youth culture (Kenny, 2000; Rose, 1994) or experience a subcategory of larger youth culture (Andes, 1999; Gaines, 1998). Adolescent girls are also seen to manufacture their own youth culture (Frith, 1981; McRobbie, 1990) and some even believe that 26 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. girls do not engage in youth culture at all (Kotarba & Wells, 1997). It is possible that girls engage in youth culture in some or all of these scenarios at different times and situations. Additionally, young women have become the subject of many popular books of late portraying girls in unflattering ways. “Odd Girl Out” and “Queen Bees and Wannabes” are examples of books that suggest that adolescent girls are mean and manipulative towards other girls (Simmons, 2003; Wiseman, 2002). The Queen Bee is decidedly White and not a girl of color, which is surprising since girls of color are often isolated as the ‘problems’. It is unfortunate that these portrayals deflect attention from the actual lived experience of adolescent girls. The girls’ experiences are usually tackled in both academic and popular work in discrete ways (e.g., White or non-White; rich or poor; popular or nerd). The lives for girls from a variety of backgrounds (including race and class) and interests (e.g., style, dress and music) as they interact with each other, how they negotiate their differences and similarities, and that they do share common bonds are rarely tackled in the literature. Knowing how rap music (with its entertainers) occupies a certain place in society and in the lives of young people gives the analysis of what the girls are seeing and interpreting context and weight. Knowing the larger ‘reality’ for adolescent girls in this society and how they are (re)presented offers an understanding for how they might interpret behavioral expectations for young girls like themselves and how these expectations may influence the ways they read the messages and images within rap music. 27 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Although characterized in the news media, social work and early psychology as a period of ‘storm and stress’, there is little support for 'turbulent' adolescence (Checkoway et al., 2003; Lemer & Galambos, 1998). In fact, "the social science construction of youth as pathology is so prevalent that it has become its own subject of study" (Checkoway et al., 2003,299). Checkoway and colleagues suggested approaching adolescents as ‘competent citizens’ or ‘resources’ in a variety of arena from community mobilization and changing to understanding the issues that impact adolescents (Checkoway et al., 2003; Finn & Checkoway, 1998). A very useful chronicle about youth (particularly those in the suburbs), Teenage Wasteland, provides a model for viewing youth with the focus squarely on the youth’s perspective (Gaines, 1998). Gaines’ suburban youth contrast from the original and simplistic view of the middle suburbs and adolescence. The youth of the suburbs do not all look alike nor do they share the same experience and face the same issues. Gaines' youth deal with competing subject-positions and measure themselves against the mythological suburban-middle class subject-position. These youth experience anxiety as they make sense of where they ‘fit’ in as they negotiate these competing places they occupy (Gaines, 1998). Gaines does not, however, explore how race, class or gender impact the level of anxiety experienced by adolescents as they measure up to these ideals. “When people focus on others’ needs and deficiencies, it can de-emphasize their assets and strengths, weaken their ability to help themselves, and empower the professionals who serve them.” 28 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (Checkoway et al., 2003, 300). If given the opportunity, young people can be agents of change and with the proper resources can assist in empowering a community (Checkoway et al., 2003). Media plays some role in the socializing of individuals to understand their social positions, serving as a measuring rod to compare to their personal lives. For example, Lynn Spiegel (2001) illustrated the use of television to maintain the image of the middle class suburb as a desired marker, especially as a place to raise children. Her analysis situated these images and values as the measuring rod regarding race/ethnicity and class in the United States. To Spiegel (2001), these television images are critiques against non-White, lower class and urban family life. Spiegel (2001) found that young women measure the successes of themselves, their generation and other women in society based on the images of women and women’s history found in the popular family shows of the 1950s. With Spiegel’s examples, media is a powerful influence on ideals and the interpretation regarding quality of life and perceived happiness for young people. Spiegel (2001) also touched on the occurrence of heightened concern regarding youths’ media exposure. According to Spiegel, there is an assumption of presumed ‘innocence’ of children, which naturally leads to the need to control their media consumption but this is without an understanding for how youth use media, its overall effects (both long and short term) on attitudes, behaviors and a sense of self. The complexity surrounding adolescent life has only been analyzed superficially without true insight into the mechanisms within youth’s decision- 29 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. making process. While one must be careful about how much weight or emphasis is placed on the role of media on attitudes and behavior, the effects of a pervasive aspect of culture like rap music should be explored. If rap music provides another type of measuring rod, especially as it relates to depictions of women, it is imperative to see how adolescent girls view these images and messages. How do they process and interpret these images and messages and what meaning do they hold? Rap Music as a Cultural Symbol An understanding of the place of rap music in popular culture or as popular culture, especially what rap can mean to adolescents, is an important aspect to discuss as it relates to this project. Over the past twenty years, rap music has become a solid and pervasive aspect of this society. Depending on the perspective you take, rap music has been transformed into a youth culture, a social movement, a representation of amoral behavior and attitudes, or mediated fabrication. Rap music offers to young people an act of rebellion, a glimpse into experiences unknown to them and an understanding of ‘difference’ (both positive and negative) between people (Giroux, 2001; Kelley, 1996; Rose, 1994.) Although it is mostly identified as a Black musical form, many of the origins of rap can also be found within the Puerto Rican barrios of New York City (Flores, 1994).2 5 Rap’s emergence during the late sixties and early seventies began 2 5 Flores (1994) provided a nice discussion o f this missing piece ofrap’s history. 30 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in the Bronx with DJ Kool Here and the B-boys (or breakdancers) and its trajectory can be followed from the first ‘scratch’2 6 to mix tapes and sampling. All of these events led to the first recorded mainstream release, “Rapper’s Delight” in 1979 (Ogg, 2001). Rapper’s Delight’s success led to Kurtis Blow’s 1980 hit, “The Breaks” which garnered wide recognition for the emerging musical genre. With the release of the early 1980s song, “The Message,” rap moved “downtown” or resonated outside of the Black/Puerto Rican community as it began its crossover appeal (Ogg, 2001). This “move downtown” was solidified by Run-DMC and their release of 1986 hit, “Walk This Way” with the rock band, Aerosmith. From that time, the appeal of rap music to all racial groups has grown exponentially. During roughly the same timeframe, an emerging network of music entitled MTV was gaining popularity among young people. The music video as a genre was constructed through the network. Although an important aspect of rap music today, music videos during the early to mid-eighties were defined by MTV as predominantly ‘rock’ videos, featuring White bands playing for predominantly White audience (Mittel, 2001). The exclusion of Black artists on MTV remained until the success of Black pop singer, Michael Jackson, and his album, “Thriller” (Mittel, 2001). Arguably, the music videos of today have become associated with Black rap artists, reflecting a change in the representation of music video genre. The combination of these events in this short history of rap music allows for an understanding for how rap music grew to occupy its current place in culture. 2 6 A “scratch” is when you move the record back and forth when it is playing. 31 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There is much discussion and criticism leveled at White interest in Black culture, especially White performers who adopt a Black aesthetic. For instance, White performers often get more mainstream recognition, are more popular, become more palatable and are more monetarily successful. One need look no further than the ‘King’ of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley, and the wildly popular, ever ‘controversial’ rapper and Oscar winner, Eminem, to find some truth in these criticisms. Tricia Rose has suggested that “given the racially discriminatory context within which cultural syncretism takes place . . . White participation . . . (is)... a process of dilution and subsequent theft of Black culture” (1994, 5). On the negative side in the identification of rap as a Black cultural form, the elements of rap/hip hop that were seen as bad, immoral, dangerous or threatening were often on depicted as ‘authentic’ Black image and message. The argument holds true when media spotlights its ‘rap’ focus on tragedies such as the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. (killed within a year of each other), countless arrests on gun charges, or worse by rappers such as P. Diddy, C Murder (serving a prison sentence) and Snoop Dogg. Of course, the early campaign to post warning labels on rap records that had offensive lyrics have served to reify the negative and detrimental stereotypes that continue to alienate and suppress Black communities. The elements that make rap popular with all audiences include components of rap as a musical genre, as a cultural commodity and as a youth culture. 2 7 See also Bemard-Donals (1994) for a synopsis of relevant thought in this area. Stanley Crouch (1995) also provided an interesting analysis as well. For a comprehensive analysis o f racism in the media discourse, see van Dijk (1993). 32 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Certainly, part of the allure of rap may be the interpretation by teens that rappers are ‘cool’ or at least, project ‘coolness’. An edition of Newsweek listed that 75% of teenagers thought that playing their music loudly while driving was cool. Seventy- three percent of them blared rap music.2 8 Being cool, street smarts, masculinity and sexuality are elements of rap and offer status to those who can imitate the moves, language and dress. In addition, the accessibility of rap, particularly the media’s sensationalistic portrayals of rap artists and their lives, has magnified the interest of White audience, particularly youth. For example, September 1996 stands out as an important time in the evolution of the genre’s popularity. In September 1996, rapper-movie star, Tupac Shakur, was mortally shot in Las Vegas. Just months prior to his death, Tupac’s new album was released. The combination of events led to Tupac’s record sales going sky high and the largest consuming demographic was White suburban youth (Staples, 1996). Incidentally, ten years later, new Tupac records hit the stores on a yearly basis. Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. posthumously have become icons for rap culture in both positive (skills) and negative (glorifying violence) ways that last to this day. The popular stars in 2004/2005 include White rapper and Academy Award winner Eminem and his protege, Black rapper and ex-drug dealer, 50-cent (a.k.a. Curtis Jackson). Rap artists occupy and in most cases, dominant the Billboard charts, MTV’s TRL and space in popular magazines including teen-oriented magazines such as J-14 and Teen People. Two rap stars/moguls (Jay Z and Russell 2 8 Newsweek, January 5, 2004,25 (no source cited). 33 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Simmons) were named one of the top 100 influential people in 2005 by Time magazine. Rap music and rappers market a variety of items from fast food (McDonalds, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken), to soft drinks (Sprite, Pepsi and Coca Cola) and technology (Sony PSP and Boost Mobile’s cell phone). In addition, products are placed in videos on a regular basis and rappers are even paid to mention various products in the actual lyrics of rap songs themselves (e.g., Busta Rhymes’ “Pass the Courvoisier”). Rap’s attractiveness and popularity has also spawned rappers branching out into other business arenas with new products like Pimp Juice (a drink) marketed by rapper Nelly and Pit Bull energy drinks and bars, distributed through RocaWear (owned by retired rapper, Jay-Z). Other ventures and products from clothes (RocaWear, Sean John and Apple Bottom) to alcoholic drinks (Annandale Vodka) have become lucrative for these artists. Rap Artists and Their Status in Society: The Case of 50-cent In order to portray the rap scene as adolescents experience it during the time of this project, the choice of the rap video was extremely important. Surveying the current rap landscape there is no denying the impact and popularity of rapper, 50- cent. Using 50-cent as a loci in the project’s discussion on the impact of rap in lives of adolescent girls, especially how they interpret rap music and video, makes intuitive sense when you consider that his first album, Get Rich or Die Trvin. was bought by three million people in one month alone and that his popularity has been compared to the Beatles, the only other group to accomplish having four Top 10 34 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 9 0 hits at one time on the charts. His popularity has grown exponentially with his foray into other business ventures, including a record label (featuring his group, G- Unit), acting (an upcoming film based on his life by My Left Foot director, Jim Sheridan,) a clothing line, and a sport drink. 50-cent’s story and image is portrayed in each interview he does (both print and video) and the content of his story mirrors some of the negative aspects associated with and criticized in rap music. He is one of the only few “mainstream” rappers that continues to use “gangsta” imagery such as guns, drugs, violence and death. Born to a notorious, female drug dealer in Queens and raised by grandparents after her brutal death when Curtis Jackson was 8 years of age, 50- cent’s life reads like the poster child for ‘gangsta’ rap. He raps about his life that includes aspects of his publicized past such as drug dealing at an early age (12), incarceration in maximum security prison, being shot nine times and earning over $150,000 a month operating drug houses in Queens. He acknowledges a current contract out on his life as a result of his drug dealing past and, periodically, he is in the news because of botched efforts to fulfill this contract on his life. Although the location is different, the outcome is the same: Guns are fired leading to some type of gunshot injury. 50-cent is also in the news for public airings of “beefs” with other rappers such as Ja Rule and former G-Unit act, The Game. These public airings often result in gun use and injury. Exasperating to his critics and exciting and maybe even inspiring for his fans, 50-cent proclaims that he is not remorseful 2 9 Hughes (2003). 35 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for his past and often comments that these were the only options available to young Black men like him in poor communities.3 0 This story is repeatedly presented (in his albums, lyrics, interviews, photo shoots, etc) and he has produced a following of Black and White fans and male and female fans. Also mentioned in these representations of 50-cent to the public is commentary on his physical appeal to women, often alluding to his physique, one that he developed while incarcerated. He is adamant in his wish to remain single, enjoying the company of many women (including actresses Vivica Fox, Lindsey Lohan and pop singer, Brandy). His lyrics illustrate his wish to remain single as well as some contradictory lyrics suggesting that for the right girl he might be willing to change and settle down. 50-cent represents the enduring and common fantasy that is so prevalent in many young women’s ideas of romance and attraction - the bad boy who turns into a gentleman in love with that one special girl. Recently, 50-cent was signed by Reebok (who also manufactures G-Unit tennis shoes) to participate in their largest global campaign entitled I am what I am. The campaign’s focus is on the individuality of noted athletes and entertainers including 50-cent, Jay-Z, Allen Iverson and Andy Roddick. The idea is to illustrate the raw nature of and truth about these effervescent personalities to their fans, suggesting that individuality is important for all. Interestingly, the irony of an ad campaign focused on individuality to sell tennis shoes that, in essence, will produce 3 0 Hughes (2003). 36 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. millions wearing the same shoes - the antithesis of individuality - may be completely lost to the general public. Many of these “personalities” have been portrayed in our media as arrogant and ‘bad.’ 50-cent’s print and television ads for this campaign have caused controversy in England because anti-gun organizations cite that the ads promote gun violence. Under this pressure, Reebok has pulled the ads in England. 50-cent represents many of the negative aspects associated with rap in our society. His story and popularity are appropriate for a study on the impact of rap on young people. Rap music, although pervasive and popular among adolescents, is just one of the influences on young people and only one aspect of their lives in this society. In order to understand the influence of rap music in young people’s lives, the actual lived experience for young people bears heavily on this discussion. The combination of factors will give us the context for understanding what young people see and feel about the lyrics and images in rap. Public Discourse on Rap Music When Black music was taken outside of the Black community, its messages, although still present, were diluted by the commercial interests of corporate conglomerates and therefore, so were its ability to provoke opinion, and voice dissent and distaste for inequality. To discuss rap as rebellion and commodity is to discuss how reality and mediated experience are connected and tied to culture as commodity. Corporate conglomerates own the music and often 37 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. venues that capitalize on the use of music and other forms of art to sell products or services. Corporate control does have an impact these messages, those that receive them and the enduring legacy of the ideology behind rap. This control “(eliminates or appropriates). . . alternatives” and in this specific case, makes the alternative part of the mainstream (Fairchild, 1996, 659). To confound and complicate this issue further, the role of culture (music) as commodity serves another function - it unifies people. “In a fragmented society in which major institutions like the church and the community no longer bring people together, owning identical possessions becomes one of the chief ways we overcome our isolation” (Harris, 1999, 49). Rap is a site of rebellion, especially for adolescents as they come to understand themselves and the society around them. It is also a commodity as a way to sell products and produce a form of solidarity. Rap as rebellion and as commodity both divides and unites. However, we are still left without an understanding of how youth actually consume, reproduce and rearticulate cultural messages and images. “Culture and commodity become indistinguishable and social identities are shaped almost exclusively within the ideology of consumerism” (Giroux, 2001, 68). The discourse and criticism surrounding the effects of rap/music are directed at how children (especially middle class, White and female) are influenced by music (Kelley, 1996; Rose, 1994), given that adolescents listen to music, on average, about 40 hours a week (Klein et al., 1993). Music can represent actual lived experience, and/or fantasy for those who listen. How these representations 38 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. will be read by individuals is dependent on their identification with a certain subject-position and how this position relates to the narrative within the music. This project attempts to empirically capture the ways adolescent girls read music. “Music seems to be a key to identity because it offers, so intensely, a sense of both self and others, to the subjective in the collective” (Frith, 1998, 110); yet, the dynamic processes suggested here have not been captured empirically. Krims (2001) bridged identity formation and rap music specifically, by dissecting the ‘poetics’ of the genre. For Krims, rap produces ‘cultural’ identity tied to race and geography through the mechanics and structure of the music itself. Krims’ work is one of the sole pieces of scholarship to examine the aesthetics and properties of music itself to uncover the mechanisms that people employ to use the music to represent their identity. What Krims did not do is incorporate the internal processes that influence the adoption of music to represent identity. In addition, Strouse, Buerkel-Rothfuss and Long (1995) discovered that music (in particular, music videos) have different uses depending on gender of the viewer. For instance, young girls are more interested in lyrics and believed music to be an important aspect of their lives (Strouse, Buerkel-Rothfuss, & Long, 1995). The uses of music as it relates to a person’s subject-position(s) are an important piece in understanding the role of culture in people’s lives and also shed light on what girls may ‘read’ in rap music, particularly as it relates to gender - both for them individually and for the structure of society. 39 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The final concept used by Stuart Hall in his discussion about the consumption of culture that is pertinent to this discussion is the system of encoding/decoding (Hall, 2001). Any reading of rap music is likely a result of negotiation between the produced implicit messages within the text itself (encoding) and the person reading or receiving the text (decoding). This negotiation is dynamic and often results in “selective perception”, where an individual takes from cultural symbols what is most salient.3 1 Many factors can influence how and what becomes salient (from gender or class, to personality type or demeanor). Little is known about the process of decoding of rap music by youth (especially young women) because much of the discourse on rap music is speculative or theoretical in nature (Kelley, 1996; Rose, 1994). Despite the lack of empirical evidence on what is really being read by youth and how they use it to make sense of their position in relationship to others, concerns surrounding the use of content within rap/hip hop music prevail. Once adolescent girls ‘read’ images and messages within rap music, they interpret them, formulate opinions, accept/reject the messages and/or images and most importantly, position themselves in relationship to these messages and/or images. Through this dynamic process, aspects of their own identities are formed, reinforced or rejected. We also know that there are factors that will influence this process. The latter part of this chapter will discuss these factors to better understand what adolescent girls think about the images and messages in rap/hip 3 1 See Hall (2001) for more on the process of encoding/decoding. 40 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. hop music and how that affects their notions of themselves and their understanding of the society around them. Is rap music a mechanism to facilitate, hinder or contuse these understandings? What influence does rap music have on these understandings and how do an individual's intrinsic factors interact with the images and messages in rap music? Psychological Theories to Understand Processing of Cultural Symbols Understanding how and what may influence attitudes and actions require a review of how external and internal forces influence interpretative processes. This project focus on interpretation and what may influence interpretation. The study of adolescence in psychology began roughly after the creation of the concept of childhood and adolescence as ‘places’ in an individual's life course (Corsaro, 2004). Lemer et al. (2004) charted three phases of research on adolescence from the early 20th century to present day. The first phase (which ended in the 1970s) was characterized by grand theories about adolescent development and is defined by the work of Erikson, Piaget and Freud. These theories were descriptive and atheoretical in nature (Lemer et al., 2004). The second phase grew out of a reaction to these grand theories that largely operated in isolation without engaging with how adolescent development affected later stages of development and life, and without consideration for external factors on development during this stage. This phase, which is still active today, is characterized by hypothesis-testing and empirical study, while applying the findings to real life experience for individuals (Lemer et 41 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. al., 2004). The final stage, according to Lemer et al. (2004), is beginning to take shape currently. This stage of research on adolescence focuses on the ability to take scientific findings by practitioners and policy makers to change society (Lemer et al., 2004.) This brief history sets the tone for the remaining discussion of the relevant psychological literature and also, for the rationale behind this project's goals - particularly, those goals that seek to bring the adolescent ‘voice’ to the forefront and the ability to apply the findings to real world youth experience. The state of the field is a product of its history and the following concepts, many of which hold a robust legacy in psychology. This body of work still informs us about the relationship between thought and action and the mechanisms that impact this relationship. There are several psychological theories and concepts that can provide insight into how adolescents process cultural images and messages, especially how these images and messages may influence thought and action. Leon Festinger’s classic theory, cognitive dissonance, gave a perspective for how contradictions between thought and action may operate within an individual (Festinger, 1957). For Festinger (1957), dissonance is felt by individuals when their attitudes and actions differ. Individuals seek to relieve this dissonance in a variety of ways, including changing attitudes to align with their behaviors as well as the opposite. This provides an orientation to understanding how attitudes and behavior are related. 42 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Over fifty years later, cognitive dissonance remains an important theory in the study of cognition and the field of psychology. The modem interpretations and modifications of cognitive dissonance seek to refine the understanding for how the relationship between attitude and action is formed, reformed, and how tension is relieved. For instance, Matz and Wood (2005) highlight modem cognitive dissonance theories that evaluate this relationship, especially regarding what triggers the dissonance. They point to two triggers - internal processes or social norms. Although these theorists suggest both internal and external processes influence attitudes and actions, they do not suggest that both of these processes can occur at the same time. What is missing is the messiness or the complexity inherent in real world experience, where a competing barrage of information surrounds individuals. How individuals receive this information and how attitudes are formed and actions are chosen based on a multiplicity of sources will give a better understanding for how dissonance is triggers and how it is reduced. Adolescent girls (and all individuals for that matter) negotiate a variety of external and internal factors as they form their thoughts and choose their actions. How adolescent girls interpret these factors, how the factors influence thought, action and create and reduce dissonance, are important aspects of adolescent life to uncover. This knowledge provides grounding for interventions and understanding of the lives of young people, girls in particular. Oxoby (2003), like Matz and Wood, discussed another modem incarnation of cognitive dissonance theory as well that focus specifically on the external 43 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. processes that create tensions between one’s thought and action. For Oxoby (2003), the focus was on how individuals will change their attitudes in order to receive perceived external status in their environment and among their peers. If actions are in conflict as well with the desire to be considered ‘good’ or achieve perceived status, the actions will be changed also. Thus, for Oxoby (2003), modem dissonance theories incorporate perceived positive social status into the understanding for how internal tensions are created within an individual that are largely perceptions of external judgments about an individual’s thoughts and actions. Adolescence marks a point in one’s life where external perceptions are extremely important. The perception of one’s peers (both real and imagined) may contribute to dissonance in young people and all factors may have a hand in both dissonance and relief from dissonance. This project seeks to explore how peers and the perception of one’s peers towards both thought and action will actually affect the level of dissonance experienced. Aronson (1997), one of the major figures in the area of cognitive dissonance, pointed to ways that dissonance is avoided to retain the centrality of one's self-concept. Specifically, Aronson (1997) stated that individuals seek to preserve three “senses of self:” (1) the stable sense of self is sought when the individual does something out of the ordinary; (2) the competent sense of the self is sought when the individual does something that suggests faulty decision-making against common sense; and (3) the moral sense of self highlights the tension when a person does something amoral for their own (and society’s) norms. This nuance 44 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to cognitive dissonance, along with the other modem elaborations of the original theory, gives this project a ground for how to interpret or explore adolescent girls’ interpretations of media images and messages. Specifically, cognitive dissonance illustrates how an individual can take in cultural images and messages along with their perceptions of expectations for thought and action and process their relationship or reaction to these images and messages. In addition, how other internal and external factors contribute to these relationships and how adolescent girls' negotiate contradictions or relieve dissonance are fundamental to understanding their consumption of rap music imagery and messages. The gender, racial and even, cultural elements of how these factors are interpreted as well as how dissonance is relieved will be highlighted. The theories of cognitive dissonance are less likely to consider these factors of an individual, especially how external factors such as culture are gendered and racialized. The intersection of cultural studies with theories like cognitive dissonance allow for the integration of a variety of factors in understanding individual thought and action. A related concept to cognitive dissonance and social cognition is cognitive schemata. Cognitive schemata “influence attention and memory for new information that is relevant to stored knowledge” (Buysse, 2000, 577). Cognitive schemata are helpful in understanding how behavior choices are created through the interpersonal cognitive work (Buysee et al., 2000). When there is conflict between images and messages with the schemata, individuals will often avoid the tension. For instance, if dissonance or conflict occurs for an individual girl as she 45 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. reads images and messages around her in relation to her stored knowledge, she will try to relieve that tension. Relief may mean she avoids it through any means or that she will work through these tensions with her peers. The intrapersonal and interpersonal dynamics of this process are not always captured in the literature. Another psychological concept, attribution theory, may also be useful for understanding how young girls make sense of the images and messages around them, either complementing or contradicting their already established understandings about themselves and others. According to Corcoran and Ivery (2004), attribution theory explains how individuals make sense of the actions, experiences, behaviors and events around them by attributing them to a cause or factor. These attributions assist in the individuals’ ability to conceptualize and categorize the actions in terms of norms for actions in similar circumstances. Corcoran and Ivery (2004) identified three attributions: (i) internal processes (or cause); (ii) global (that it happens to all; e.g., earthquake) processes (or cause); and (iii) uncontrollable processes external to the individual (e.g., situational). Attribution theory, like cognitive dissonance, has been modernized and several variants exist in the literature. Kelley’s attribution theory, for instance, is one of these variants that seeks to understand how people attributed the cause of a behavior to either inside the individual carrying out the behavior or outside of the individual (1967; 1971; 1973). Fundamental attribution error captures the concept that individuals are more likely to attribute behavior to internal processes than external ones when they are making sense of another's behaviors, even in the face 46 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of evidence that suggests external causes or processes (Culpeper, 1996). As girls make sense of the images and messages from rap music, they may view and assess these images and attribute a value to them. How the girls view the images and messages inherent in rap music (e.g., the ‘video ho’ or the rapper’s behaviors) and the attributions made about these images and messages have practical import to the integration of rap music into their thoughts and actions. Scholars have applied attribution theory to literary texts with the belief that texts provide something that individuals do not - an explanation about what is going on inside of a ‘character’s’ head (Culpeper, 1996). And although written texts may be prone to include a collage of the workings of a character’s internal processing, visual texts do not. However, the attempt to incorporate psychological literature with literary analysis and theory led to the ability of Culpeper (1996) to integrate two seemingly disparate versions of attribution theory by simply adding a literary theory as the connector. Culpeper’s work (1996) is an example of the possibilities of incorporating disciplines to fill gaps to better see the complexity that is human processing of thought and action. Each of these theories about cognition, from cognitive dissonance to cognitive schemata, focuses on one set of factors (e.g., either internal or external) influencing the tension between thought and action when confronted with contradictory information but they have not so far been discussed as occurring simultaneously. In addition, the external ‘influencers’ are discussed in terms of environmental factors such as peers, community, school but have not yet included 47 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. media or culture as a potential influencers of these behaviors. Gender, race and internalized cultural norms and scripts are also not usually incorporated into these theories. Theories on Adolescent Development Although there is still more significance placed on the internal factors, within the last twenty years, developmental psychology has progressed past solely focusing on intra-individual factors affecting attitudes and behaviors to recognizing how external factors influence internal ones. One developmental psychology model focuses on the social influences on adolescent development and serves as a useful orientation for how development both is impacted by environment and how environment interacts with development within an individual. Psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979) suggested that there are several systems that extend beyond an individual, particularly an adolescent, and each of these systems will influence that individual. Specifically, the individual is in the center and there are the four systems (e.g., the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem) that radiate out from the center. These systems range from the microsystem (e.g., parents, peer groups) to the macrosystem (e.g., cultural attitudes, customs, expectations of a society).3 2 The systems can either complement or contradict each other in an ever 3 2 The other two systems are the mesosystem and the exosystem. Mesosystem encompasses the relationship between aspects o f a person's microsystem (e.g., peers and school), while the exosystem refers to aspects of an adolescent's life where they are not central to its functioning but it may still be influential (e.g., larger school system may choose if child is bussed or which school they attend (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). 48 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. changing dynamic process. Adolescents with non-complementary systems often develop stress, ultimately manifesting in at-risk behaviors (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). In addition to this model to help understand how young people interpret the world around them, Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory and Social-Cognitive Theory can add to our understanding of how young people interpret the system around them (1973; 1986; 1989). Bandura’s theories explain the interaction between individuals and their environment, specifically how individuals’ behaviors may be modeled after someone or something in their environment (1973; 1986; 1989). As important as understanding how a young person uses external systems, people or stimuli, their actions and attitudes are also influenced by internal processes like cognition. Cognition is developed and refined as an individual moves from childhood through adolescence on the way to adulthood. There is a large body of literature within developmental psychology that traces cognitive levels of individuals as they develop across the life course. One of the earliest theories is from Jean Piaget. He was the first to recognize that development occurs on a continuum (Beilin, 1992). Although criticized by many (Moshman, 1997), Piaget’s theory on cognition is useful for understanding the limitations on adolescent thought processes and how these limitations affect their interpretations of external stimuli around them. There are four stages, according to Piaget, in cognitive development. The last stage (or the formal operational stage) occurs during adolescence. During this stage, adolescents learn to back their ideas or attitudes with concrete and plausible examples (Piaget, 1967,1971). They are 49 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. much more likely to extrapolate across a variety of examples or circumstances to prove their points. Cognition is developed in stages but is not static across all individuals and thus, adolescents of the same age may or may not be at the same place, which may have implications for how 13-14 year old girls interpret the images and messages within rap music. Without accounting for cognition and other intrinsic factors within young people, the influence of extrinsic factors like culture, rap music can be misinterpreted. One other useful developmental psychological approach to understanding adolescent cognition is the information-processing approach (Lapsley, 1990; Rice & Dolgrin, 2002). According to this approach, adolescents process information at differing levels and speeds that progressively get better as they move into adulthood (Hale, 1990). The chain of events in the processing of information starts with a stimulus and ends with an action (or in some cases, non-action) and there are a series of events that form cognition. For instance, the first event is selection (e.g., we don’t react to all stimuli). This concept seems reminiscent of Stuart Hall’s use of selective perception (2001). From there, interpretation follows as the next event (e.g., what individuals think about the stimuli; which comes mostly from experience). Stimuli are held in memory (audio and visual) and through inference, thinking and reasoning (e.g., assigning a positive or negative value), action occurs or not (Rice & Dolgrin, 2002). Although reminiscent of Stuart Hall’s use of selective perception, the focus of these developmental theories is to highlight internal processes and how they may affect the reading and interpretation of the 50 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. images and messages in rap music. What is important and missing in the literature to date is the interplay between internal and external factors. Social scientists understand identity formation, in particular adolescent identity formation, through both psychological and sociological paradigms. Erik Erikson was a pioneer and influential scholar within this area.3 3 Heavily influenced by Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis, Erikson understood identity to be part and parcel of a personality that “can be said to develop according to steps predetermined in the human organism’s readiness to be driven toward, to be aware of, and to interact with a widening radius of significant individuals and institutions” (1968, 93). Interestingly, Erikson acknowledged the exclusion of perspectives about adolescence and identity outside of the White male perspective (1968). However, Erikson’s attempt to include gender and racial components within his analysis lacked the breadth and complexity that can be found within the larger pieces of his analysis. Thus, Erikson’s considerations for understanding identity did not include gender, class or race. Though Erikson’s ideology is overly deterministic from today’s perspective and does not account for variations and influences that may override any ‘predetermined’ stage, it continues to be important work that influences our understanding of identity formation. Active participation and agency was overlooked and Erikson was interested in the product of, and not the process of, identity formation. 3 3 See Erikson (1968) for his seminal work in this area. 51 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Bringing External and Internal Factors Together: The Relationship between Culture, Thought and Action The process of using culture to influence attitudes and actions that make up identities has not been tackled thoroughly within these literatures. Often sociology and cultural studies neglect to incorporate internal properties such as cognition and developmental stages in the interpretations of how culture is consumed. Public discourse and media representations have normally focused on the ‘storm and stress’ of adolescence without consideration for theory to explain normative behavior. For sure, the research on problematic or ‘at-risk’ behavior is solid in scope and depth but ultimately, suffers from a narrow view of adolescence. The dichotomous tendency within the field (‘normal’ versus ‘at-risk’ youth) limit understanding of the full spectrum of adolescent experience and development.3 4 For instance, children can experiment or engage in at-risk behavior, and hold non- traditional attitudes and beliefs, but maintain attachment to the larger society. Theories that include normative behavior or the fluidity or modulation between normative and at-risk behaviors are lacking in the literature. Few non-traditional ‘sociological’studies such as Gaines (1998) and Hersch (1998), have illustrated the multiple subjectivities and behaviors of adolescents. The ways that young people work through these contradictory subjectivities and behaviors and how they choose between normative and at-risk behavior and attitudes have not yet been defined 3 4 Steinberg & Morris (2001) provided a comprehensive look at how at-risk behaviors are viewed narrowly and they suggest that the field o f adolescent ‘risk’ inaccurately represents the adolescent experience and overlooks the normal behaviors of young people. 52 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (Steinberg & Morris, 2001). If cultural scripts and symbols are internalized and come to have meaning to young people, the process of consumption mid application to everyday life as well as one's attitudes and behaviors is largely unknown. This project will explore how contradictions in both the consumption and application of cultural images and messages are negotiated within an individual and among individuals. Psychology and education explore gender differences in learning styles and experiences. These bodies of literature present that the roots of gender differences are part biological, and to a larger degree, environmental or cultural. For instance, girls are often virtually invisible to their classroom teachers, while boys (presumably White, middle class boys) are responded to favorably by their teachers when they speak up as compared to girls (Palombo-Weiss, 2001). Within this literature, there is empirical evidence for gender-specific learning styles - boys are visual learners, while girls are auditory learners (Dunn, 1996; Honigsfeld & Dunn, 2003). One can’t help but question these findings since these differences may just be a result of varying cultural gendered expectations for boys compared to girls (“boys are better at math”). Rap music is a combination of both audio and visual representations. And thus, this project tests the gendered assumptions about how messages and images are received by adolescent girls. Do the girls receive one representation clearer than another? Will they react differently to the different forms? 53 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. At this point, there is warrant to return to the “Circuit of Culture.” The final component of the “Circuit of Culture,” negotiation, focuses on the factors that police an individual’s actions and attitudes. In other words, to what extent do young people’s attitudes and actions change because of the image/message in the music they listen to or the videos they watch? Through the study of music (in this case, rap music), one can illustrate and test the assumptions about regulation. Do these images/messages police these girls’ thoughts and action? How do they identify with them? There are many competing and contradictory messages/images within our society. What is not known is how children deal with the contradictions in images and messages around them. Do they negotiate compliance with defiance? For instance, Tolman (1994) suggested that adolescent girls only know themselves from the perspective of boys and so there is some indication through her work and that of Lorraine Kenny (2000) that girls more often are compliant with stereotypic, male-centered understandings of what it means to be female in this society. Pough (2004) concluded in her work, “mass-media representations of Hip Hop cast the culture in a negative light, simultaneously vilifying it and granting it a public voice” (19). The contradictions with rap music in the public sphere continue and yet, there is not a sense for how young people really make sense of these contradictions. Moving away from the public rhetoric and academic debates, this project sets out to empirically capture how adolescent girls consume messages and images in rap music. The presence and importance in including culture and media 54 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. into our understanding of who or what influences thoughts and behaviors becomes more representative of modem and more realistic social life for adolescent girls. When context is mentioned in the developmental psychological literature, researchers have not yet connected it to cultural norms or influences. This project will further the scholarship in both disciplines by explaining and testing the following research questions. As the literature shows, there is uncertainty for how cultural images and messages, especially those that are contradictory, are sorted out within a young person and among young people. In particular, how these cultural images and messages are experienced, sorted and used by adolescent girls is of interest because of the multiple subjectivities that are part of what it means to be female in this society. The decision to occupy a certain subject-position when confronted with cultural images and messages is largely unexplored; especially when adolescent girls are confronted with highly contested imagery and messages, such as those found in rap music. Research Questions Research Question 1: What subject-position do adolescent girls take as they “read” rap music? The cultural studies literature offers informative concepts like ‘insider- Other’ to explain the potential subject-position for adolescent girls and their relationship to an aspect of popular culture such as rap music. By capturing empirical evidence for how girls negotiate their potential subject-positions 55 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. including the ‘insider-Other’ status, the actual uses of rap music provide an understanding for the lives of adolescent girls and the tensions felt between deciphering images and messages that may conjure multiple and contradictory subject-positions. Race, gender and even age, influence the unique status of ‘insider-Other’ these girls occupy and are incorporated. Little is known about the process of decoding rap music by youth (especially young girls) because much of the work done on rap music is often speculative or theoretical in nature (Kelley, 1996; Rose, 1994). This project tests the gendered assumptions about how messages and images are received by adolescent girls. Critics suggest rap music may significantly influence youth. These concerns lead to efforts to control, discontinue or change the genre. Certainly, part of the issue with rap music may have more to do with the continuing divides along race, class, and gender. However, in order to challenge and explore the influences of rap music, it is necessary to determine how young people themselves see and interpret the genre’s messages. Popular and academic discourses on issues like this do not usually involve youth and have not given priority to their voices. This study seeks to explain the uses of rap music through the active inclusion of the young consumers themselves. Specifically, adolescent girls will be asked what they see and hear and how they interpret the messages and images within the music. Findings from this project will contribute to an accurate reflection of how music impacts a sense of subject-position (including gender and race) and belief systems (e.g., being female). As rap music becomes more commodified and continues its 56 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. presence in the cultural landscape, conjecture surrounding rap music must be replaced with real and tangible understandings about its consumption by young people. With realistic understanding about adolescent uses of culture, especially how they may relate to attitude and belief formation, aims to counteract any negative impact will be grounded in theory that is also informed by the youth themselves. The fact remains that unless we speak to youth (young women in particular) about their thoughts and feelings on the issues that affect them, we cannot begin to empower our youth to form positive and strong images of themselves and the relationships they have with others. The introduction of internal factors described within the psychological literature provides a complement to the cultural studies literature. Internal factors such as cognitive dissonance will affect how an adolescent girl interprets and integrates the imagery and messages in culture into her thoughts and actions. The omission of the influence of culture within these psychological theories is noted and rectified by bringing in cultural studies. Together, they give us a well-rounded, descriptive picture for consumption of rap music by adolescent girls with the recognition of the other influencing factors but what is still not covered is how these girls occupy the ‘insider-Other’ status and how this status relates to dissonance in thought and action (if any). Research Question 2: Do the images and messages in rap music create or relieve the tension of occupying the insider-Other status? 57 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The consumption of culture consists of what individuals see and hear in the cultural symbol (e.g., rap music) and the factors that may influence their ‘reading’ of it. Much is written about the sexist and racist images in rap music but what is still uncertain is how these contested images either create or relieve tension for adolescent girls in particular. They have contradictory subjectivities and inhabit a status, ‘insider-Other’, that at the same time affords them engagement in popular culture (such as rap music) but also excludes them from proper representation in the genre. The contradictions inherent in occupying this status must be a constant negotiation but the literature has not yet captured how girls occupy this status, including what creates, relieves or changes it. Cognitive dissonance assumes that tension created by the disparity between thoughts and actions must be relieved by the individual. Cognitive dissonance gives a conceptual understanding for mechanisms to relieve the tension between these disparate thoughts and actions. The work on cognitive dissonance can be applied to the relationship between rap imagery and messages and the choices to occupy a subject-position. What is normally missing, however, is the place of culture in the creation of tension as well as the relief from it. The negotiation of these images and messages with already existing knowledge regarding gendered and racial expectations is a process that has practical implications for how adolescent girls form their thoughts and actions. To explore a form of culture that is identified as a male cultural symbol can tell much about how adolescent girls’ establish of their separate subjectivities. Are these 58 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. images and messages the girls ‘read’ in opposition to the dominant societal markers of being female or do they conform to these markers that ultimately reinforce the gendered hierarchy, including gendered roles and expectations? The ways of negotiating tensions between what they see and hear with what they ‘know’ about the social world around them, especially gendered and racial expectations, can tell much about how adolescent girls process and decode the contradictory messages around them. This knowledge is not fully articulated in the literature or empirically grounded. Having this knowledge can also give insight into how images and messages are decoded and used by young people, especially for how thought and possibly action are influenced by this decoding. Is it even possible to relieve this tension created by contradictory images and messages? If not, what mechanisms are used to ‘live with’ the dissonance? Girls’ experience in adolescence has been largely overlooked in the literature; yet, their experience offers much for understanding the ability of individuals to negotiate continuous and contradictory pieces of information from a variety of places, both internal and external to the person. Although unlikely bedfellows, both the cultural studies and adolescent development literatures provide together a well-rounded picture for how images/messages are read and interpreted by adolescent girls. Separately, these literatures only offer one side of the dynamic interplay that occurs when individuals process cultural symbols with existing knowledge and understandings about the social world around them. 59 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Public discourse on adolescent girls’ consumption of rap music focuses on their victimization or promiscuity which is largely rooted in gender and racial taboos surrounding Black men and White women. Since adolescent girls are relegated to silence in how these dynamics are negotiated as they view and consume rap images, these bold statements are unsubstantiated. The current literature does not provide empirical evidence to support these ideas. Engagement of the youth in the issues that affect them and capturing the process by which they read and process cultural symbols as prevalent as rap music will shed light on the relationship between culture, thought and potentially action. 60 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER III METHODS “It Has a Nice Beat but I don’t know if I Can Dance to It.” The purpose of this study is to determine how media images and messages are interpreted and given meaning by adolescent girls. In particular, this study explores how adolescent girls interpret images and messages about women found within rap music. In order to capture the dynamic process of interpretation, this study uses qualitative methods, specifically focus groups and interviews. This chapter discusses the study’s research design and process of data collection. The frameworks and concepts reviewed previously are important to conceptualizing the research project and helped determine the research design. The external and internal factors that influence how culture is read and interpreted before meaning is made is accounted for by this model and offers a more dynamic view of how culture is maintained, both internal and external to a person. These frameworks and concepts (from both cultural studies and psychology) complement each other as one provides a focus on the place of culture (cultural studies) and the other focuses on individual internal processes (psychology) to understand the process of consuming and interpreting culture into one's thoughts and actions. Linking these two disciplines provides a more thorough explanation of the phenomenon being captured. 61 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Qualitative methods are particularly suitable for this topic since there is not much research on this specific area. Qualitative research methods are often used to build theory about certain issues and are best used for capturing emotions, thoughts, feelings and decisions made about attitudes. These are difficult to measure using quantitative methods (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). In fact, “qualitative data. . . are fundamentally well suited for locating the meanings people place on the events, processes and structures of their lives” (Miles & Huberman, 1994, 10). Given the research objectives of this project, qualitative methods are appropriate. Miles & Huberman (1994) stated that any qualitative study must map out what will be studied and the relationships between concepts, ideas or processes trying to be captured. The relationship between the image and lyrics of a rap music video and the convergence or divergence from the meaning they receive from the ‘message’ within it can be illustrated with the appropriate research methods and design. As adolescent girls watch and listen to rap music, the process of making and giving meaning to the images and messages involves both internal and external factors. This project will examine what messages adolescent girls receive from the music and what meaning they attach to it. The project will explore what may influence the convergence or divergence with these meanings as they related to these girls' understanding of themselves and the world around them. Based on the project aims and research questions, the project's research design is qualitative, using focus group and interview methodology. 62 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Sample Characteristics The study sample consisted of adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 14 years. Children, at this time, are in the process of developing into young adults in terms of their personality, sexuality and identity (Kaplan, 2003; Tolman, 1994). It is at this time that they begin to form their own separate identities and thus, this age is optimal for the purpose of the study (Erikson, 1968; Brown & Gilligan, 1991). This study only sampled female adolescents because little is known of the consumption patterns of girls. In fact, most of the theories on youth culture and consumption are based on boys. When girls are included, they are often relegated to the periphery (Griffin, 1993; McRobbie, 1990). This study addressed this omission by focusing solely on girls. Some researchers believe that girls are not as engaged in culture as boys (Kotarba & Wells, 1987). On the other hand, instead of dismissing girls, many suggest that to understand girls is to understand that “the girls are a subculture within a subculture” as well as stating that girls utilize cultural icons, values and symbols differently than boys (Andes, 1999; Gaines, 1998).3 5 Although youth culture literature has historically focused on boys, the irony lies in the fact that “style and fashion are . . . so central to girls identity” (Bettie, 2003, 42). How women interpret images within culture is important to examine. During adolescence, girls learn to ‘self-silence’ and conform to external forces that 3 5 Driscoll (2002) suggested that even when groups o f girls challenge dominant expectations of their attitudes and actions, the challenge is rarely seen or described as a ‘subculture.’ 63 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. define their gendered identity (Ward, 2000). Hey (1997) also suggested that girls learn during adolescence “their place in multiple and competing regimes of power” (13). Noted feminist scholar, Carol Gilligan and colleagues empirically tested how girls learn to negotiate the conflicting messages based on their class, race and gender statuses and thus, her work is used as a model for this project. Girls were recruited for this project from one middle school in the Los Angeles area. This school was selected because the researcher was acquainted with one of the administrators of the school, who offered introductions to the Principal and Assistant Vice-Principal. After initial meetings with the senior administration and a formal (but internal) proposal process, the administration consented to the data collection on-site. The data collection period was monitored by the Assistant Vice-Principal and staff. The school is one of the wealthier schools in the district with an operating budget of $12,000,000 (69% going toward instruction). Although there are some students bussed in from other areas in the district, a majority of the students come from the surrounding community. The school is considered a “high achieving” school and consistently scores significantly higher than the district and state averages on California Standardized Tests (CST). For example, English CST for 8th graders (the grade for the study sample) had 46% achieving proficiency compared to 17% for the district and 32% for the state. In 2001, this middle school was given the California Distinguished School award for its students’ academic achievement. 64 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The racial composition of the school student body is predominantly White (54%), while African-American and Hispanic students represent 9% and 30% of the student body respectively. Although there were no race or ethnic requirements for enrollment in the project, the ‘Whiteness’ of the population provided a glimpse into both White use of a non-White style and lifestyle (popular culture) as well as addressed some of the racial and gendered dynamics apparent in popular discourse surrounding rap music. The composition of the school suggested that roughly half of the study sample would be White. Since there are other racial categories within the student body, there was a likelihood that non-White girls would participate in the study. These racial elements also added to the ways that youth interpret images and messages. In particular, how different will the interpretation be in racially homogeneous groups versus diverse ones? Efforts were made to represent these nuances in the formulation of the discussion groups. The youth who were exposed to different racial/ethnic groups, arguably, would be more likely to discuss race. They also may not be as influenced by the media images that glorify stereotypic images of different racial groups (Weis & Carbonell-Medina, 2000). Research Design and Recruitment Procedures Upon Institutional Review Board approval (#04-01-030), the recruitment strategy was a mix of purposive and random sampling. All eligible girls at the middle school had an equal chance of participating in the project and were assigned into a group once their consent letters were received. The groups, when possible, 65 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. were constructed to contain friendship/peer group members and only if that could not be accomplished, were the subjects placed randomly into groups based on racial categories. An announcement was placed in the Assistant Principal’s morning address to the entire student body (see Appendix A). Interested girls who fit the inclusion criteria (ages 13-14) placed their names and contact information on a sign-in sheet and were given a parental consent letter to bring home (see Appendix B). The only exclusion criteria were if the girls did not fit the inclusion criteria or if their parents did not sign and return their parental consent letter. By the end of the recruitment day, 94 girls had expressed interest in participating. Of the 94 eligible and interested girls, 31 participated in this study. The racial and age breakdown can be found in Table 1. Twenty-one of the subjects were from the surrounding communities and nine subjects were bussed in from other areas.3 6 Table 1. Race/Ethnicity by Age (N = 31) RACE/ETHNICITY White (n=10) Black (n=7) Latina (n=8) Asian (n=l) Bi-racial (n = 3) Other (n = l) A G 13 (n=7) 1 2 2 0 1 1 E 14 (n=24) 9 5 6 1 3 0 3 6 One subject did not state her residence. 66 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The research design consists of a two qualitative methods, focus groups and interviews. The linkage between the methods and research questions can be found in Figure 2. The combination of focus groups and follow-up individual interviews allows for both breadth and depth of knowledge about issues (Morgan, 1996). Morgan (1996) also explained the difference between focus groups and interviews by suggesting that “the discussion in focus groups(is). . . more than the sum of separate individual interviews . . . the participants can query each other and explain themselves to each other” (8). In addition, the topic of consuming rap music is conducive to utilizing focus group methodology since the subjects can discuss a “text” with each other. The inclusion of follow-up interviews allows for a more in-depth exploration of themes and opinions generated from the focus group discussion (Morgan, 1996). The interviews also allow for a glimpse into how the group dynamics may have influenced the content of the focus group as well as the individual’s thought processes.3 7 Focus groups on rap videos Follow-up interviews (post discussion group) W h a t subject-position do adolescent girls take as they “ read ” ra p m usic? Do the im ages an d m essages in ra p m usic create o r relieve tension o f occupying the in sid er-O th er status? Figure 2. Research Design 3 7 Some may view this as a disadvantage to focus group. This “group effect” is extremely important to know especially within adolescence - a developmental stage where peers are increasingly more influential in adolescents’ lives. 67 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Focus Groups Several studies have used focus groups to explore sensitive issues surrounding adolescents (e.g., ‘at-risk’ behaviors). These studies are able to extract useful data on these types of topics by only meeting with the adolescents in the focus group one time (Gilmore, 1996; Hawkins, 2001; Kritzinger, 2002; Lloyd et al., 1997). Given the age of the subjects, asking them to participate in more than one focus group would increase attrition and decrease spontaneity of the group discussion. In the last 10 years, focus groups have become commonplace in the social sciences with “over 60% of empirical research” in sociology using focus groups either alone or combined with other methods (Morgan, 1996). Focus group methodology can be found in communications, political science, cultural studies, criminology, evaluation research, and even in public health and the medical fields. Focus groups allow for breadth of knowledge but also allow the subjects to discuss the issues as it is pertinent to them or in other words, gives them voice. The method to facilitate the focus group was (pre)tested with one group of adolescent girls (5 girls) to determine whether the questions fostered a “free flow” of discussion without too much intrusion by the facilitator. It was determined through pre-testing that a slightly more structured format was necessary because the girls were unable to carry on a lengthy discussion about a pre-selected video. Therefore, a series of questions was devised for the focus groups. 68 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. When the adolescents returned their parental consent forms, each was asked to complete a short survey to provide some demographic information and to assist in determining the composition of the focus groups (see Appendix C). The composition of the groups is crucial to any research project. The goal for making up these groups was to be sure the girls were comfortable with discussing the topics in front of a facilitator unknown to them. With this in mind, a hierarchy for composing the groups was developed. Composing focus groups with friends became the desired group composition, followed by same-race groups. The rationale for the hierarchy was that adolescent girls would feel more comfortable discussing topics with strangers if their friends were present. The level of disclosure was believed to be greater with peers. In the absence of friendship groups, same race groups allowed a level of familiarity to discuss issues surrounding race and gender. Each of the focus groups was designed using this hierarchy. Subjects each took part in one focus group (7 groups of 4-6 = 31). The composition of the focus groups can be found in Table 2. Research using focus group methodology often employs between 4 and 6 focus groups because no new information is gleaned from a larger number (Morgan, 1996). It proved beneficial to “over-recruit” to account for no-shows or refusals as each group had at least one no-show (Morgan, 1998). No more than six subjects were invited to participate in any one focus group. Six participants is often cited as the optimal number of a 69 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. focus group to maintain a discussion, and to keep subjects interested in the topic and in each other’s opinions during the group discussion (Morgan, 1997). The icebreaker strategy utilized consisted of the subjects and facilitator eating pizza together for a brief time before the discussions began. This allowed subjects to feel more comfortable and for the facilitator to gain rapport. At the conclusion of this icebreaker, the facilitator reminded the subjects of the nature of the study and their privacy and confidentiality rights as human subjects. Although their written consent had already been obtained, the subjects were reminded that the discussions would be taped and asked for verbal consent to audiotaping. Once these steps were taken, the groups were shown the video of the rap song. Table 2. Composition of Focus Groups (N = 31) Focus GrouD Age Race Residence Listen to RaD 1 (friendship) 13 = 1 14 = 4 Latina = 5 Suburb = 1 Urban = 4 Every day = 5 2 (friendship) 13=0 14 = 4 White = 1 Black = 1 Asian = 1 Bi-racial = 1 Suburb = 4 Every day = 3 At friend’s house (other)= 1 3 (friendship) 13=2 14 = 3 Black = 5 Suburb =1 Urban = 3 Unk = 1 Every day = 4 Couple x/wk = 1 4 (friendship) 13=0 14 = 4 White = 3 Bi-racial = 1 Suburb = 4 Every day = 3 Couple x/wk = 1 5 (racial) 13 = 1 14 = 4 White = 5 Suburb = 5 Every day = 2 Couple x/wk = 1 Once/wk = 1 Only on radio (other) = 1 6 (racial) 13 = 2 14 = 2 Latina = 3 Bi-racial = 1 Suburb = 2 Urban = 2 Every day = 4 7 (racial) 13= 1 14 = 3 Black = 1 Bi-racial = 2 Other = 1 Suburb = 4 Every day = 4 70 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Following the focus group structure and format employed by Gilligan and colleagues and suggested by researchers (Brown, 1998; Krueger, 1998; Morgan, 1998; Taylor et al., 1995), the girls at first were allowed to freely discuss their impressions of the video by providing them with an initial question: “What is your impression of this video?” However, due to the ages of the subjects and time constraints (each group occurred on school grounds), the facilitator determined if the “free flow” was generating important and useful material. If it was determined that the group was straying from topic or faltering, the facilitator followed up with specific questions about the messages/images and the subjects’ thoughts on the issues surrounding gender. Both focus group and interview protocols were developed by integrating the principles (e.g., number of questions to ask) suggested by Morgan (1998) and Krueger (1998). In addition, the protocols were reviewed by several researchers with experience in these qualitative methods including Dr. Lyn Mikel Brown, who has researched adolescent girls extensively using these research methodologies. Finally, both protocols were tested with adolescent girls to review any inconsistencies or problematic wording prior to data collection. The questions in the focus groups do follow the types of questions used during the in-depth interview component of the study and care was employed by the facilitator to also clarify points raised during the “free flow.” The questions asked during each focus group can be found in Table 3. However, it is important to note that every effort was made to allow the conversation to be driven by the subjects and not the researcher. Thus, there was an attempt towards less structure 71 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for the focus groups and the facilitator worked to produce a less formal TO atmosphere. The length of the discussion groups ranged from 50 minutes to 1 T Q hour, 15 minutes. Table 3. Focus Group Questions QUESTION POSED OF EACH FOCUS GROUP First Exploratory Question 1. What is the point of the video - what is happening? Follow up Questions 2. What were you thinking about it as you were watching it?_______________________ 3. What do you like most about the video? How come? What don’t you like about the video? How come?___________________________________________________________ 4. What do you think o f what the people are doing in the video?____________________ 5. Do the things happening in the video seem realistic to you? (if yes) Can you give me an example, but don’t use anybody’s name? (if no) Why not?___________________ 6. What messages do you think this video sends about women and girls?____________ Each focus group was shown the same video once and asked the same set of questions. There are debates regarding the process of standardization within focus group methodology (Morgan, 1996,1998). Due to the age of subjects and the time limitations set by the study site, a more standardized process was needed. The benefit of standardization is that it produces comparability across groups (Morgan, 3 8 See Morgan (1998) for the implications of a structured focus groups (researcher focus) and less structured (group interests). 3 9 There were structural constraints enforced by the middle school. The focus groups could only occur during lunch and breaks. Subjects were not to miss class for the focus groups and the office personnel assigned to the project to coordinate students determined that focus groups should not happen after school because o f liability of the school for students who missed their rides or students who stayed after school for academic assistance or detention. 72 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1996). The focus group discussions were recorded by hand and audiotaped. Each focus group audiotape was transcribed for analysis. Interviews A subset4 0 of the sample participated in a follow-up interview (N=24). This interview focuses on attitude change based on the experiences of talking to peers about the images and messages within rap music and to determine if the content of the group discussions were similar to the individual’s feelings about the video and about the content in general. The interview protocol was pre-tested as well with two adolescent girls and the resulting questions that were used in the study are found in Table 4. Table 4. Interview Questions QUESTIONS ASKED DURING IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW 1. How did you feel about the discussion we had on “FILL IN DAY OF FOCUS GROUP”? 2. What did it make you think about?________________________________________________ 3. What was interesting about the discussion?_________________________________________ 4. What was surprising?____________________________________________________________ 5. Was there something that you wanted to say during the session that you didn’t get a chance to say?_____________________________________________________________________ 6. What did you think o f that video?_________________________________________________ 7. What did you like about the video? What did you dislike about the video?_____________ 8. What did you think o f what the people were doing in the video?_______________________ 9. Remind them about the messages that the focus group came up with and ask: How much do you agree with (THE MESSAGE)?________________________________________________ 10. How do you think adults feel about rap music and videos?___________________________ 4 0 The entire sample was not interviewed because o f structural barriers that impacted the ability to locate the sampled girls to arrange the follow-up interviews. The academic school year ended one week after the 6th and 7th focus groups. With the graduation festivities and finals, it was impossible to conduct follow up interviews the last week of the academic year. The girls were transitioned to high schools around Los Angeles during the summer. The 24 subjects that interviewed were participants o f the first five focus groups and were not any different than the 7 who were not interviewed. 73 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The interview length ranged from 15 minutes to one hour.4 1 The interviews were recorded by hand and audiotaped. Each interview audiotape was transcribed for analysis. Sampled Video Content Ideally, the video selected for this project represents the ‘typical’ rap video with racial, gendered and classed elements to foster discussion topics. The video was also selected based on its popularity at the time and ease in securing a copy for review. Table 5 provides some information regarding the selected video and the lyrics can be found in the attachments (see Appendix D). Table 5. Focus Group Video Characteristics Video Rap Artist G-Unit, featuring 50-cent Video “Wanna Get to Know Ya” Release Date February 20044 2 The subjects’ familiarity with and in most cases, ‘love o f the selected song was an important surprise. In some ways, the project hinges on the selection of the 4 1 The school would only allow interviews to take place during breaks (e.g., lunch & midmoming or afternoon). They would not allow interviews during class or after school. 4 2 This song was released on the Get Rich or Die Tryin’ album which was on the charts for 77 weeks (beginning November 2003). “Wanna Get to Know Ya” was the third single off the album. 74 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. song and its accompanying video. The girls’ reaction to an obscure artist/song, a watered down artist (‘wannabe’), a song that wasn’t a hit or even, an unpopular, seldom played video would not be able to provide insight into how pervasive and mainstream rap music is and how it impacts adolescent girls, especially what they see and how they interpret what they see. This artist is considered ‘authentic’ and is incredibly popular. The selected song, “I Wanna Get to Know Ya,” was a billboard chart topper and more importantly, a hit with a majority of these sample girls. The video is a stylish production (set in Miami) and is divided into three vignettes with members of 50-cent's group, G-Unit; taking turns ‘rapping’ in front of the camera. Each vignette is in a different setting with various beautiful women. There are cuts (especially during the chorus) to all three members of the group (“a boy band with jerseys” as one of the girls referred to them) together dancing and rapping in front of the camera. Each vignette featuring one member of the group leads to the same conclusion - regardless of the scene - sex (or the suggestion of sex). All three rappers are wearing clothes from the G-Unit clothing line. The first scene is a party with the rapper, Young Buck, walking through the party when he is beckoned to the couch where a woman dressed in a blue spandex dress is waiting. As he crosses the dance floor, the camera cuts from him (with a group of male friends) to women dancing (shots from behind, of cleavage, eyes and lips). There is a shot of two women kissing each other. The woman in spandex on the couch caressed him through the remainder of the scene. 75 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A second vignette (corresponding to the second verse) takes place in a fogged up taxi with the rapper, Lloyd Banks, rapping lyrics to the camera while in compromising positions with a young woman (at one point, her leg is up over his shoulder and another has him waving a thong before the camera as he tosses it to the side.)4 3 The windows of the cab fog up and the cab driver and two women walking by peer through the fogged window to view the scene in the back seat. 50-cent is in the last segment (third verse) at a beach party. He initially is talking to two women when another woman eyes him from a distance and eventually, beckons him to follow her near the surf. He leaves the other women and the video cuts in from clothes on the sand (including G-Unit clothes and tennis shoes) to the shirtless back of 50-cent (tattoos and chains prominent) to the hands and mouth of the young woman. The women in the video are often posing for the camera. There are 22 shots of women dancing, 10 close up shots of women’s lips, seven from behind and nine shots of a woman’s cleavage. It is difficult to determine to which woman these body parts belong. In contrast, there are only five close-up shots of the rappers’ bodies (most of these are 50-cent’s chest). As mentioned earlier, the rappers’ are wearing G-Unit clothing and shoes. Their chains are displayed to the camera in 10 different shots. The only element missing that is usually associated with rap videos is a car (e.g., Hummer, Escalade). 4 3 Incidentally, the sampled girls identified this woman in the video as the aunt o f one of their classmates. 76 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The video shows rappers pursuing women for sex. The female characters are not delineated from each other and their body parts are the focal parts. The prominence of G-Unit clothing is apparent. The video is not unlike the videos analyzed by Emerson (2002) where the video contains ‘boasts’ about consumer success (e.g., money, ‘bling’, and the ability to get any woman). It also contains elements of consumerism (G-Unit clothing) mentioned by Henry Giroux (2001). The images and the lyrics in this video represent the messages that, since the mainstreaming of rap music began, produce the ire and criticism for both the stereotypic depictions of African-American males and the misogynistic ways of thinking about and treating women (arguably, all women). The occupation with women's body parts and the sexual prowess of the rappers represented in this video are consistent with these elements that are expected and contested in rap videos (Emerson, 2002; Rose, 1994). The sexualized material proved to be important elements for the girls to react to as they spoke about issues regarding gender that were important to examine, specifically how girls see and interpret these images. For these elements and its artist’s popularity (and notoriety), the selection of this video offered content for the girls to discuss what lies at the very heart of societal concerns and discourse around rap music and adolescent girls as well. Analysis Plan Components of Carol Gilligan’s “Listening Guide” were used to analyze this data (1993). Gilligan is a proponent of analyzing data with a notion for how 77 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the social location of the researcher may impact not only the analysis but also the actual opinions forwarded by the girls themselves. The method itself requires multiple readings of the transcriptions with different goals at each reading. For instance, the researcher during one reading will highlight the themes constructed by the group itself, while a second reading highlights the aims of the project. Components of the Listening Guide that were used in this project can be found in Table 6. This method keeps in mind the spirit of the project’s goal by centralizing the insight and opinions of the girls themselves. Table 6. Components of the “Listening Guide” Listening Guide Readings 1 Listening for the Themes brought up by group________________________ 2 Listening for the use of “I” for active voice in discussing the subjects’ self 3 Listening for first research question_________________________________ 4 Listening for second research question_______________________________ Adapted and modified from Gilligan et al., 2003. Giroux (1997) posited that in order to get to the root of behaviors and meanings of popular culture for adolescents, we must engage them in the process. Gilligan’s technique is a method by which to actively engage young people and to best capture their ‘voice’. Girls, at this age, are often silenced or not even considered in research (Gilligan, 1993; Ward, 2000). Gilligan’s approach does not go without criticism. For instance, Hey (1997) questioned the method of ‘listening’, specifically the role of women researchers as agents of the institution 78 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. (school) due to their prolonged association with the school (as a study site) and more importantly, the role of the administration of a school as facilitators of the focus groups and their authority over the girls (the study subjects) during the focus groups over time. Specifically, Hey (1997) wondered how this authority and association affects the interpretations of those reading or ‘listening’ to the girls’ voices. Despite the criticism, this method and the resulting findings give preference to young girls’ voices and mechanisms to capture them while still remaining scientifically rigorous. Once the focus group transcripts were reviewed for each ‘reading’, the results of each reading were compiled into an analytic memo. Analytic memos are used in qualitative research to “force the analyst to work with concepts rather than raw data” (Strauss & Corbin, 1998, 220). Following the guidelines set forth by Strauss & Corbin (1998), analytic memos for this project were produced consistently throughout the analysis phase of the project. The memos were used in a systematic manner. After each reading of the transcripts (as suggested by Gilligan's Listening Guide method), the notes written on the transcripts were organized into themes and typed into the memo. At that point, sampled sections of the transcription were pasted into the memo to offer examples for the themes that may then be used in the discussion of the findings. The final addition to these memos was lengthy discussions or reactions to the themes and their subsequent examples once they were inserted into the memo. A memo was done for each reading of each focus group. There was an additional memo that integrated all of 79 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the separate memos of each reading - a memo of the memos. The memos were done for each individual interview as well as a larger memo for all of the interviews in one focus group. These memos are a dynamic way to build concepts and theories about qualitative data and allow the researcher to manage the amount of data that is normally associated with qualitative methods (See Appendix E). Representativeness and Data Quality Data quality and representativeness are important to any research project and was achieved in this project through several different measures. Most proponents of qualitative research methods often direct discussion from generalizability to one of “minimizing sample bias” (Morgan, 1997). Thus, focus group methodology moves from true random sampling to sampling that is motivated by the research question. To allow for representativeness of the sample to the larger population, the recruitment was constructed by allowing potential subjects to self-select based on their consumption patterns (rap fan or not). Each 13-14 year old adolescent girl at the study site had an equal opportunity to participate in the project and chose to participate based on her interest in rap music. Participation and contributions were monitored and facilitated, increasing the reliability of the protocol and producing a sample that was ‘representative’ of the eligibility criteria set forth for this project - 13-14 year old girls who listen to rap music at this suburban middle school. 80 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Data quality was accounted for using a variety of measures. The questions for both the focus group and interviews protocols were pre-tested with adolescent girls of the same age to prevent problematic instruments to capture the project data. In addition, the focus groups and interviews were both audiotaped and handwritten to recheck the accuracy of the transcriptions. The follow up interviews were also envisioned to serve to check reliability for the focus group by asking the same kind of questions as the focus groups. Finally, each focus group and each interview was conducted using the same set of questions and the same video to allow for standardization across the groups and interviews. To counteract any bias that may have been introduced by the facilitator/ interviewer (also the researcher) on the natural discussions between these subjects, the researcher employed some measures suggested by Miles & Huberman (1994). In particular, the researcher was on the school grounds for almost three months during the start up and data collection phases - often participating in school activities (plays, fire alarms) and became known as the “rap lady” to the student body. In addition, the research methods and design were unobtrusive as possible allowing for ease in data collection. The researcher was a visible, unobtrusive presence on site but because of the temporary nature of her presence and the novelty of an adult “listening to rap,” was not considered part of the school administration. In addition, to mitigate any bias as researcher/facilitator/interpreter of the data, the past experiences of the researcher as a counselor/mentor were both a 81 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. benefit and a potential hindrance. As a benefit, the techniques employed by counselors to gain rapport and get clients/subjects comfortable with disclosing information to a relative stranger were helpful in engaging the subjects with the content of the focus groups and interviews. As a hindrance, the objectives were quite different with counseling sessions than the focus group discussions. In order to counteract this, it was imperative to remain cognizant of the project’s goals as well as stringent with the protocol. In addition, each focus group was reviewed afterward to gage any sign of deviation from the protocol and efforts to cease deviation were employed actively during the next group. Assumptions and beliefs about the role of rap music in these girls’ lives were another consideration for both the data collection phase and analysis. Keeping to the protocol and employing Gilligan’s Learning Guide which specifically was constructed to counteract the research bias in interpreting the data were monitors to keep personal opinions and assumptions out of the research. These safeguards were utilized to maintain the quality and integrity of the data and the analysis. Gilligan and colleagues who have utilized similar research designs and analytic techniques argue that generalizability reduces the richness of these girls’ ‘voices’ and the pointed attempt to portray personal thoughts accurately. Any social science study, particularly one that uses qualitative methods, has difficulty generalizing to a larger population. This should not diminish the relevance of this study, however, because it seeks to understand adolescent girls’ experiences through “listening to their voices.” Thus, this project marks an exploration into the 82 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. process of ‘reading’ cultural texts, making meaning about culture and applying this to life around and for these young girls. 83 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER IV THE IMMEDIATE CONTEXT IN THE LIVES OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS “For years, scholars have pondered one seemingly insurmountable question: Which came first, the rapper or the ho?”4 4 A project that examines how rap music are consumed and interpreted by and within the lives of adolescent girls requires discussion about a variety of issues and areas that are made up in part by the project aims and by the discussions of the youth themselves. The following three chapters will present an analysis and discussion of the data collected for this project. The first chapter sets the immediate context for the project and the analysis by describing the cultural landscape for these girls during the time of data collection and analysis. Situating the observations and findings in the immediate context affords a deeper understanding for the meanings that these adolescent girls attach to the music they are listening to and viewing. Having knowledge about the social landscape on this level produces a thorough analysis of the ways these adolescent girls view and in turn, interpret these images within their social reality. With the conclusion of this chapter, the context for the analysis of the data is set and the remaining chapters will focus on what the girls ‘read’ and how they interpret what they ‘read’. 4 4 Rizzo & McCall (2005), 181. 84 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The next chapter will explore and try to explain what adolescent girls actually see and receive from rap music, while the last findings chapter seeks to explain how they interpret the images and messages within the music. In addition, the analysis will also illustrate how these girls make sense of those interpretations as it relates to their lives and an understanding for those around them. The Community and Culture of a Suburban Middle School The descriptions of geographic locations for the sampled girls such as the community and the school allow the analysis to incorporate how immediate location may influence the girls’ discussions. Examples taken from informal observations at the middle school and interactions with the young people give a glimpse into the norms and values of the school for these girls as well. All are important to consider when analyzing what these girls see in the actions and images, either real or mediated ones like a rap video and how they interpret these images and actions will be based on all of the contextual issues in combination. The middle school is situated in the Los Angeles County suburban community of Woodland Hills, California. After the Depression, Harry Warner of Warner Brothers bought vast amounts of land within the city and although most of the land Warner owned has been sold, the legacy of Harry Warner is felt with street names and the city’s Warner Center, which features business, residential and retail 85 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. space.4 5 The median income is almost $80,000 per year (twice the national average) and homes can range from mansions to more modest single-family track homes, ranging in price from $300,000 to over one million dollars 4 6 With 65,000 residents, 49% of the population is White with another 45% of the population Latino.4 7 Twenty-three percent of the residents are 15 years or younger. There are seven elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools within the city AO limits. Hale Middle School (the site for this project) lies near the northern most point of Woodland Hills, less than a mile from its neighboring city, Hidden Hills. The school sits on an entire block in the middle of a residential area in Woodland Hills, roughly a half mile from the nearest high school. This middle th school includes grades 6 through 8 and averages about 2000 students each academic year. There are over 30 homerooms for 8th graders alone at the school. As mentioned earlier in the methods section, it is one of the wealthier schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District with an operating budget of $12,000,000. It consistently scores high on the California’s Standardized Tests (CST). In fact, the school received designation as a “California Distinguished School” for academic achievement in 2001. Slightly over 50% of the student body is White, reflecting the larger community of Los Angeles County. A majority of the faculty and staff are White and all core administrators (principal, assistant principals) are White. 4 5 Information received from the Woodland Hills Chamber o f Commerce (2005). 4 6 http://www.woodland-hills-ca-living.com/. 4 7 The total population o f Woodland Hills, California is 65,000. However, racial/ethnic breakdowns are not available for Woodland Hills specifically. Therefore, these statistics are for Los Angeles County (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000). 4 8 U.S. Census Bureau (2000). 86 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The only office staff members of color are African-American and are the nurse and lead bus driver. These two women often function as the connection for the administration to the families of the children bussed in from other areas and are often de facto counselors for these children as well. There is only one entrance to the school. All other gates are locked during class time. Unlike many schools in inner areas of Los Angeles, there is never anyone sitting in the check in/security area at the entrance of the school. For the most part, anyone can walk into the administrative wing of the school and in some cases, through that wing and onto school grounds. The administrative wing is quiet except for the attendance office, which especially during breaks and in between classes is a hub of activity. This office served as home base during data collection. Given the amount of students that interface with the office, it was an ideal location to observe the children, and how they interact with each other and with the administration, which provided a larger glimpse into the culture of the school. After some time on campus, the young people were at ease with my presence. They would ask questions about my interest in ‘rap’, (either on their own or to sign up for a focus group) and interestingly, the girls that participated in the early focus groups took pride in “showing me o ff’ to their friends that did not get to participate. I was labeled “the rap lady” and was a bit of an oddity for them - an adult who likes rap. One of the girls that I interacted with in particular was fascinated with my interest in rap and equally as peculiar to her was my interest in talking to them about rap. 87 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Another example illustrates this same point. One of the girls from my first focus group came up to me in the halls of administrative wing and said she had a question for me. She wanted to know why I liked rap because she had never seen or known an adult to like it and that it had been on her mind since the group met (one week prior). This same girl asked that I schedule my follow up interview with her on the same day as Parent Day on campus, where parents come to school and bring lunch (usually McDonalds) to eat with their children. Although envisioned as a chance to integrate parents into the school’s activities and into their children’s lives, the sad outcome (as noted by the school staff) was a further marginalization of the children who were bussed onto campus. With parents living so far from the school and often not able to take time off work to attend the function, these children are left to eat by themselves while watching their fellow classmates (those from the neighboring residential areas) eat with their families. Instead of leaving after the interview, she asked me if I wouldn’t mind to come out onto the quad area with her for the rest of lunch. Scanning the quad area, I noticed that Parent Day created a quasi-segregated space - the White children and their parents sitting on the grass eating and laughing with each other, while the Black and Latino children bunched together in the picnic tables area eating regular school lunch often peering over at the White kids and their parents. As we settled down at one of the picnic benches, scores of boys and girls came up to the table (the only table with a White face - mine). It was a strange sensation as each child 88 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. took a moment or two to talk to me, while my original lunch date sat right next to me, watching over, monitoring the length of time with each child. These observations provided validation for some of the discussions during the focus groups and follow-up interviews. Many of these girls were surprised that someone wanted their opinions and conversely, were happy to know that their friends and peers shared the same opinions. The tensions and distinctions between bussed and non-bussed students were strong among the students themselves and among the school administration. The bussed students were lower income, students of color, predominantly Black and Latino. The bussed students were seen in a negative light but yet, when the bussed students were discussing their non-bussed counterparts, they did not talk about them any differently than they would other classmates. During three months of data collection at the school, there were four ‘lockdowns’ where the school grounds were closed with no one coming in and no one going out until the ‘situation’ calmed down (usually when the police arrived). ‘Situations’ included a father estranged from his family circling the school in his car with a gun in his lap, a streaker that first ‘ran through’ the high school and who was ‘loose’ in the neighborhood. Then, a fight between two boys that ended in a broken nose on one boy and a broken arm on the other. According to some of the staff and the students as well, the likelihood of a ‘situation’ more significant and serious was inevitable. With such a large number of students (including gangs, posses and crews), relative animosity between the bussed and non-bussed students 89 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and relatively few staff to supervise the students during breaks, the sentiments of the staff and students that “it is only a matter of time, before something happens” might not be far from the mark. A few months prior to data collection, the school had a general assembly to inform students, the girls in particular, about sexual harassment. After that assembly, reports and incidents of sexual harassment rose at the school exponentially and many boys were being brought into the Associate Principal’s office on sexual harassment charges. The AP’s office was inundated with these reports - all needing to be explored and/or verified. It is unclear how many of these reports were truly sexual harassment but in some respects, it didn’t matter. The unfortunate outcome was trepidation by the school administration to educate the students on these kinds of issues. In their minds, it was proof that young people can be easily influenced. They talked about the experience as if it had been a big mistake that was imposed on them by the larger body of the Los Angeles Unified School District, which mandated the sexual harassment training. Knowledge about this aspect of the school’s culture was important and useful. How different the following passage, taken from one of the follow-up interviews with the girls, would have been analyzed without it. I:4 9 Right. Do you think that guys start treating girls that they see everyday, like the way that they see the girls treated in the videos? 491 = Interviewer. 90 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G:5 0 Um, well sometimes when a guy sees a girl like big butt, with her big butt, they like smack it and stuff. I: So, you’ve actually seen them do that. G: Um hum. I: Have they ever done it to you? G: No. I: What would you do if somebody did that to you? G: Oh, I’d hit them and then charge them with sexual harassment. The context and situational factors at the school have an impact on the answers given by the girls and should inform the analysis of the data. This is a school with its own issues, concerns and tensions that influence how these girls think and act The climate in the school must be understood in the context of the community where it is located. The norms of behaviors at the school, the tensions between groups and even how they viewed me, inform the analysis of the data within this project. In fact, an analysis of this type should be couched within the context of place and time. These contextual issues color and influence the interpretations of these adolescent girls. In fact, the backgrounds of these girls also merit mention and discussion at this juncture. Along with background, the relationships between these girls with each other and even with rap music will inform the analysis of what they see and how they interpret the music. 5 0 G = Girl. In this case, the girl's identity is not used because it is an example to illustrate the climate o f the school and how it may affect the data and analysis. In the findings section, all girls who participated in a focus group and an interview will be given pseudonyms. The girls who participated in the focus group only will not have pseudonyms but will be referenced as G for girl. 91 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The Sampled Girls This section describes the demographics of the sampled girls with some discussion of the interactions between them. It is possible that youth see and interpret rap music based on their social, economic and emotional experiences with each other, at school and in the larger society. The girls in this sample are more diverse than the student body population, with just 10 out of the 31 girls being White and suburban. Additionally, there were 8 Latinas, 7 African-Americans, 4 bi-racial, 1 Asian and 1 ‘other’ girl. Reviewing racial category with bussed versus non-bussed status; race can almost be used as a proxy for class for the Latina girls. Six of the 8 Latina girls were bussed from South Los Angeles. Only three out of the seven Black girls were bussed to school. All of the White, Asian and bi-racial girls in the sample were from the surrounding neighborhoods. If one wanted to typify a “rap girl” in terms of style and dress within this sample, it would be impossible. These girls do not fit into any discemable or similar category and certainly resonate with the works of Gaines and Hersch on youth. By their own admission, there were tomboys, Goths, shy religious girls, cheerleaders and troublemakers. Yet, each had knowledge of the song that they were asked to listen to and watch, they knew the other girls participating in the study (across focus groups) and in fact, knew most of the student body of 2000 students, regardless of their age, race, class, bussed or not. They knew who was dating whom, who got in trouble, or who was in a gang. 92 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. If these girls were “Queen Bees,” they didn’t show it during the focus groups. Only one group had instances of cattiness. Although difficult to tell, mean girls do not seem to be the norm suggested in some of the popular books, such as Odd Girl Out. Yet, it is interesting that stereotypes affect these girls’ impressions of each other. They are intimidated by dress and style. Hillary5 1: The girls I didn’t know first of all I mean like you see someone dressed in black you think that they’re like really Goth like that, so . . . I was uncomfortable (at first) but those girls were funny. This sample was predominantly older with 24 out of 31 girls being 14 years old. There were no discernible differences between the two age groups. Personalities ran the gamut from extremely shy to outwardly social. Trying to make generalizations about this group of girls would be extremely difficult when viewing and observing them. They are a myriad of personalities, but as the analysis will present, they also shared similarities as adolescent girls in this school, in this society, and as consumers of rap music. Regardless of these girls’ interest in rap or in the actual video shown, they all knew the song, most had seen the video and knew about the artist, 50-cent, including his notorious past. As expected, a majority of the sampled girls listen to rap music on a daily basis (25 out of 31) and only 3 said they listened less than once a week (one because she was forbidden to listen to it in her home). When listening to the sampled video, five out of the seven focus groups sang along with the video. All seven groups talked to the video screen. The enjoyment of the 5 1 See Appendix F. 93 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. music as a collective activity was evident with the girls singing the song to each other and to the video screen, often gesturing with hands to heart or pointing to each other or the screen. Many sang the song with hints of emotion. Focus Group Composition Each of the seven focus groups had a ‘personality’ of its own. The following descriptions of the groups will give important context to the analysis and to the words of the girls themselves. Wishful Thinkers: This group of Latina girls was compromised of friends. One girl was noticeably silent during the discussion. Later, it was disclosed that she had had a fight with another girl the morning of the group discussion. These girls were very animated and spent a lot of the discussion time trying to talk through and understand what boys think and why they do the things that they do, especially when it came to dating. Some girls had already begun dating, others were on the brink, but all were interested in boys and romance. They seem annoyed, saddened and angered by the discussion of boys and dating but at the same time, were hopeful. The discussion sounded therapeutic as they agreed with each about one common theme that “the girls put in their part and the guys don’t put in their part.” These girls could have talked forever and in fact, continued their conversations with each other afterwards. They would come visit me in the attendance office after the focus group and in-depth interviews, inviting me to 94 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. come out onto the quad area. Their earnest desire to understand what romance, love and boys could be for them makes the name Wishful Thinkers fitting. Teachers'. This group of girls was racially heterogeneous with one Asian, two White girls and one Black girl. The group composition happened by accident. The Black girl was not in the original previously planned group but came with her friends because she thought her note regarding the focus group time and location was lost. This ‘surprise’ turned out fortuitous as this friendship group provided interesting observations, especially as it related to how race and gender interacted. One of the White girls, Brittany, was increasingly sarcastic and the Black girl, Malicka, was often relegated to answer questions about racialized images (e.g., rappers and gangsters). All the girls took turns discussing the topics. When asked why all videos look the same, they moved further than other groups and actually understood that the videos were like this for a reason, in particular to sell ‘stuff. When asked about the messages about women, they recognized that they are derogatory and explained how these impressions affect ‘life’ for women and girls. These girls spent time explaining to me what the various elements are in a rap video - how to distinguish gangsters and whores from wannabes, and their overall orientation to how ‘life’ is for girls. This group is called the “Teachers.” Rap Insiders: This group was comprised of Black girls who knew each other. Each one had an extremely strong personality. These girls spoke during the video itself, reacting to the video as it was playing. Most of their discussion 95 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. focused on the sexuality and attractiveness of the rappers singing in the video, but there were really two sides to their discussion - one focused on the romantic aspect of coupling with a rapper and the other, the more ‘sexual’ aspect (“he knows it is off the hook”).5 2 The video functions as a mechanism to engage each other in topics such as the physical attractiveness of boys. When asked about the girls in the video, the subjects expressed disgust but they liked the rappers taking off their shirts, which are reminiscent of Emerson’s (2002) findings that women engage in similar behaviors as males when they view and objectify women in rap videos (the ‘reverse gaze’). They realize that people watch these videos because of the naked girls. These girls also had different (insider) knowledge of rap videos because cousins, aunts and acquaintances were in rap videos. This knowledge, coupled with the authoritative way they talked during their discussion, makes the name, “Rap Insiders,” fitting for them. Popular Girls: This group was comprised of three White and one bi-racial girl. Two of the girls were friends and all were acquaintances with each other. These girls were difficult to schedule because of their involvement in plays, sports and other extracurricular activities. Yet, they were adamant in participating because of their interest in being in a study about rap music. Their discussions relied on the stereotypes (rapper = nice car, ‘medallions’, and gorgeous women). I did feel, at times, with this group that they were just telling me what they thought I 5 2 The insinuation is that the rapper will ‘get’ the girl. 96 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. wanted to hear. They had a hard time remembering the video and it was extremely difficult to get them to discuss the video and its contents. I wondered as I read over the transcript if this reticence had more to do with the fact that they had little or no previous exposure to the video, which also could have accounted for their reliance on stereotypes about rap. Because of their extracurricular activities and their desire for inclusion despite the obstacles, the group is named the “Popular Girls.” Rap Haters: This group consisted of five White girls. They knew each other but only two were good friends. The group was hard to control, with two dominant girls in the group trying to ‘one up’ each other. Even though they insisted that they were not rap fans, they were ‘knowledgeable’ about rap videos. However, they relied on stereotypic (racist) images of rappers. They talked about the hype surrounding the rappers but not really about the video itself and were more skeptical and critical about rap than the other groups. There were more racial and racist elements to their discussion than the other groups, although they disclosed attitudes and behaviors that coincided with the themes in rap music. For their criticisms of rap music and their continued statements about not being rap fans, this group will be referenced as the “Rap Haters.” Storytellers'. This group was composed of three Latinas and one bi-racial girl. They seemed interested in impressing each other with their stories. These girls knew the song and had seen the video multiple times. Women in videos were the very first thing they recognized. To these girls, videos project coolness which 97 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. is what boys want. The girls didn’t necessarily see eye to eye on all the issues but one girl tried to consistently lead the conversation while the others challenged her throughout. These girls moved in and out of discussing the video and ‘reality’ that, at times, was hard to follow as if there were two conversations going on. One of the girls was showing off a bit and had an interesting intonation to get people interested in what she was saying. As these girls were describing aspects of their lives, they described sexual objectification as a normal aspect of their lives. These experiences frightened them. At times, these girls tried to weave their comments into a story and therefore, they are the “Storytellers.” Pessimists'. This group was composed of one Black, two bi-racial and one girl who classified herself as ‘Other’. These girls are first time viewers of the video. Sexuality is the first thing they noticed, blaming it on consumerism. They stressed that they can enjoy the music without watching the video and there is nothing wrong with that. Through their discussions about watching (or not watching) rap videos, they connected consumerism to ‘sex’ in videos. They expressed a sense that there is nothing to be gained from objecting to a sexualized video; it is easier to change the channel. This group is called the “Pessimists.” The context of the girls’ lives will influence how they see and receive messages and images around them. Although not exhaustive, the contextual issues discussed in this chapter not only situate the analysis in actual lived experience but also allows for a more comprehensive glimpse into the lives of these girls. Without 98 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. it, their discussions and comments about rap music that make up the ‘data’ for this project would be hollow. The following two chapters will present what the girls see in rap music and how they feel about it in general, as it relates to their lives. Chapter V specifically will seek to illustrate what they see when they watch a rap video and listen to the lyrics. 99 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER V FINDINGS: GENDERED AND RACIAL REPRESENTATIONS IN RAP MUSIC “The Hottest Guys and the Bad Boys always get the Slutty Girls: 'Thug Love' and 'Video Whores' as Simultaneous Gendered and Racial Representations in Rap Music.” This research project, from the very beginning, has had the goal of understanding two important aspects of girls’ consumption of popular culture (what they see and hear in rap music and what they think about or how they interpret it). Chapter V contains information that tackles the first aspect, a basic but fundamental question, that asks specifically: (i) What do adolescent girls ‘hear’ when they listen to rap lyrics?; and (ii) What do they ‘see’ when they watch the videos? In order to begin to answer this question, this chapter will be separated into two distinct but ultimately related parts. The first section will focus on the messages within the music lyrics that invoke romantic ideals about interpersonal and heterosexual relationships. Incorporated within this section is how the lyrics of the sampled song illustrate or reinforce understandings about traditional and/or desirable heterosexual courtship and romance. The section provides insight into the impact of gendered expectations for girls and how these expectations may be mirrored and reinforced within what they hear in this song. 100 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. While the first section focuses on the gendered ways that these girls ‘hear’ the song, the second section grounds how gender and racial ideology may influence what is seen by these girls as they watch video images. Within this section, discussion centers on how stereotypic images of rappers, ‘video whores’ (women in videos who dress and act in sexually provocative ways), and rap fans influence girls’ beliefs about racial and gendered expectations presented in rap videos. At the conclusion of this section and chapter, the intersection between race and gender will be highlighted as a way to link the contradictions between what they hear and see in the song's representations. It will also serve as an introduction to the next chapter that focuses on how they interpret these contradictions. A Gendered Romance Narrative: ‘Thug Love’ The focus group participants had one consistent theme when discussing the lyrics of the video and that theme was heterosexual romance and love. Heterosexual romance and love was represented in the song lyrics to these girls and can be broken into distinct sub-themes for this discussion. For instance, the familiar and pervasive romance narrative about the good girl who meets the bad boy who changes his ways because he is in love with the good girl (‘thug love’, as one girl called it) was found in all of the focus group discussions. This narrative was expressed by the girls as a fantasy they had for the type of romance they desire, and the desire to have this fantasy resulted in a display of emotion. The narrative, with this emotional attachment, can be traced to already existing and internalized 101 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cultural scripts about romance and love. The ‘thug love’ narrative does not originate in this rap song or any other rap song for that matter. It exists in our culture and is valued for and by women. Other aspects covered in this section explore the ‘thug love’ narrative and how it affects teenage girls, including the effects of peers on the construction and value placed on the narrative. The reproduction of this narrative and other cultural scripts occurs on an interpersonal level and these girls are at a developmental stage where peers are increasingly important in their lives. As the girls begin to learn how to be part of a romantic relationship and other ‘adult’-like activities, they work through these understandings with each other. It is an uneasy process where words are often not available for young people to articulate their feelings. Interestingly, music lyrics become ‘the words’ for their feelings - the feelings they can't seem to articulate on their own. The contradictions inherent in this narrative, particularly how it compares to the video images, begin to emerge in these discussions as the two representations of the song are difficult to untangle. Their ability to discuss the narrative in contrast to the video image produces interesting contradictions in what they hear and see and will be the focus of the next chapter. This ‘thug love’ narrative is expressed by the Wishful Thinkers in the following dialogue: Jenelle: Yeah, when 50-cent was singing by himself and he was saying that he’ll change and that, that he is known as a pimp or whatever but he, he’ll change for her. That was my favorite part. 102 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Carla: Yeah. Jenelle: It’s like, he wants to get to know her, alright? Carla: Um huh. Teresa: Yeah. Jenelle: He’s into her. 50-cent, letting her know that he likes her or something. Carla: Letting her know that she should have confidence in him probably. Probably to not think he’s like just any guy. And that he’s not a player or nothing. F:5 3 And, so how does he do that? Teresa: By what he tells. Carla: When he’s singing he tells it, you know? And then like when he’s with that other girl, he looks at her and he follows her. And then there’s this other part when he says that he’s her homie. Teresa: And she can like trust him and she can like get to know him better. Carla: Yeah, I’m not your boyfriend, I’m your homie, that’s what he says. The girls in this dialogue are together describing the point of the song, using an approximation of the song lyrics. The aspects of the song that refer to the 'thug love' narrative are scattered throughout the entire song. The following lyrics provide the context for what they are listening to and how they describe it. 5 3 F = Facilitator. 103 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I think we make a perfect couple, but you think I’m trouble. If you read between the lines you can see that I want you. Make a decision shorty, good thangs don’t last long5 4 Although not exact, these girls have rephrased the song lyrics to reconstruct a version of the song that represents the ‘thug love’ narrative. These girls together have constructed the narrative though an interactive exchange and what is also apparent is the shared knowledge they have about this narrative. This narrative, for these girls, is the best part about the song. By reviewing the work of Simon Frith (1998), we can begin to understand the girls’ recollection of this ‘thug love’ narrative and the emotion they attach to the song. The aesthetics of music draw audiences into a song and the performance of the song gives the music its meaning (Fiske, 1998). What Fiske (1998) pointed out is that we use music to “place ourselves in cultural narratives” (124) and by doing so, we find out how we fit in our culture and how we relate to others. We become actors in our minds as the music’s narrative unfolds and each individual experiences the music differently (with some similarities). These differences are influenced by race, class, gender and age. Music is a process both for the individual and collective identity. For these adolescent girls, the musical narrative (in this case, the ‘thug love’ narrative) speaks to what is important to the girls, which does include their experiences and thoughts. It is also an interactive process as the previous dialogue shows, with the girls both agreeing to what their friends 54 Retrieved on 2/20/05 at http://getlyyrics.com/lyrics.php/G-Unit+F~+Joe/SHOW+LYRICS/ Wanna+Get+Know. 104 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. are describing, building on the previous comments and/or finishing each other’s thoughts. These girls may 'hear' similar narratives but, as we will see later in this chapter, may not claim it as representative for their own experiences or desires. When comparing “Wishful Thinkers’” recollection of the song lyrics to the other groups, these girls have actually combined verses of the song to construct and represent the ‘thug love’ narrative. These girls were selective in the words they heard, but this group was not the only one that ‘heard’ the ‘thug love’ narrative in the lyrics of the song. The Rap Insiders expressed a similar description. Leticia: He was talking about he likes this girl, telling her don’t worry about what happens and he like you know what she hear with somebody else. Stacey: It’s like don’t worry what happened before. Leticia: Just focus on him. When compared to the actual lyrics, these girls focused on the latter parts of the song: Don’t indulge in my past, what happened before you, Cause to me some bunnys gon’ hate you that never saw you.5 5 Both this example and the first one illustrate that ‘remembered’ lyrics are meant to fit into the conceptions of what these girls believe this song to represent. Some studies cast doubt on comprehension or memory of music content (Desmond, 1987; Greenfield et al., 1987). At least with the girls in this sample, that is not entirely 55 Retrieved on 2/20/05 at http://getlwrics.eom/lvrics.phD/G-Unit+F--+Joe/SHOW+LYRICS/ Wanna+Get+Know. 105 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. true. It may be more accurate to say that they comprehend and remember only parts of a song that have meaning to them or represent a salient idea or feeling. Emotional Attachment to ‘Thug Love’ Certainly, these girls are selective in the verse(s) they recollect that represent their initial reaction in determining what the song is about but the other lyrics in the song are problematic because they do not represent the ‘thug love’ narrative (as understood and defined by these girls). The data show that as these girls continue to discuss their feelings about ‘thug love’, however, they begin to run into contradictions between what they remember consciously about the song and the other elements or narratives present in the song. Before discussing the other competing narratives, one of the first issues these girls must deal with is the fact that this is just a fantasy, no matter how they wish it were their reality. These girls, as represented in the following passage from the Wishful Thinkers, seem to straddle the desire to see this narrative come true with the realization that it will not. Carla: It’s so sweet because I don’t know, it’s just like, I have this fantasy, Whenever I have my first, well, I already had a boyfriend, but a long time ago, but when I get into high school, I just wish that a guy could tell me that my boyfriend could tell me to trust him. Maria: But guys never say that. Teresa: Exactly. F: So what do they say? 106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Teresa: Nothing. Maria: Do you want to go out? Jenelle: Um hum! Teresa: I know! Jenelle: Yeah! Maria: It’s like the comment they make like oh yeah, you have a big butt or something This passage points out both the wishes and desires of an adolescent girl (to have a boyfriend to trust) but also it speaks to much more. These girls are at an age where romantic relationships are a focus for them. They also have their understanding about how boys will act in these relationships. We can begin to see how the girls see themselves in the eyes of boys. For instance, their bodies are objectified by boys (“You have a big butt.”). Although these adolescent girls have their reading for the lyrics and can apply it to their wants and desires in their own lives, they are able to distinguish reality from fantasy. As they make these distinctions, it is unavoidable to notice their frustration and/or confusion as to why boys do not act up to their expectations. The ‘thug love’ narrative, because it begins with ‘bad boys’, actually makes girls more hopeful. A boy, according to this narrative, may start out with “Oh yeah, you have a big butt” but turn into a sweet boyfriend who says “you can trust me.” As they describe the song lyrics (the narrative they construct it to be) and how it compares to their personal interaction with boys, the intensity of emotion vacillates 107 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. from excitement to frustration, confusion and even, anger. Music elicits an emotional response because it evokes personal expectations and experience. Carla: Because in some, some really make you cry. Like the first time I saw "I don’t wanna know", I was like crying. I was like oh my god! It bums, it bums! The song Carla, a Latina girl from the “Wishful Thinkers,” describes is about a man who finds out his girlfriend is cheating on him. She relates to this song emotionally because she uses it to describe how disappointment settles in when a boyfriend or girlfriend cannot be trusted. In fact, the emotion used by some of the girls to recount the ‘narrative’ in the song was so strong that it was even observed when they were singing along to the sampled song during the initial viewing. They would not only sing along but would also gesture and point to the video as they sang, glancing and singing to each other. This happened in five out of seven focus groups. The song had a visceral effect as seen in these reactions and as they discuss the narrative. The music is personal and represents the concerns and issues these girls are dealing with in their lives. Attachment of emotions to music has been found within the literature (Fiske, 1998). If you incorporate this into the developmental process that occurs during adolescence, music may be a mechanism for understanding new feelings and emotions and the confusion that goes with them. 108 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Adolescent Romance: Interaction Between Development and Cultural Scripts Girls (and boys) begin to develop interest in each other and especially in romantic coupling during this adolescence. Research on adolescent romantic relationships is, surprisingly, an understudied area. However, the research that has been done suggests that these relationships impact an adolescent’s well-being, both negatively, such as influencing depression (Joyner & Udry, 2000), and positively such as influencing self-worth or self-esteem (Connolly & Konarski, 1994). Adolescent romantic relationships are also central to in-group membership and social status (Collins, 2003). From a developmental perspective, romantic relationships that begin in adolescence can be characterized by four linear phases. Beginning in early adolescence and ending in early adulthood, the four phases (initiation, status, affection and bonding) provide a foundation for understanding how individuals develop toward an ‘adult’ romantic relationship (Seiffge-Krenke, 2003). Within each phase, certain activities and emotions are worked through and each phase builds on the previous one(s). The Initiation Phase is characterized by initial sexual interest in coupling and from there, progresses to the Status Phase which centers on selection of desirable dating partners and how these decisions are seen by their peers (Seiffge-Krenke, 2003). The last two phases happen in late adolescence and early adulthood, starting with the third phase, Affection. During this phase, romance becomes intense, personal and committed. The fourth and final phase is Bonding, which centers on long-term commitments (Seiffge-Krenke, 109 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2003).5 6 Although these phases operate in a sequence, there is no set timeframe for each phase except for an approximation, because individuals develop at different rates. When reviewing these phases, one can estimate that the sampled girls are probably between the first and the second phases in this model (Initiation and Status). We have some evidence of this through the recollection of the song. First, the mere fact that they heard the romance aspects in the song is significant. As they discuss the narrative, rappers become a proxy for boys as they describe their love and trustworthiness. I: Can you explain that a little bit more to me like what was the feeling of that? Sally: Like when a guy’s trying to get a girl. They have to use that attitude and just like how some guys get girls and it makes a girl feel like, oh, OK, well If they’re being like so gentle and that’s how the song was. Well that’s how guys get girls. Sally’s expectations for boys are mirrored in what she sees and hears in this song. This ‘thug love’ narrative reinforces what is really an existing cultural script about dating that informs women about what is a desirable romantic partner - HE is good-looking, with a great body, has a lot of money but also has many girlfriends and is interested in women's ‘looks’. The linkage between emotion and music works as a mechanism to understand and deal with cultural scripts about love and 5 6 Brown (1999); Connally & Goldberg (1999); Shilman & Seiffge-Krenke (2001). 110 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. romance. The use of rap songs to do this becomes significant, especially when rappers epitomize desirable boys in adolescent girls’ fantasies. Sally continues: Rappers always have a girl in the music video and I don’t know what kind of message that’s sending out but I guess they want to not just attract the guys but to attract the girls and if a girl like sees a really pretty girl with like a bad guy, like a bad boy, it kind of is like, hey, maybe we should dress like that so we can get a bad boy. She states that to try to get the desirable guy, it is necessary to give him what he wants - a pretty girl who dresses like the girls in the videos. The attraction to this ideal (‘bad boys’) also suggests that girls axe concerned with peers’ reaction to their choice in boys to date, which coincides with the Status phase of the adolescent dating model. For these girls, the right kind of person is the 'bad boy' and popularity is tied to catching him. The ‘thug love’ narrative is part of larger cultural scripts for adolescent girls, as they try to understand roles and expectations about romance and love. Cultural scripts about traditional love and romance usually place women in submissive positions without active sexual agency (Meyer-Bahling & O’Sullivan, 2003). Cultural scripts provide norms for a variety of expectations about behavior including sexual behavior. Girls learn dominant cultural scripts about romance and love from various sources (e.g., culture, peers, parents and/or schools) and one common script has elements of the ‘thug love’ narrative. One of the most important sources of cultural scripts, significant in terms of impact on understanding and learning these scripts, are their same sex peers (Giordano, 2003). I ll Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. What is less clear in the literature on adolescent romance is where and how these cultural scripts are learned. In no way is the suggestion here that girls learn these scripts from rap music alone, but it certainly does reinforce them. Rap is one of the many potential sources of information and cultural scripts available to young people. The last examples show how the narrative provides hope for love and romance that produces ideals about relationships that boys cannot possibly meet, and influences beliefs and attitudes about acceptable behavior to obtain this ideal. I: Why do you think they feel like they (the girls in the video) need to act like that? Teresa: Because they know that the guy doesn’t like her and they think that they need to get him or trap him or something, but I heard that you should like live true, you should be yourself or something and that so the guy could like you and if he doesn’t then, oh well, you can’t do anything about it. It is hard. If you really like the guy, it’s really hard to keep yourself distant because he doesn’t like you. It’s totally hard. Teresa shows the pervasiveness of ‘wanting’ to achieve the ideal or fantasy. Teresa knows it is wrong to 'trap' a guy, but she also feels the pull of reaching the ideal, the intense and probably new emotions, and the desirable status that she will obtain if she is dating the bad boy. These girls know this narrative as a part of a larger cultural script about men and women and are aware of the status markers about romance in larger social life. To summarize, we know from a developmental perspective that adolescent girls at this age are learning about and experimenting with ‘dating’, intimacy and sexuality. This video triggers, for them, an already understood narrative regarding 112 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. a desirable romantic relationship - ‘thug love’. We also know that the developmental paradigms spend less time on the external, societal influences on how the behaviors and attitudes form and yet, as this discussion has suggested, external factors do influence what is internalized and how it is valued. Further research on how external factors influence internalized expectations about adolescent romantic relationships will lead to a better understanding about adolescent feelings of depression, self-worth and overall well-being. The Influence of Peers One external factor that must be included in any discussion of how scripts are internalized and valued is peers. The influence between adolescents proves instrumental in helping to shape attitudes and behaviors. I: When you left that day what did you think about what we talked about? Carla: I was just thinking that I needed to watch more videos so that I could come up with more opinions. I was just thinking oh I’m gonna get home and do my homework and then see what I think about some other videos or something. What I liked or what I disliked. I think that we were able to understand things better and we were allowed to show our opinions what we thought about the videos and everything. I: So you would like to have more opportunities to do that? Carla: Yeah. We were just talking about like our life, to learn stuff. 113 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For Carla, the interaction between her peers and herself sparked an interest to think more actively about what she liked and disliked. Discussions with her peers allowed her to further understand what is going on in the world around her. Is she more critical of the videos she watches? How much of her current opinions came from the discussion? Without a history of her media beliefs and literacy, there is no way to really tell within the limits of this project, but what is crucial here is the salience of the discussions to her at that time. In addition, peer influence can come in many forms. For instance, it can also be in the form of rejecting peers' attitudes and behaviors as well. I: Was there anything interesting that they were talking about? Hillary: Well, not really ‘cause I relate to them and everything, so there wasn’t really that much interesting other than when the girl said that they were laughing after guys touch their butt. I: Yeah, what did you think about that? Hillary: I mean I would be like “OK why did you just do that?” I wouldn’t be like laughing or anything. When I asked my friends that same question they said, “Oh, we would just leave it alone.” I was like what? I don’t know, ‘cause I asked one of my friends and she said oh we think it’s like a compliment, like we’re pretty or something. But I mean seriously, there are guys at our school in 7th grade that try to pull girls’ skirts just to see their thongs. Hillary, a member of the “Rap Haters,” was surprised by the disclosure in the focus group discussion and it was salient enough for her to investigate this further with her close friends. To her dismay, they also condoned the sexual objectification and 114 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. actually, considered it a compliment. However, this girl was still not swayed based on her own observations or her own experience, about boys and their invasion of a girl's privacy and body. What is also important is that she explored her understanding and impressions by asking her friends. It is normative process at this age to arrive at an opinion or attitude through interpersonal dialogue. These girls tease out and internalize these scripts by discussing them with same sex peers, by comparing them to what they see happening around them and by acting them out with “romantic partners.” I: Anything surprising? Something that you hadn’t thought about before? Teresa: Yeah, when Carla said that her boyfriend was like that, and I know her, I know who her boyfriend is, and I was surprised, I didn’t know he was like that, thought he was like that but she said that he wasn’t. For Teresa, she now knows someone who has had ‘thug love’, which solidifies its desirability and validity with her. The literature suggests that idealizing romance in this manner is more prevalent in Latinas than African-American girls (O’Sullivan & Meyer-Bahlburg, 2003). The White and Latina girls were more likely to idealize and fantasize about love and romance, but the Black girls were certainly aware of the cultural scripts. Suggesting that race is a factor in determining whether to idealize love and romance with cultural scripts is just one factor of many because the Black girls were aware of these scripts surrounding idealized love and romance in ways to similar to the White and Latina girls. The White girls were aware but less likely to idealize love and romance using this script of thug love. What may be 115 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. more accurate is to contextualize these scripts. Although all of the girls in the sample knew the ‘thug love’ narrative and shared a common knowledge regarding this cultural script, the differences might be better explained by personal and interpersonal experiences as well as engagement with the mechanism (rap song/video) by which they receive the script and not their racial category. This nuance has not been isolated in the literature thus far. Reception of symbols for the ‘thug love’ narrative is influenced by many factors, both intrinsic and extrinsic, for each individual. Competing Feelings and Attitudes About ‘Thug Love’ All seven of the focus groups, at one time during the discussion, brought up the ‘thug love’ narrative in some manner but not all of the groups identified with the narrative. The White and heterogeneous groups were less likely to feel the strong emotional connection between the narrative and their own lives, suggesting a racial dimension to the adoption or belief in this narrative. What was a larger predictor of the belief in the narrative, however, was the level of rap music consumption.5 7 The groups and girls who listened to rap every day were more likely to believe or wish for ‘thug love’, suggesting these types of narratives can be found in rap love songs. Although discussed more fully in the next chapter, the girls have difficulty with defending what they heard in the song (the narrative) as 5 7 A table o f the sample is found in the Methods section and in Appendix F. 116 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. they compare it to some of the competing images and messages within this same song. Popular Girls Sally: They (the rappers) just wanna try to make themselves look flashy and stuff. Then they forget about what they are trying to say. Eve: Maybe he didn’t put any emotion into it, he’s like saying all this stuff but that’s like oh, he’s just like saying it like you were just like talking to someone. As this passage suggests, romantic relationships found within rap music contradict with the other elements of a rap song. In truth, ‘thug love’ has elements that are in tune with typical rap elements. The women in the ‘thug love’ narrative are sexually aggressive and often are depicted as materialistic, manipulative, distrustful and a threat to a man's heart and soul (Emerson, 2002; Rose, 2003). As this depiction of women as the ‘video whore’ was confronted by the girls, the contradictions between what they heard and these other elements were hard to deny, but they held strong to the narrative to understand boys’ behavior. Carla: He’s like a pimp or a player or whatever you wanna call it but then he falls in love with this girl and that’s why he calls the girl. I: And how did you know that he fell in love with her. Carla: Because he was dedicating like the song to her. I: So what kind of guy is this kind of guy? 117 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Carla: A sweet guy that thinks about what girls will see and will think, will think about, will think about these things. They actually think what they’re going to say before they even think of it and that hurts your feelings or something. You know what I think? I think that guy was like a pimp before and then he met this girl and he really likes her now so he just wants to get away from everything else and just go with him, go with her or something, that’s what I think. I: What about the rest of you? Is this realistic? Carla: Yeah, sometimes. This dichotomy between their fantasy and their reality hangs very precariously in these girls’ minds. Their discussions vacillate and ideas often contradict as they discuss boys and their desires for this particular romantic fantasy. What is also interesting about the above passage is the ‘backstory’ that Carla has developed to explain the song lyrics and why they were written. She is juxtaposing a life experience (boy hurting her/someone’s feelings) with the song lyrics and by combining them; she is processing or understanding why a boy would act like that. In Carla’s mind, she holds fast to the ideas that bad boys can be good and more importantly, they want to be. Other girls in the sample use real life experiences or examples to prove that the ‘thug love’ narrative does reflect what boys do. Maria: My best friend, a guy, he used to play with all kind of girls in the same slum and the girls don’t even know. Jenelle: Ohh. Maria: Everybody knew except them that he was playing them. Jenelle: Yeah. 118 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Maria: And then he like started liking my friend, but since that time, he really started liking her, he didn’t like her like the other girls. He liked her so he stayed with her, he’s like forget them and he changed a lot. F: So you do see that this does happen? Jenelle: Yeah! Maria: It does. This is another example, taken from the “Wishful Thinkers,” of real life versus fantasy merging in these girls’ discussions. In this case, to validate the fantasy as something that can happen. During their discussion, the Wishful Thinkers use the same technique but with very different conclusions. F: So how do you know that? Carla: Because, I mean my cousin’s boyfriend, he doesn’t do anything to her, he’s not like sweet, but she’s like so nice with him and he doesn’t say nothing. Maria: It’s all ‘cuz the girls put in their part and the guys don’t put their part. As the Wishful Thinkers search for ways to bridge their wants and desires to the reality of life for them, it is ironic that they express the idea that a song like this can be used to teach boys (especially, the bad one) how to be in a romantic relationship - to become the fantasy. I: Um, what did you think of that video? Maria: I thought, I think that guys should really listen to that video. And it was, his overall motto or whatever, I think they should really listen to them and you know think about what they’re doing before they do it. 119 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I: So, and you’re talking about the lyrics? Maria: Yeah. What Maria, a member of the “Wishful Thinkers,” illustrates is how her initial 'hearing' of the song, the ‘thug love’ narrative, remains strong even with the contradictions and examples provided by others. Using the example in another way, the confusion and frustration that the girls come across as they begin to interact with adolescent boys is strong. These girls have internalized not only what types of boys are desirable, but the expectations for behavior from boys and girls, as illustrated in by the Storytellers. F: They’re using girls for what? G: Like toys. G: Like prizes. G: Like toys in this video. G: In the music videos, why don’t they put guys like this (as toys or prizes)? F: Why do they put girls in there? G: A guy with more girls is like master. fO G: And a guy with only one girl is like a boring guy. 5 8 Focus groups 6 & 7 were not interviewed and thus, it was not possible to assign names to the group members. 120 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In an ironic twist, the internalization of these expectations for boys has not only compromised the girls in the ways already described but through these expectations, other types of boys, boys with only one girl, become unfamiliar, and these girls are at a loss with how to interact with them, too. Girls come to expect bad behavior first in boys, and when a boy is nice or shy, this becomes disconcerting for these girls. Nice or shy boys may actually be healthier partners, but there are not many narratives or scripts about the good guy, especially in rap music. Carla: There’s some nice guys but they’re kind of scary you know. F: They’re kind of scary? What do you mean? Carla: Yeah, like, they’re scary, they’re like really shy but they say nice things on letters. Maria: But they never say it in our face, huh? Teresa: Yeah! Maria: They always just write it in letters and oh you’re pretty but they never say it in your FACE. Like, you ask him what did you say in the letter and then he’s just like this and that. Carla: Like, I like what you wear, I like your clothes. Maria: I know! Like, they don’t know how to comment on a girl they don’t know what like to say if they say I like how you have a butt, they think that we’re going to say oh thanks, you know. 121 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. What these girls (the Wishful Thinkers) have done is reconstruct this shy boy to be more like the bad boy in order to know how to deal with him. Cultural scripts such as ‘thug love’ equip girls with the potentially dangerous tools - to expect bad behavior from boys, to allow them to objectify you and to desire the behavior and objectification because you need to Took good’ in the eyes of your peers. Cultural scripts provide these girls with an outlet to understand their feelings, their attraction to boys and how to ‘act’ in romantic relationships. This is an interactive process where they take these cultural scripts and with their peers, determine the expectations of both girls and boys and strive to reach these expectations. Media as a reinforcer of these cultural scripts has an important function for young people. The Uneasy Position: The Female Rap Fan The pervasiveness of rap songs in an adolescent’s life, where songs can be heard on the radio, on a video channel like MTV or BET or downloaded onto a personal stereo (MP3, Walkman, boom box), leads to an integration of songs into our conversations because rap music also supplies words for feelings and emotions. As the girls negotiated these messages and images, they often contradicted themselves and sometimes had difficulty finding words to convey their thoughts. In fact, the girls often used lyrics of songs to prove their points when discussing issues during the focus groups. They quoted from this song and other songs 122 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. suggesting that lyrics of a song may offer ways to put words to feelings that these girls have for which they are unable to compose words on their own. Critical media theorists often use the word polysemy to explain how different consumers will interpret a cultural or media symbols differently and assign different meanings to these symbols (Carragee, 2003; DeRose et al., 2003). The factors influencing what is interpreted or salient to a person are numerous (gender, race, class, political ideology) and can change given the circumstances or situation. Thus, even the same person can derive different meanings or interpretations or ‘get something’ different out of a form of media each time. A related concept, intertextuality, refers to the idea that appearance of similar images and messages across a variety of cultural or media texts.5 9 For instance, as the discussion moved to how the girls felt when boys treated them poorly, words were difficult to find and consequently, a rap song took on a new meaning or was used as a way to explore and explain their feelings. The following passage is from the “Wishful Thinkers,” where the girls used song lyrics to explain how they feel when boys treat them badly. Although not apparent at first, the words they are using are from another hip hop song, “Not Today,” by Mary J. Blige (featuring Eve). Teresa: It’s like you can’t play me today, you can’t like I don’t know like. It’s like maybe he is been playing on her for a long time. But she said not today. 5 9 See Meinhof & Smith (2000). 123 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Jenelle: Yeah not today like maybe she realized that she was wrong with that guy. Teresa: She was blind or something. Jenelle: Yeah. The song’s actual lyrics illustrate how they paraphrased the lyrics to get their points across, much like they did with the sampled song. Promises you told me everyday That you made you never ever kept By me I really want to believe But not today, not today, not today But now you can be on your own way Cause I don't want you to stay.6 0 As the girls’ discuss the world around them, making sense of how they feel, song lyrics become a mechanism to express their thoughts and feelings. The paradox, however, occurs when you review the lyrics from these songs. The song’s lyrics do not entirely depict a romantic, “sweet and innocent” courtship. In fact, much of the lyrics in the sampled song suggest a much different picture. There is a competing narrative depicting women that contradicts the “sweet and innocent” description of the song lyrics heard by these girls. For instance, one of the girls quoted a phrase of the sampled song (“I’m not your boyfriend. I am your homey.”). That phrase was mentioned in four out of seven focus group discussions. Although they did remember this phrase, what they didn't remember was the lyrics that came right before it (what they remembered is in bold). 6 0 Retrieved on June 6, 2005 at www.azlyrics.com. 124 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Now bitches be frustrated with a bailer, wonder why I don’t call her Maybe because I’m busy and she need someone to spoil her It get annoying, from time to time I gotta ignore her Surroundin’ me, houndin’ me, tryin to by my ON-LY I’m not your boyfriend, I'm your homey.6 1 These lyrics suggest a very different depiction (narrative) than what the girls describe. The importance, however, lies in what they ‘heard’ and what makes that narrative salient to them. When you add the images of the video, this alternate depiction of women (as suggested in the song lyric passage above) dominates. Yet, all seven focus groups saw the ‘thug love’ narrative and many of the girls used it to make sense of their emotions and experiences. Although the next section of this chapter discusses the video images more thoroughly, when one overlaps the verbal messages in the romance narrative with the messages of the images in the video, it is apparent that the value placed on romance and desiring (and then, changing) the bad boy weighs heavier and is more salient for these girls than the alternative depiction. That is not to say they do not see the alternate depictions, but they occupy a separate space in their understanding. Given the difference between what the girls hear and the entire lyrics of the song, this project, therefore, appears to offer some support to the idea that individuals do use media to satisfy a need and thus, may only ‘see’ or ‘hear’ certain aspects within media, in this case, a song. The uses of rap music for these 6 1 Retrieved on June 6, 2005 at www.azlyrics.com. 125 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. adolescent girls echo those of the classic study on daytime serials that produced the Uses and Gratifications model (Lowery & DeFleur, 1995). The sample was female and the researchers found that serials were ‘used’ by women for emotional release, wishful thinking or valuable advice (Lowery & DeFleur, 1995). Another scholar, Radway (1991), completed a similar study surveying women's use and interest of romance novels. These women used romance novels in two contradicting ways. On one hand, the novels provided a mechanism to ‘escape’ from the traditional feminine roles of housewife and mother as well as from subservient and docile behavior. On the other hand and paradoxically, these novels also reinforced patriarchal order, with the latter being more prominent (Radway, 1991). However, it is important to understand that for these women, the media text(s) “fulfills certain basic psychological needs for women that have been induced by the culture and its social structures but often remain unmet in day-to- day existence as the result of concomitant restrictions on female activity” (Radway, 1991, 113). Thus, for these women, reading romance novels gives opportunities to use them as both escapism and therapy. We can apply the findings from both the Use and Gratifications model presented by Lowery & DeFleur (1995) and Radway’s work (1991) to this study as well. The sampled song in this project with its theme of romance became an emotional release as they used it to sort out their frustrations and aspirations for romance. What differs, however, is the reading of rap songs for these girls is more complicated because they do place themselves in the part of the heroine (the good 126 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. girl who gets the bad boy) but in order to do this, they must deal with the alternate image of the promiscuous woman. In addition, these girls also use the song to understand and solidify their ideas about romance and romantic expectations, which makes them different from the romance readers, many of whom are married. Therefore, the song holds for these adolescent girls various functions - which are positive and negative AND contradictory and complementary - occurring simultaneously at they engage the rap video. Their ability to negotiate these contradictions is important to disentangle. ‘Thug Love’ and Adolescent Girls: A Summary Before moving to the next section of this chapter, there are some points to summarize regarding how these girls discussed the ‘thug love’ narrative. All of the focus groups saw the ‘thug love’ narrative. Only two out of the seven did not display emotional attachment to the music - the Rap Haters and the “Storytellers.” The dynamics in these two groups were different than the other five and may explain the deviation since there was not an apparent pattern in their consumption of rap music, their racial status or geographic residence (e.g., suburb versus urban). The Rap Haters were self-reported non-rap fans and adamant about their dislike for the music. The “Storytellers,” although not insistent on their dislike of the genre, were more concerned with the stories they could tell, as stated in the previous chapter, which may have had an impact on their reaction to the narrative that was irrespective of the song lyrics and imagery. It is difficult with the information 127 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. available about these two groups to determine the factors that may have influenced their thoughts about the song that deviated from their peers in the other focus groups. What this does suggest is the potential influence of group dynamics on the content of a discussion which causes certain topics to emerge and others to remain unvoiced. Emotional attachment to the narrative differed by race. The outright declaration by some of these girls (particularly, the Rap Haters) that they were not rap fans speaks to the way in which these girls distance themselves from the images and messages within the song. Separating themselves from ‘rap fans’ allowed them to critique what was heard. As they construct the image of themselves, they contrast themselves to what they are not (not Black - White; White - not rap fan; not rap fan - not emotionally attached to the content). The literature on White interest in rap music, without empirical data, seems to provide similar findings (Dawson, 1999; Kelley, 1996; Rose, 1994) as well as echoes the work by Stuart Hall. Along with race, both masculinity and femininity can be constructed through social interaction and disclosure, which can include engagement with popular culture in the process (Fausto-Sterling, 1997). As an aspect of popular culture, rap music has the potential to influence gender and scripts for gendered interactions. The emphasis within the popular culture literature has been focused on boys and less so on girls (Fausto-Sterling, 1997). Yet, these girls use rap music for validation and exploration of cultural scripts on love and romance. Music and 128 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. music narratives produce a mechanism for these girls to voice their discomfort, concerns and/or desires about the gendered and other expectations in social life. Music can also be the mechanism to solidity an existing cultural script. For these girls, music of all genres provides the words to express their feelings and desires surrounding courtship and romance. G: It (the sampled video) is like In the Hoobastank video F: Um hum. G: You know have you guys seen that? They keep the girl in the car. G: Yeah, and then they just distract them when they go rob the thing. This example from the Storytellers above is about a Hoobastank (a rock/alternative rock band with White band members) video which contains similar images and messages to which these girls, the “Storytellers,” can relate. White girls may more readily to identify with Hoobastank because it is an alternative rock band with White members, suggesting that racial identification of musical genres and artists will influence the reception and connection that individuals have with music. The images in the Hoobastank video are not different from the images in the sampled video. Developmentally, these girls are at an age where they are beginning to be interested in and experiment with interpersonal romantic relationships. Although a surprisingly understudied area, research on adolescent romance does suggest that at this age, girls develop an interest in boys and are more concerned with social 129 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. acceptance of their dating choices. The primary method by which these girls work through the mechanics around gendered expectations regarding behavior are with each other is through observation. Girls (and boys) get cues for the mechanics and expectations by way of cultural scripts. These scripts provide girls and boys with insight on normative behavior for romantic relationships. These scripts are gleaned from multiple locations and are combined for a picture of ‘normal’ dating. We do know that scripts surrounding romance and love show males in dominant positions with females in submissive ones. There are many different scenarios from “Love at First Sight” to “Romeo and Juliet” (Gallician, 2003). Interestingly, the one study that targets romance cultural scripts focusing on visual and audio representations does not cover the elements in the ‘thug love’ narrative (Gallician, 2003). The ‘thug love’ narrative is not synonymous with traditional romance and love scripts in this society, especially White heterosexual love as Malicka from the Teachers describes: I: But this 50-cent video is talking about love, isn’t it? Malicka: Kind of. It’s like getting to love. Its not like true love, like 'Oh, I love you' and stuff like that. It’s more like the kind of the gangster kind of love relationship. Where it is found, or is more common, is in the literature regarding Black dating styles and love. The ‘thug love’ narrative, even within academia, has been cast as an issue for Black women, even though conventional wisdom suggests this narrative/script is known by women from all racial groups (as evidenced in this project). The racial assignment attached to the ‘thug love’ narrative is found in 130 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. both academic and popular works and may explain why Black/Latina girls identify more emotionally with it than White girls do. Elements of ‘thug love’ are actually synonymous with elements of rap storylines (e.g., rapper = player = pimp = gangster = thug) and therefore, it makes sense that identifying both rap music and ‘thug love’ as aspects of Black culture and Black social life would happen on both societal and interpersonal levels. That said, it can still be found to be pertinent for other racial groups as well. Eve: I’d go on the beach with him. Katie: If he’s like a pimp, I would. F: Would you be a little bit more lenient with him? Katie: I’d give him another chance. Race and gender interplay in the identification within this narrative from the ‘Popular Girls’ and its relationship to actual lived experiences but as this example illustrates, behaviors and attitudes are the same regardless of race. This effort to distinguish who is a rap fan versus who is not produces an interesting space where White girls can enjoy the aesthetics of the genre and yet distance themselves from the negative aspects of it. They are voyeurs to ‘Black’ music and culture because of it. Although they may strive to answer the same question or engage in the same behaviors, these girls interacted with the narrative differently depending on their exposure to the genre and because of their race. In the next section, the 131 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. discussion will focus on how race affected the ways girls interpreted the imagery in this rap video and how race and gender stereotypes are found within these images. The interaction of race and gender on how and what these girls retain does influence their understanding regarding racial and gendered expectations. A Racialized Image: The ‘Video Whore’ This section focuses on what the girls are seeing when they watch the song’s video. The stereotypes of the rapper and the ‘video whore’, mentioned briefly earlier, are prevalent as these girls discuss the video. These girls use mechanisms to make sense of the contradiction between the image of the ‘video whore’ and the ‘thug love’ narrative in the song lyrics. These mechanisms vary by race. Race and gender intersect in how the song is heard and seen by these girls and suggest that the levels of tension felt by the girls because of these contradictions are dependent on this intersection. Rebecca: I think this is the first video with 50-cent. Debbie: It’s his crew thing. Rebecca: I could be wrong. I’m confused. Yeah, that’s 50-cent. Debbie: I have a question. If he doesn’t take off his body suit, then you have to see them making love. Rebecca: Oh, you are so sick. No, I don’t think he would take it off for that. Debbie: You never know. 132 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Rebecca: He’d be like, oh, my girl’s gonna shoot me. They’d be having monkey love or whatever. This passage was a dialogue between two of the Rap Haters as the video was playing. The connotation of the phrase ‘monkey love’ adds to the overall mocking tone of the passage, and distaste for the song and the artists, but arguably, it suggests a lot more. Within this dialogue, a stereotypic depiction of men and how they approach romance and intimacy arises. This passage becomes stereotypic and racially charged because the Rap Haters are White and the artists in the video they are mocking are Black. Racial undertones, specifically stereotypical ones, were described by many of the girls regardless of their race or of their rap music consumption. Before beginning our discussion of these racial markers, one distinction needs to be made. It is both interesting and important to note that the salient gendered markers for these girls were found in what they ‘heard’ in the lyrics of the song, and as will be apparent shortly, the salient racial markers can be found in what they ‘saw’ in the images of the song's video. How they integrate these two disparate versions of the song will be described here and continued in the next chapter. Race and gender begin to intersect in how the girls (on both an interpersonal and intrapersonal level) interpret and integrate what they see and hear in the video. In fact, Emerson (2002) suggests that music videos, particularly, rap music videos, are arenas for “the ways in which race, gender, class and sexuality intersect” (116). 133 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The most salient image in the video, for this sample, was the ‘video whore’. Each focus group discussed this depiction and each girl who completed a follow-up interview brought it up as well. As in the previous section, these girls related the video images to real life around them but were careful, even adamant, that the images did not represent their experience. Eve: It sorta looks like the girls in those videos, we watch them everyday. It sorta puts this perception on women that they’re just easy and they just dress like that and they just go with the guys but it’s not always like that. You know but maybe other people when they watch it they get that idea and things change. That’s how everything gets started. As Eve from the Popular Girls group was discussing the gendered markers about romance, she was targeting the lyrics of the song - the words they were hearing. When the girls discuss the racial markers, they are focusing on the video - the images they were seeing. Although some of the lyrics were misogynistic, the analysis illustrated earlier that the girls overlooked them and focused on the lyrics consistent with the romance narrative for their use in their lives. It is much harder to overlook the video images and thus, regardless of race or consumption levels, all of these girls did see the negative and stereotypic portrayals of women. These two contradicting representations of the song create a dichotomy that, ultimately leads to a paradox these girls must confront. On the one end, these girls ‘see’ and ‘hear’ a romance narrative that, for some, evokes strong emotional responses but on the other end, the images are misogynistic and they recognize this too. How do the 134 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. girls deal with this dichotomy or dilemma and the resulting paradox? Do they tolerate the images or do they resist them? Racial Differences in Viewing Rap Images It is accurate to state that the White groups were more likely to use racial (or in their case, racist) markers to discuss and explain the video content. Hillary: I didn’t see anything. It was technically all shadowy. All I saw were their lips shiny. Rebecca: A lot of Black girls wear lip gloss. Hillary: I KNOW!!! Rebecca: It’s true. I don’t really care for rap that much, oh, I do a little bit. Debbie: But thug guys and gang. Rebecca: Well, they’re a boy band. Debbie: Yeah, but they are Black. As this passage suggests, for the “Rap Haters,” the racial aspects inherent in the video are salient and there is a heavy reliance on stereotypes, particularly for Black men and women. Rappers have come to represent authentic Black culture, in particular Black male experience (Hall, 1992). In that respect, rappers represent Stuart Hall’s concept of the Spectacle of the ‘Other’, where meaning is made by highlighting difference in others (1992). Through a representation like the ‘Spectacle’, rappers (serving as a proxy for, Black men) have access to the public sphere. Being afforded the public sphere in this manner is tricky because although 135 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. being a ‘Spectacle’ may afford access to the public arena and any associated privileges, it also produces a depiction of Black men and Black culture that does not allow true legitimacy within society (Pough, 2004). Recently, a similar position was forwarded by Darnell Hunt as he weaved a discussion of race representation in television.6 2 Before dismissing rappers’ importance or influence to larger culture, it is important to remember that rap does control and influence the consumer market and cultural trends to a certain extent. It is unfortunate that they must do so with stereotypic images of Black men. The true wealth to be gained by control of the market lies not with the artists, but the record companies or business conglomerates. Critical studies scholar, Todd Boyd, takes a slightly different perspective by suggesting that rappers, or those he calls rap moguls, use the stereotypic images to control the marketplace and that the criticism leveled against them is another effort to suppress Black power in the current economic structure (Boyd, 2002,2003).6 3 Hunt (2005) added to this conversation by illustrating that the distinct presence of Blackness in culture (particularly sports, television programming and hip hop music) is tolerated because our society is defined by racial binaries. However, no matter where one falls along this debate, one thing is 6 2 See Hunt (2005). 6 3 This argument is comparable to the change in ideology of race and sport scholar, Dr. Harry Edwards. Dr. Edwards used to be a critic o f Black participation in sports, pointing to the exploitation of Black males for White enjoyment. His position is now that opportunities for young, poor Black men are so limited that he would rather have them engage in sports than become a drug dealer and gang member, leading to incarceration and early death. Parallels and comparisons between athletes and rappers abound and the reasons stem from the role o f racial binaries in the creation of a racial order (see Hunt (2005) for a more thorough discussion). 136 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. certain: the Black public sphere is dominated by men at the expense of exploiting or omitting Black women. The difference between the ‘Spectacle’ of the Rapper and these representations of Black women in the rapper’s video is that these representations do not ‘gain’ anything for Black women except further marginalization, and a mechanism to splinter Black women from Black men. In addition, women are represented in these videos, including the sampled video, as threats to Black manhood. Black women’s representation in the public sphere remains consistently exploitive and degrading regardless of the label - chickenhead, Jezebel or the ‘video whore’. The stereotypic ways these White girls discussed the rappers in the video and in general suggest an objectification of rappers as racial symbols (especially through the negative representations of Black men as thugs). Another example of the racial boundaries set by these girls is illustrated in the last comment about this rap group, G-Unit, and how the band could not be perceived as a boy band like N’Sync, because the members of G-Unit are Black.6 4 These views de-legitimize their importance within larger culture. In the same passage, these White girls also assign a racial marker by commenting on their thoughts about Black women and lip gloss. Many women use lip gloss, regardless of race, but the girls’ highlighting that Black girls wear lip gloss signifies the racial distinction and boundaries they’ve built. 6 4 Curiously, one o f these first ‘boy bands’ was Black men such as New Edition and Boys II Men. 137 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Both gendered racial markers (thug guys and lip gloss) serve as a way to separate or distinguish Rap Haters from the images as noted by one girl’s comment about not liking rap that much.6 5 For that girl, the markers prompted the necessity to reject the representations that make up ‘rap music’. These marked distinctions reflect the processes that reinforce Stuart Hall’s concept of the Spectacle of the ‘Other’. What these comments represent specifically, are the constructs associated with the idea and relationship of the binary opposites. For these girls, to be a boy band is to be White (non-Black) and to wear lip gloss is to be Black (non-White). As Stuart Hall suggested, these girls form meaning about rap groups and ‘video whores’ by stressing difference, in this case, how ‘Whiteness’ is not represented in what they see and what they see is what these girls believe they are not. By viewing the rapper and the ‘video whore’, these girls see racial difference. The value they assign to the rapper and his use of the video whore in his video is negative. Binary opposites represent the ways meaning is made through difference. Rap music represents race difference and this representation is part of the “Rap Haters’” larger understanding about the differences between White and Black, a difference that preferences one race (White) over the other (Black). Because these binaries define difference for individuals, the Spectacle of the ‘Other’ also 6 5 There has been little focus on indirect or subtle forms of racist speech done, especially as its effects on the audience (Leets, 2003). Arguably, these comments (‘monkey love’ and ‘Black girls wearing lip gloss’) are subtle and indirect forms of racist speech. Leets (2001) found, when comparing the reactions to direct and indirect forms of racist speech, that White Americans were more likely to identify direct racist speech as harmful and unacceptable and the Asian Americans were more likely to identify indirect racist speech as harmful and unacceptable. 138 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. illustrates how individuals are drawn to this spectacle because it ultimately defines who they are and who they are not. Although this White focus group saw and commented on the stereotypic racial markers within the video images, what is interesting is that the Black and Latina participants were just as likely to use these racial markers. One of the Latina girls’ groups relied on stereotypes much like the White girls’ using words like “big ole lips” when referring to both the artists and the ‘video whores’. The presence of racialized understandings about Black men and women in same-race groups poses both an interesting and troubling discussion about how racial ideology is produced, reproduced and used by all in society. Contextually, when we look at the social lives of the Black and Latina girls in this sample, they spend a majority of their day in a predominantly White, middle-class suburban school, with racial tension and clear racial boundaries. How they negotiate that environment, how they resist and incorporate the values regarding race, class and gender will be influenced by that environment which will, in turn, influence their own ideology. Their ideologies can be influenced also by the context of the larger society where young girls, especially minority girls, live in a hostile environment. Thirty-three thousand adolescent girls are assaulted and 13,000 try to commit suicide in a given year.6 6 A cultural landscape which considers youth sexually attractive may have a part in the rates of early sexual encounters for girls. Almost 7% of American teenage girls 6 6 Statistics obtained from National Electronic Injury Surveillance System through the CDC’s WISQUARS. 139 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. have sex before 13 years of age and one in ten adolescent girls in California become pregnant (Berglas et al., 2003) These larger issues, coupled with the more localized one, will influence their perceptions. Racial Ideology in Discussing Rap Music Much like the White girls, the Black and Latina girls were also less likely to know anything about the artists themselves, as the Wishful Thinkers illustrate with the following dialogue. F: What’s his name? Maria: He’s G-unit. Jenelle: Yeah. Teresa: Yeah. The girls are actually discussing either 50-cent or Lloyd Banks who are members of the group, G-Unit. They did this throughout their discussions. They either cannot make the distinction between the individuals (they are all “G-Unit”) or they are not really familiar with rap and rap artists. Many of the rap fans of today are more likely to be fans because rap is seen as cool and thus, their knowledge about rap and its original intent is not known. The commodified nature of today’s rap appeals to the masses. Rap has also been marketed to the middle class as a vehicle of dissent (Frank, 1997; Giroux, 1997; 2001; Rose, 1994). Although heavy rap consumers, they are not really that knowledgeable about the artists except for what they see in the video or hear on the radio. As mentioned 140 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. earlier, the White girls were critical of the images but what makes this next passage interesting is that Rebecca from the Rap Haters is placing herself in the perspective of the ‘Other’ - in this case, Black girls. I: Do you think they would look at the video in the same way you guys were? Rebecca: Naw, I think it would have been different. If we were Black and we were in that room and we were watching the videos, we would say, oh that’s awesome. I: So why would a White person like videos like that? Rebecca: Probably either ‘cause like their rap friend got it in to them or that’s like the way to be cool. It would not be wrong to suggest that a majority of these girls listen to rap because it is cool, but Rebecca’s understanding of a Black person (or girl, since only girls were sampled and the girls knew this fact) is that they would enjoy the misogynistic images of women. For Rebecca, the video is an accurate reflection of Black life. What is also interesting is her perception that a White person would only like a video like this because it is cool or their rap (proxy for Black?) friend got them into it. Most of the focus groups discussed rap in terms of belonging to Black culture and Black or Latino people. In fact, they parceled out all the top musical genres as belonging to one racial group and/or culture. Malicka: It’s like you like rock, then you’re automatically a White person. Or if you like rap, then you’re Black or Hispanic. And like pop is like really prissy like White girls. When I see a White girl listening to rap, I can kind of tell that they’re not like all in to it. They like the style they see on TV. That’s like the only reason why they are doing it. When you see them dance it’s 141 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. not them, they always like skip a beat. It’s just not really in them. No matter how hard they try. It’s just not there. The girls (one Black and one White) suggest racial difference by describing a racial typology of music and why White girls cannot really like rap music. When all of these girls talk about the racial markers, they do so as ‘truths’ about race and more importantly, racial distinction and distancing. Janet: In White music videos, they don’t have like slutty girls like that. Hillary: No. Janet: Like Hoobastank and something. Rebecca: It is what you’re used to in their videos: I think that Black people imparticularly have like a culture that White people don’t understand. These girls illustrate the values associated with White culture versus Black culture. But in this example by the “Rap Haters,” rap videos (or Black music videos) have been categorized negatively for having slutty girls. Slutty girls in rap music have been conceptualized to represent authentic Black culture that Whites just cannot understand but seem drawn to - the implicit assumption is that the images are something that Black people enjoy. These girls fail to see the similarities between White and Black music and they cannot imagine that Black people would be as critical as they (the White girls) are with the images because the girls believe that it is the Black experience. Through this process, racial (and racist) attitudes surfaced. 142 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hillary: I mean a lot of them (Black girls) are really nice. The girls at our school just keep on babbling and so then they get into fights or they just say “what did you say about me?” and they get all up in your face. They are bussed ‘cause they live in a really unpleasant town. That’s the only reason why I don’t really blame them for how they act. The tensions described at the school can be seen in Hillary’s, a White girl from the “Rap Haters,” comments about the Black girls at the school. This comment was the result of a discussion regarding which girls Hillary expected to be in her focus group. The picture she paints of Black girls in her school confers her (perceived) status over them by how she pities them for their situation and is tolerant of their behavior. The racist and misogynistic images found in the video were seen by these young girls and remembered. For all the girls, the result was a distancing from the images on the screen. The juxtaposition of race and gender in these images should not be forgotten. The girls, both White and non-White, were distancing themselves from images that were stereotypes about Black women. The ‘video whore’ is decidedly sexually assertive and Black. Meaning of the ‘Video Whore’ The ‘video whore’ was, for these girls and in academic and popular press, the subject of criticism about rap videos. The ‘video whore’ is another reincarnation of the pimp/ho stereotype and ideology, where women are sexually 6 7 Taigi-Smith (2003). 143 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. objectified. This ideology has been reflected within popular culture as an aspect of Black female life to both White and Black audiences. The related stereotype, the Jezebel, characterizes Black women as exotic and excessively sexual (Rose, 2003). The Jezebel represents a “history of Black women's sexuality as deviant and illicit and the primary role of Black women in male hip hop videos as an exotic plaything” (Rose, 2003, 398). The stereotype is not only present in this video but within these girls’ understanding of the ‘video whore’ in all rap videos. According to Pough (2004), rap music and its Jezebel/‘video whore’ depiction lays out an atmosphere in this society that is demeaning and suppressive for Black women. Yet, for these girls, what effect do these depictions have on them? While the White girls distance and reject the image, they do so because, for them, it is a part of Black culture, not their culture. Black and Latina girls, on the other, are critical of the images as well, but the genre is defined as their culture. They must then integrate this with their enjoyment of rap and use of the message they hear in the lyrics. They do, like the White girls, distance themselves from the images but they do not express real threat or hostility. In other words, these girls are not disgusted to the point where they stop listening to the songs or watching the videos. As we saw with the White girls, the Black and Latina girls do not see their actions as mirrored in the video. The Black and Latina girls seemed almost resigned to the presence of the ‘video whore’. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There were two girls (one Black and one White) who did not necessarily see these images as completely negative. These disclosures came during the follow-up interviews and not during the focus group. Malicka: Sometimes, I think it’s kind of cool like not that they show themselves as sluts but they act in the movie, like in the video, how they dress and they act. I kind of think that it’s cool like some girls that would be cool to do. In the video when girls were on the guys like that’s nothing new ‘cuz I mean it’s female and man, it doesn’t really like make a difference. That’s just the way it is. A combination of resignation for the ways things are and an acceptance for dress and style as ‘cool’ shows how although critical of the ‘video whore’ image, the Black and Latina girls were tolerant of the image. The social acceptability of acting and identifying with these video images dictate to these girls that they should outwardly criticize the images and for the most part, they probably do believe the depictions are wrong. They have a need to reject the outward, visual hypersexual racialized woman portrayed in these videos and part of how they do this is through distancing. Examples of this distancing are, if you are White (“Black girls are like this.”) or if you are Latina or Black (“that is the way it is.”). In all of the examples illustrated thus far from the girls, musical tastes and genres are racialized. Music interests, including being a fan, are categorized to allow these girls (more so, the White girls) to make distinctions between themselves and other racial groups. They do describe cross-over interest in rap music but with the understanding, in the case of rap, that if one is White, interest 145 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. must be carefully monitored so as to not appear inauthentic. The implication is that to be an ‘authentic’ rap fan, when rap is identified as a Black/Latino music genre, one must be Black or Latino. They believe that any White person must be careful about taking on an identity so tied to Black culture. In the following passage from the Rap Haters, the girls use White rapper, Eminem, to illustrate this point. F: Does Eminem have the same kind of video? Janet: Oh yeah! Rebecca: The thing about Eminem. He’s got White chicks. The thing I like about his video I mean he’s still a rapper and he’s still does stuff like that. Hillary: He’s makes fun of people. Janet: But he’s funny. Rebecca: He’s funny when he does it, he’s making fun of it, he’s not like totally serious, he’s like, whenever I see 50- cent in a video, you know that he’s going to be oh, I’m tough and oh, I’m hard core, blah, blah, blah. Debbie: I’m going to kill you. Rebecca: And stuff like that but like Eminem makes fun of that like in my band it’s just funny stuff. F: Why do you think he makes fun of it and all the other rappers don’t? Rebecca: Because he’s so different ‘cause he’s, cause he’s White. I’ve seen him ah, a couple years ago, he was doing an album with D-12 and that’s like his band. F: Right. Rebecca: And, they did a video. That looked like about fight clubs I think and it didn’t do that well ‘cause he is 146 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. known for being funny, I think every single one of his famous videos is just funny like ‘Superman’ is funny. The Eminem example illustrates how his Whiteness must be identified and how he cannot appear authentic because, as the girls point out, it will not be accepted. The issue of authenticity becomes a more valid explanation for why they do not identify with genre’s images and messages. They (the White girls) like rap, much like Eminem raps, but they (both Eminem and the girls) must engage in the music differently than Blacks/Latinos do. To be the same is seen as inauthentic, which may explain part of the reason why these White girls were reluctant to self- identify as rap fans, because of the appearance of being inauthentic. According to Hunt (2005), seemingly innocuous words like crime and safety become “code words” for Black and White respectively. With these girls, rap represents an authentic aspect of Black culture - one that embodies stereotypic depictions of Blackness that have permeated our social landscape - from sexual promiscuity, alcohol/drug use to crime to the more subtle ones, like having rhythm. But racial identification also confers status and underlying this notion of ‘inauthenticity’ is, as previous examples have shown, deeply-rooted racial (racist) ideology. To confound this further, the Black and Latina girls also view White interest in rap with skepticism. With the previous examples, this following passage from the Storytellers, a group of Latina girls, falls in line with the appearance of ‘inauthenticity’ of White rap fans. G: I know this one kid, and he was like “what’s up cousin” and I’m like cousin? 147 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This Latina echoes the sentiment that a kid who tries to ‘act’ Black is inauthentic. It is a belief held across racial groups. But what is more striking is the process of making distinctions about what is ‘Black’ versus what is ‘White’, the girls’ racist ideology comes out in the process. Rebecca: I just think that Black people have a culture that White people don’t, I think that White people feel more comfortable being sensitive, ‘cause a lot of White songs or like White artists songs are about like romance and like being really in love. Hillary: I love you, I miss you too. Rebecca: Yeah, exactly. Debbie: I miss you, I miss you. As this dialogue describes the cultural difference between Black and White, there is an over-reliance on the musical imagery as she makes these assessments. The “Rap Haters,” a White group of girls, also categorize Black music as being based on different feelings or emotions (not about “really being in love” but more about “that is disgusting”). The ‘thug love’ narrative, which this group did see, is not representative of love as they understand it, but as they believe it represents ‘Black’ love and romance. It is not a fantasy to them but a 'truth' about Black culture that “they do not understand.” In contrast, although they try to root ‘thug love’ in real life, it is not real life but a fantasy, in their minds, wanted by the Black and Latina girls. The juxtaposition of lyrics with the video have brought out these very different readings of the same song - difference rooted in race identification. When it does come to the video images, the non-White girls (Black and Latina) are 148 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. tolerant of the racialized and gendered images within the video. These girls accept it because they too, like their counterparts, have distanced themselves and have identified the image as being ‘not them’. During one focus group (one comprised of a friendship group that was racially diverse), an interesting dynamic arose. The group (again, all friends) deferred any discussion about race or images that may connote race (‘video whores’, rappers, gangsters) to the one Black girl (Malicka) in the group. Although she continued to state that she was middle-class like the other girls, she was left to do the talking for the group despite her deflections and the facilitator’s probing to the others in the group. Incidentally, her discussions and descriptions about rappers/4 gangsters’ were just as stereotypic as some of the characterizations given by all-White groups. What is important here is that the other girls in the group have internalized norms of behavior regarding race discussions in heterogeneous racial groups. Frank discussions of race (and racial character and difference) are left to homogeneous racial groups. If confronted with discussions about race in a heterogeneous group, members of the racial minority are left to speak about race issues (particularly highly charged issues about racial difference) for fear of disrupting racial harmony in an arguably, disharmonious climate (and at this school, that seems to be the case). When asked about the segment of the focus group later during her follow- up interview, Malicka gave the following explanation. 149 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Malicka: It doesn’t make me mad because I know most of it. My brothers grew up in pretty hard places. My other brother “W,” he didn’t really grow up any where different but he hangs around those type of people ‘cause he wasn’t treated very nice in school so he kind of got like in with gangs so like I know all of it what’s it about and stuff but I don’t really like to go in to detail because then people think that I just try to act like I know everything. It’s more like they expect it from us or something, just because you’re Black, ‘cause when people think of gangsters and bad stuff, it’s the first thing you think of when you see a Black person, it’s like Oh, they’re in a gang or they did a drive by, we do drugs and stuff like that, that kind of makes me but then it doesn’t really offend me cause in a way, I don’t really think it’s cool but I get this feeling like it’s kind of ok ‘cause then I know that nobody’s going to like actually try and push me around. Malicka illustrates in the above passage how she actively uses these assumptions about race as a survival strategy. Malicka is a Black girl in a predominantly White school with open tensions between racial groups. One can discuss the structural implications of stereotypic images and expectation with how that may de-legitimize Black representation in the public sphere. This passage shows how racial stereotypes are used at the interpersonal level. The implications from this are not so clearly illustrated. Not much has been written about the relationship between race and development but what has been written is quite insightful (Roach, 2003). Ogbu’s long review of the interface between non-White, racial/ethnic minority students and the educational system is controversial within the field because Ogbu ultimately challenged the African-American community in particular. He suggested that the African-American community may be part of the explanation for 150 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. why African-American middle class children are behind their non-Black counterparts (Roach, 2003). Ogbu suggested what may be to blame in African- American children’s poor educational performance (especially middle class youth) is larger attitudes and practices within the African-American community regarding the interface with social institutions like the educational one. Ogbu and Simons (1998) explored this interface suggesting that to ‘do good’ in school is equivalent to ‘acting White’. For those who do excel (those who ‘act White’) in social institutions (or ‘White’ institutions as Ogbu described), the larger Black community will often regard that person as maneuvering to separate from the Black community and become part of the White community. In this view, these Blacks who ‘act White’ are not role models for the African-American community nor do their accomplishments hold positive values. In fact, these ‘acting White’ Blacks (who are often middle class) are de-valued and/or distrusted like the White institutions in which they excel. This distrust results in a dilemma for middle class Black students. Malicka’s reaction to her peers and their deferment to her on issues of race may actually be explained by Ogbu’s cultural-ecological theory, where “broad societal and school factors as well as dynamics within the minority community” affect the performance of minority children in school (Ogbu & Simons, 1998, 2). How individuals use gender and racial stereotypes about their social position is often overlooked. The use of stereotypes requires an active engagement. The multiple positions that individuals negotiate in social life produce contradictions. How individuals deal with these contradictions is fluid and ever- 151 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. changing. How adolescents learn to manage these contradictions in their everyday lives is important to consider. Rap music can represent cultural scripts about race, gender, romance and how they intersect. How do these images of ‘video whores’ personally affect adolescent girls? The data, thus far, suggests that they both identify with and reject aspects of the song. What the girls in this study do, in many ways, is distance themselves from and tolerate the images. Rana Emerson (2002) studied the depiction of Black womanhood in rap videos with some parallels to this project, specifically the finding of the objectification of Black women (through content analysis of rap videos). This project teases out some of the less developed ideas within her work. For instance, although Emerson described an “ambivalent and contradictory relationship that young Black women appear to have with Black popular culture” (2002, 128), she did so by pointing to the representation of women in female rap artists’ videos. She contended that they use these ‘stereotypes’ (chickenhead, Jezebel, ‘video whore’) in their videos. In addition, Emerson (2002) actually tracked the use of these stereotypes in rap videos to suggest that female rappers are much like male rappers. The sampled girls actually see the female rappers much differently. They view them as non-sexual; and the other elements that make up the Black female rapper’s 6 8 As she speaks about these ‘female rappers’ videos in her content analysis, Emerson often describes her findings with female rappers and their rap videos representing all Black women, their thoughts and actions. Although she stated that one of her limitations is the absence o f actual Black women reacting to the videos she analyzed, her study falls into a seemingly common component of studies that employ content analyses, where the texts and the scholar's interpretations of these texts are described and discussed as if they are a person's voice. 152 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. video are viewed non-sexually as well. Eve’s response represents the sentiments of the girls. Eve: The women rappers try to send out positive messages to women about how when they watch the guys videos and they have all the girls that they see, they don’t have to be that way. Women’s can be better. The nuances that Emerson (2002) discussed regarding “the controlling images” of Black female sexuality are not perceived by these girls (133). Whether textual analysis of rap videos can tell us about the thought processes and action choices within individual girls is subject to debate; what Emerson gave us is how the images and messages are displayed.6 9 The next logical step would be to ask young women about these nuanced messages. As the sampled girls in this project suggest the answers are not the simple. Girls both accept and reject the messages and imagery inherent in rap music. They see and hear messages and images that are shaded by their social location and their wants and needs. When confronted with contradictions, it is a combination of tolerance and distancing that allows them to make sense of it all. Accepting and Rejecting Representations: A Summary of Reading Rap Music This chapter has covered two significant, simultaneous but contradictory ways that these girls viewed the song and its accompanying video. As the girls listened to the lyrics in the video, the romance narrative regarding falling in love 6 9 Emerson herself conceded that the limitations of her study are the absence o f actual Black women receiving, decoding and processing these video images. 153 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. with bad boys was strong (five out of the seven focus groups). Watching the video produced an entirely different reading. These girls saw highly racialized elements in the video, especially with the image of the ‘video whore’ and rapper. The White girls were more likely to reject the images and behaviors within the video by distinguishing differences between Black and White culture. These distinctions were wrought with racist ideology. The rapper/gangster/thug/Black man and the ‘video whore’/chickenhead/ho/Jezebel were seen as normative aspects of Black culture and even desired images for and by Black people. For the Black and Latina girls, the images of the ‘video whore’ were not what they desired to become. They were just as critical of the images as the White girls. However, they were more detached about the images, and when pressed, were tolerant of them. Most of the discussion of this chapter is reminiscent of Stuart Hall's discussion of the Spectacle of the ‘Other’ and binary opposites. In these concepts, he broke down how racial (and arguably, how gender) ideology is encoded into culture and decoded into meaning by individuals. For these girls, what they decode from this rap song is distinguished by race, gender and race AND gender together. Stuart Hall suggests meaning is made because one side of the binary is negative, the other is positive. With the intersection of race and gender, these binaries may not be as clear as evidenced by the Latina and Black girls who distance and tolerate the images of the ‘video whore’. The girls distance themselves from the ‘video whore’ and hear or ‘use’ only parts of the content of the song and tolerate the rest. The girls' discomfort is noticeable when they try to explain how they enjoy and 154 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. engage in a medium that projects demeaning images of women - of them. They must choose from the identified strategies (tolerance and distancing) in order to enjoy and use the genre. These strategies are difficult to maintain, which may also explain the variability seen in adolescents’ behavior. How adolescents work through and interpret this incongruence needs exploration, especially how an adolescent girl functions with all these contradictions and how race may impact this interpretation. At this age girls learn to self-silence and to defer to male wants, desires and feelings before tending to their own (Tolman, 1994). They have strong opinions about their wants and desires; they want the opportunities to express them as well as voice their confusion and frustration. However, because of gender, of race, and of gender and race, when faced with stereotypic images of women in the public sphere, they still choose to tolerate and to distance, even when they contradict themselves. Malicka, an African-American girl, illustrates this quandary while explaining why 50-cent would choose not to have Video whores' in his video. Malicka: 50-cent practically get any girl he wants at this time ‘cause he’s so rich and also I don’t think that he would ever put a girl as a slut or something like that, he would never do that he doesn’t seem like that kind of person. It’s just his business it’s like what makes money but when she puts the leg over him, it’s just to show affection or maybe he just wants like a one night stand or something like that. It’s with a girl that he likes and they’ve been together for a while, so you start doing certain stuff when you get to know guys a lot more or he just wants like a one night stand, he’s just trying to get the girl and then go. 155 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The two dominant representations in this video, ‘thug love’ and ‘video whore’, were discussed by these girls with emotional attachment. The Latina and Black girls were emotionally attached to the ‘thug love’ narrative as a mechanism to understand gendered expectations for boys and for girls. The girls, on the other hand, were distancing themselves from the ‘video whore’ imagery as a mechanism to understand racial difference and to solidify a racist ideology. These representations made it difficult to reconcile with these girls’ engagement with the genre. As they negotiate these contradictions, race and gender intersect and influence the disparate ways these girls act and think. The next chapter will highlight the ways that these girls try to negotiate these contradictions and more importantly, how they justify them. 156 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER VI FINDINGS: RATIONALIZING CONTRADICTIONS REGARDING GENDER AND RACIAL REPRESENTATIONS “That is Just the Way Things are:” Rationalizing Contradictions Regarding Gender and Racial Expectation This chapter furthers the ideas presented in the previous one by exploring how girls’ racial and gendered understandings about their social location produce a dialectic between contradictions in what they see and hear in the video and how they interpret and make sense of these contradictions. Why do these girls both enjoy and critique a medium such as rap music? What can we say about the racial and gendered differences found in what these girls see and hear? Does a person’s social location (especially a person’s race and gender) determine which one of these attributes (gender or race) takes primacy when interpreting the social landscapes (e.g., cultural scripts and/or texts)? The chapter discussion will cover these questions as we explore the ways these girls process and sort out why they both enjoy and critique rap music. The girls do come to terms with the contradictions, allowing them to continue being actively engaged with the musical genre. This analysis presents how girls process contradictory messages in order to live in their surroundings without, at least at this point, participating in self- destructive behaviors. 157 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. In the late 1950s, Sykes and Matza (1957) offered their seminal neutralization theory that originally was used to describe criminal behaviors but now is being utilized to discuss individuals’ decision making processes in a variety of contexts.7 0 Neutralization theory refers to rationalizations that individuals use to explain behaviors that are against the norm or may be incongruent with an individual's attitudes. This theory was a challenge to earlier subcultural theorists who posited that individuals who act criminally did not abide by the rules and norms of their society (Peretti-Watel, 2003; Topalli, 2005). Sykes and Matza (1957) believed that individuals, by and large, do internalize norms of behaviors from their society. When they deviated from these norms, they devised techniques or rationalizations to explain their deviation. In essence, they neutralized the norms that they may break temporarily and they justified the questionable behavior or attitude by providing rationalizations for them. The girls in this sample often use rationalizations to explain why they engaged in a cultural symbol that was openly misogynistic. This chapter will illustrate how these girls justify the video images through rationalizations. The consistent rationalization used by these girls was the intended audience rationalization and will be presented in the first part of this chapter. According to the intended audience rationalization, there are two different audiences for both representations of the song (lyrics and video). Specifically, these girls provided a gendered rationalization for how the lyrics (as they hear them) and the video (as 7 0 Although neutralization theory was used to explain delinquent behavior, it has been used to explain other topics as diverse as breast feeding decisions among married women (Murphy, 1999). 158 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. they see it) are contradictory. The remainder of the chapter presents two additional rationalizations the girls used to justify their enjoyment of the music, despite the contradictions they face. These two rationalizations are really an extension of the first one because the girls, in their discussion of intended audience rationalization, elaborate and reinforce this rationalization by describing the normative elements of a rap video and the difference between “looking like a whore” and “acting like a whore.” First, through a breakdown of the anatomy of a typical rap video these girls again rationalize and normalize the misogynistic images. The differences in their descriptions about the typical rap video reflect racial and gendered ideologies that differ by race. By describing rappers and the elements of these videos, stereotypic images of Black men and women are presented. As with the other rationalizations, they have normalized these depictions as standard expectations - in this case, of Black men and women. The girls’ acceptance of the misogynistic portrayals of women becomes apparent in these rationalizations. The final section describes one last rationalization these girls offered to accept the contradictions through a discussion of how they feel about and interpret women’s actions and behaviors compared to how they dress. These comparisons were made in reference to rap music imagery. Here, the girls wanted to illustrate how looks are not the same as actions. Before delving into these discussions, it is important to recap what this project has shown so far. Data was collected from 13-14 year old adolescent girls from different racial groups from a suburban middle school. The last chapter 159 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. focused on two salient aspects of the sampled song (one audio and one visual) that these girls noted. It was apparent that the girls were aware of the stereotypic ways in which women were depicted in the song’s video imagery, but less aware of the alternative narratives within the song lyrics. For example: Wishful Thinkers Maria: 50-cent (is) letting her know that he likes her. Carla: Letting her know that she should have confidence in him to not think he’s like just any guy. Teresa: And that he’s not a player or nothing. By what he tells. When he’s singing he tells it, you know? Carla: And then like when he’s with that other girl, he looks at her and he follows her. And then there’s this other part when he says that he’s her homie. That kinda means like he is her friend and she can like trust him and she can like get to know him better. Maria: Yeah, I’m not your boyfriend, I’m your homie, that’s what he says. As the last chapter illustrated, the lyrics remembered fit neatly into the 'thug love' narrative but were only a fraction of the song content. Now bitches be frustrated with a bailer, wonder why I don’t call her Maybe because I’m busy and she need someone to spoil her It get annoying, from time to time I gotta ignore her Surroundin me, houndin me, tryin to by my ON-LY I’m not your boyfriend, I’m your homey.7 1 All seven focus groups discussed the sexist images of women in the song’s video, regardless of how much they liked the song. However, these girls rarely if 7 1 Retrieved on 2/20/05 at http://getlyyrics.com/lyrics.php/G-Unit+F~+Joe/SHOW+LYRICS/ Wanna+Get+Know. 160 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ever, discussed these aspects in terms of racism or sexism. In 22 out of 24 follow- up interviews, the most salient feature remembered by the girls from the focus group discussions was the topic of the negative depiction of the women in the video. As the girls described the contradictions between what they heard and what they saw, the girls both tolerated and/or distanced themselves from these images. Their distancing and tolerance was influenced by gendered and racial ideology that mirrored larger societal views. The contradictions between positive and desired messages in the song’s lyrics that some of these girls associated with love and romance and the negative images about the sexual objectification of women were problematic for these girls. In addition, there was a qualitative racial difference between the girls in the sample in how emotionally attached to the song lyrics they were or how the girl(s) identified with the musical genre. Regardless of race, the negative depiction of women is at the heart of the contradiction these girls face - they like a song and identify with its lyrical content emotionally, while the song’s video representation contains offensive images. The Rationalization of Intended Audience: Justifying the ‘Video Whore’ As the girls tried to explain the contradiction between the image and words of this rap song and their identification as a fan of this song, the normalizing of this contradiction became a common theme. They did this through an argument about the intended audience of both representations of the song. From their perspective, the lyrics of the song are intended for the girls and the video images are intended 161 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for the boys. The Rap Insiders (Black group), the Wishful Thinkers (Latina group), and Kim from the Teachers (heterogeneous racial group) described intended audience in the following ways. Rap Insiders Brooke: The words is for the girls and the video is for the boys. Wishful Thinkers Teresa: Like guys, they just probably sing and don’t even pay attention like us, 1 like we listen to it. Maria: We get it, they’ll just probably sing it and memorize it but they really don’t hear themselves. Teachers Kim: I think they do that to get a male audience because guys wouldn’t listen to them as much. If they don’t like their music they have to have sluts in their video to get an audience. With this normalization of the contradiction between the lyrics and the video, the girls were tolerant of the video content because in their minds, it was not meant for them. In fact, as the last passage references, they believed the inclusion of the ‘video whore’ was just a mechanism to entice interest from the male audience. This was a general theme throughout focus group and interview discussions alike. However, it is an uneasy argument as the Wishful Thinkers illustrate in the following passage. Jenelle: I think they should just put the people singing and what it’s about and not the rest of the people because that kills it, that really kills it. Don’t you think? Teresa: Um hum. Maria: Cause the other people, they’re just like whatever. 162 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. F: Teresa: F: Carla: Teresa: Jenelle: F: Carla: Jenelle: F: Carla: F: Teresa: Jenelle: Maria: Teresa: What kills it? The girls showing their body, they don’t have anything to do with the video, so why are they included? Well what do you guys think? To catch, to catch the guys’ attention. The guys’ attention, yeah! Like they need to, it’s easier to explain .... They need to explain like what the guy's telling you. Not, not to show skin. But if they keep showing skin, who are they showing it to? The people, the people that are watching it. I think they’re showing it to. But we’re girls that’s why cause, we’re girls and we’re not going to be you know, but the guys are going to be all into it. Who’s this video for then? The girls. So it’s for the girls? Yeah. Well, if it’s really for the girls then why do they have to put skin in it? I know. Well, I think it’s for the girls what they’re saying, because the guys talking to the girl but then I think that the other parts. 163 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Jenelle: Some people, they don’t want to think that to put it just for the girl. Maria: Yeah. Teresa: They also want to. Carla: For the guys. Teresa: To get the guys’ attention so they put some woman in there. The dialogue illustrates the dynamic processing of how these girls together worked through the contradiction between the lyrics and video. This group of girls was the most emotionally tied to the song lyrics and the ‘thug love’ narrative. Early in the dialogue, the argument of intended audience where the video is for the boys was offered. However, as the girls continued to discuss this among themselves, they begin to question the video content because it is contradictory to their attachment to the song lyrics and meaning. They eventually did return to the intended audience argument but not until after they rationalized it by suggesting that it would not be enough to “put it just for girls.” This inference is that a song cannot just be for girls and must appeal to all people (read: male) and to do that, means to objectify women (“to put skin in it”). This may be partially due to the dominant visual images found within the video, as the focus of the video images was on female body parts. With these images, the girls processed the two competing representations of the rap song and came to a conclusion about the intended audience for each depiction that allowed them to continue to enjoy the 164 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. music. These girls have processed a shared and normalized understanding and in the process, have accepted the video images. As discussed in the last chapter, what the girls missed entirely is that not all of the lyrics were “meant for them.” Very few messages in the song content were ‘sweet and innocent’. In fact, it contained messages more in line with the video imagery of women. Her panties wet over fame, fell in love with my chain. I wonder if I wasn’t an entertainer, would she remain? In this logic of intended audience, they have constructed the lyric content into a pro-girl message regarding love and romance, completely glossing over the Jezebel/chickenhead/‘video whore’ representations that mirror the video content. These lyrics occur in the middle of the song following a scene in a taxi with the rapper, Lloyd Banks, in the camera frame with a woman’s leg lifting up over his head. The taxi’s windows are fogged as both the taxi driver and pedestrians watch the sexually charged scene. Lloyd Banks raps this verse as he holds a pair of woman's underwear that he tosses aside. He emerges from the taxi and he raps the last phrase, “if I wasn't an entertainer, would she remain?” 50-cent responds by shaking his head, no. The taxi cab scene was one of the most commonly discussed scenes of the video by the informants and is one instance where the lyrics link directly to the video image, but the girls did not make or see this linkage. The inability to connect this message to the image can be explained by understanding 7 2 Retrieved on 2/20/05 at http://getlyyrics.com/lyrics.php/G-Unit+F— +Joe/SHOW+LYRICS/ Wanna+Get+Know. 165 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that these girls have decided what these lyrics are about and they also have internalized their argument that the video is not for them - the lyrics are. In this instance, Stuart Hall’s application o f ‘selective perception’ to cultural consumption is empirically supported. The girls resisted, overlooked or rationalized any deviation. Despite their criticism of the video imagery, these girls could even gloss over the imagery of the video whore to validate their ‘love’ of the song. I: What did you think of that video? Malicka I really liked it; I think the people are great. I: People meaning? Malicka: The singers, the rappers, I think they did a good job. I didn’t really get the part why they had those women there like they have to do with the video and I really liked it, I liked the song. Malicka’s (an African-American girl) comments suggest that although she did not understand why the girls were there, it did not matter because she still liked the song and to like a song is to like all of it (video, beat, and lyrics). This passage also suggests that adolescent girls, at this age, may not fully understand why these images are present but despite this, have understood that it is not their place to question it. Women learn to be self-silent and become submissive at an early age (Gilligan, 1993). What this passage presents is an example of how self-silencing occurs and is manifested. The next passage from Sally (from the Popular Girls) 166 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. implies that images like “girls in bikinis” can be glossed over if the song, the artist and the feelings are appealing. I: What did you think about that video? Sally: Um, I really liked the music video. I guess well, it’s not like one of my favorites like, I liked it ‘cause I like the song and I like the feelings, but yeah, I like 50-cent, um, I don’t like how the girls were like in the bikinis, like we said before, I like the setting, it was kind of like a calm and cool setting. Sally is able to gloss over the offensive image and focus on the elements of the video that appeal to her. Girls do find niches in these male-centered aspects of culture and learn to de-sensitize themselves to the depictions to the point where they overlook the images. Despite their outward distancing from the image as not representing them, these girls have internalized the representation of the ‘video whore’, on some level, because they overlook the representation, still watch the video, and even like it. The girls disclosed they recognize that they still like a video that contains, as they labeled them, ‘skanks’ or ‘sluts’ but what their disclosures also demonstrate is how girls work through contradictory images and messages. They utilize a process of rationalization leading to distancing and tolerance. The unfortunate irony is that the aspects cited as being written for girls are very small compared to the aspects for boys, which depict demeaning attitudes about women. One reason why girls rationalize these demeaning aspects is to be 167 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. included in a pervasive aspect of popular ‘youth’ culture (rap music). In order to do that, they must carve a niche in a medium that is male-oriented. The debate rages within the literature as to exactly how girls fit into larger youth culture. Instead of being part of a ‘separate girl culture’ as Angela McRobbie (1990) suggested, the sampled girls do seem to engage in a larger youth culture and fit into the ‘subculture within the culture’ description forwarded by scholars (Andes, 1999; Gaines, 1998; Kenny, 2000). These girls are using the symbols within rap music to make sense of love and romance and to aspire to the ‘thug love’ narrative. They are just using the symbols differently than boys and, in fact, are using different symbols all together. As the sampled girls work through the contradictory messages within rap music, they do seem to occupy an ‘insider- *73 Other’ position where they are both ‘insiders’ to rap music based on some aspect of their social location (e.g., age or race) and ‘outsiders’ to the music because of other aspects of their social location (gender). What Kenny (2000) did not do was take her concept one step further by explaining the fluid ways that girls work through this ‘insider-Other’ position. For instance, these girls make active choices to overlook the contradictory images in favor of ‘using’ the music to satisfy their desires (love and romance). They both accept and reject the contradictions. They are insiders and outsiders - but in dynamic ways. To occupy this position, they normalize the contradiction. 7 3 See Kenny (2000). 168 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. The problematic manner in which gender and racial images are represented in rap produce the contradictions. This is apparent in how they discussed the song’s meaning, but what also arises is a racial difference in how they reacted to and interpreted these images. Black and Latina girls were more likely to see the ‘thug love’ narrative as applicable to their lives because the genre, rap music, is cast as representing Black and Latino culture. Even though all of the girls, regardless of race, saw the video imagery as stereotypic and negative, the White girls constructed the imagery as authentic Black culture, thinking that Black girls would strive to be like the video whores. The Black and Latina girls were just as likely to distance themselves from the images but they needed to contend with their emotional bond with the content of the song lyrics. All of the girls need to contend with their distancing from the imagery and their own disclosure of personal actions. These girls are creating space, importance and validity for their niche within the medium and in this quest; they overlook the problematic aspects of the song through distance and tolerance. They also curiously suggested using this song to teach boys how to be better boyfriends or to act in ways that fall in line with the romance narrative they are attached to emotionally. What they failed to see is how this would logically contradict with their own argument about intended audience. When they tried to solidify their argument, they often ran into the fragile nature of this rationalization. Although they could overlook these aspects, on some level they did recognize the difficulties in this undertaking. By trying to answer the 169 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. simple question about who is the audience for the song’s video, the schizophrenic and fragile nature of these rationalizations was highlighted. The Popular Girls F: Why did they put things like that in these videos? G: For the guys. G: I know. G: Yeah. G: For them, they like that. G: So they can buy their CD’s. G: Like I would say they liked it. G: I know. F: Are they making videos for the guys? G: Yeah. G: Yeah, it looks like it. G: They wanna like impress them. G: It’s like, say they’re like top dogs or whatever. G: Yeah. F: Who are they making the video for? G: Girls definitely. G: Except guys. G: It could be for guys. G: But more for girls. 170 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G: Maybe like more for girls. G: Maybe it’s like tips for guys. G: But not like, you know trying to show if you do this. G: B u t.... G: Oh, it’s all for, I think, for girls. F: It’s for girls? G: Both. This example from Popular Girls, an all White group, illustrates the processes these girls undertake to come to terms with the contradictions. As a group, they came to the conclusion that the song and its video is for both boys and girls and part of the processing that led to this decision is an implicit understanding that although the audio and visual representations are meant for the different audience, they are synonymous with each other. The song has two components (audio and visual) and both make up the song. The intended audience rationalization is a fragile one because there really is not that much in this song that is ‘meant for them’, which led to the group's confusion at the simple question in the last example. However, as a group, they came to an answer that still maintained their rationalization to explain the contradictions between what they heard and what they saw in this video. 171 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. There is a body of literature in education that explores gender differences in learning (e.g., auditory versus visual).7 4 It can be categorized into two paradigms. One perspective (psycho-biological) argues that males are visual learners and females are auditory learners because of gendered biological and cognitive differences that produce the learning styles. The other perspective (socio-cultural) differs by bringing to the foreground the importance of social learning and cultural expectations that differ by gender. From this perspective and regardless of any biological differences, the social and cultural expectations o f ‘male’ activities (e.g., sports, excelling in math) versus ‘female’ activities (e.g., home bound, excelling in literature) may produce a propensity to expect certain behaviors for boys (e.g., visual learners) and girls (e.g., auditory learners). Both sides of this issue have valid claims, but when considering the psycho-bio perspective, one must be careful not to offer an ‘out’ for boys leading to an absence of social responsibility - attributing behavior and attitudes to the old myth of ‘boys will be boys’. The fact that the sampled girls have come to understand and expect gendered differences and expectations should not be forgotten because they have internalized an argument that is ‘an excuse’ to expect less from boys and, in this case, a justification for why misogynistic images are in rap music. As these girls build a case for the validity of their position on why the contradiction exists between what they hear and what they see with this song, the intended audience argument is fragile. 7 4 Palombo-Weiss (2001) provided a concise description of this body o f literature. 172 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. One interesting point to note here is that girls have internalized the expectation of what boys/men ‘see’ and how that is the same as ‘seeing’ women/girls as sexual objects. Debbie: Well, you know, we’re the sex symbol and it seems like to guys that’s all we are. There’s no brain to that body, there’s just an hour glass. As Debbie illustrates, girls come to understand that in the eyes of males, they have been reduced to visual images that objectify women by focusing on body parts. Put another way, they actually have a better sense and can articulate the aspects of a boy’s ‘wants and desires’ better than their own. Rap Haters F: Um, what about like the line that you guys were talking about the girls and the way they were dressed. Hillary: Girls don’t have to dress like that, usually. Debbie: I don’t see bodies like that. Rebecca: Girls . . . uh uhh. F: So then why are they there if it’s not realistic? Janet: Airbrushed to make it look like a fantasy. Make it look like the guys.’ Debbie: A guy’s fantasy. Hillary: Yeah! Rebecca: Like they want to look like they’re girl magnets, like hot girl magnets. Hillary: Yeah! 173 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Girls understand that they must attract boys with their looks and dress but they also understand that outright sexuality and sexual activity in women is not desirable (Basow & Rubin, 1999). They have juxtaposed two disparate versions of the song - a girl’s fantasy where men can love and respect women with a boy’s fantasy that portrays women as possessions and objects for men’s desire - in the same way they worked through the dichotomy of ‘being good’ and ‘looking bad’. Tolman and DeBold (1993) suggested that women come to understand themselves through the male ‘eye’ or perspective and there seems to be support for this within these girls’ understanding of the expectations of boys. Yet, these girls try to carve their place, while still remaining true to the male-dominated cultural scripts they have internalized. This is a vulnerable and fragile position, as illustrated. In addition, this rationalization would not work for all rap songs in general because rap love songs are not common. Many of the rap songs contain 'boasts' that focus on partying, drinking, obtaining material possessions (cars, diamonds) - all from a male's perspective (Emerson, 2002). The girls would have a difficult time, for instance, making the same intended audience argument for “Groupie Love,” another song off the same album (and directly after) the sampled song in this project, “I Wanna Get to Know Ya.” Sometimes I rhyme slow sometimes I rhyme quick Thats the reason these groupies is on my d**k Listen young and old these hoes is loose Wintertimes the staircase summertimes the roof 174 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I got birds backstage the serious eye candy I got birds in the hood so im in to birds with mary My writing methods got me more hoes than Tyson Beckford.7 5 Along with the fragile nature of their rationalization discussed thus far, the rationalization is contextually bound as well. Competing rationalizations, messages and images must be processed by these girls in much the same way as they negotiate their multiple identities (racial, gender, age, etc.). The question becomes then, why would these girls construct a rationalization that normalizes the contradictions inherent in the song’s representations? The answer may lie within an internal processing that these girls engage in as they survey the context of the situation, the choices of positions to take and the position that allows them meaning - meaning that they can cast as normal. For many of these girls developmentally, romance and love are salient and therefore, the aspects they heard spoke to their interests and what they could ‘use’. Given the societal expectations that girls should be interested in love and romance, girls can even see love and romance in misogynistic images. However, in order to do so, they must tolerate, distance or overlook the problematic aspects, those that contradict their reading of the text. The process by which they both tolerate and distance themselves from these contradictions is by providing rationalizations. This process is complicated by gender, by age and by race and racial ideology. Expanding on our understanding of how race influences this process is important. The White girls in the sample distance themselves from both the thug love narrative and the video whore. 7 5 Retrieved on June 16,2005 at http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/gunit/groupielove.html. 175 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ultimately, they do so because they identify rap music as indicative of ‘authentic Black culture’. It is understood that a White person cannot identify fully with the genre because to do so, would appear ‘inauthentic’. For the White girls in the sample, the outright denial of being a rap fan also carries an implicit racial categorizing that de-legitimates and demeans Black culture. The idea of ‘inauthenticity’ is really a masked attempt to separate and distinguish racial groups with all non-White, particularly Black people, culture, symbol or musical genre, occupying a ‘less than’, negative position. The Black and Latina girls, on the other hand, must process these contradictory aspects of the song much differently than the White girls because they also believe that rap music is representative of Black/Latino culture (without the racial hierarchical categorizing) and they did also outwardly criticize the images within the video. Because they identified strongly with the ‘thug love’ narrative in the song’s lyrics, they must deal with the ‘video whore’ imagery because it does occur simultaneously with ‘thug love’. The girls deal with the imagery by providing a rationalization for these images - the rationalization about gendered intended audience. The Black and Latina girls, because of their multiple marginality (being female and being Black/Latina), must deal with how to criticize an aspect of culture that is identified so strongly with their racial status but because of their gender status, is demeaning. One cannot help but wonder how this affects these girls during a developmental period where they are trying to understand their identity(ies). If social life for adolescent girls is a series of contradictions, tolerance and distancing, because that is the “ways things 176 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. are” then this rationalization becomes a negotiation of the various places girls occupy, and is actually a survival strategy to maintain a level of ‘normality’. At 13 and 14 years of age, these girls have learned that the orientation to prioritize men/boys’ wants and desires over their own because that this is “just the way things are.” The images seen in this video and others were not new to them. This hierarchy of gendered expectations and racial preferences is set; the images in the rap video are not entirely resisted. Rap music is not producing promiscuous girls. It is, however, perpetuating sexist and racist imagery that is already inherent in the existing social structure and internalized by these girls. As these girls continued to work with the fragile rationalization they have created about intended audience, the girls often blamed the ‘actual’ women in the video as being responsible for the demeaning depictions. Rap Insiders Leticia: One of ‘em jus had they butt all up in the camera. Brooke: Yeah. F: Why is her butt in the camera? Stacey: It sells. Leticia: They like it. Brooke: They like money. Mildred: Yeah. Brooke: Or she wanted the attention. Mildred: Yeah. 177 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Stacey: They paid. Leticia: She wanted to be in the camera more. She wants to notice, you know. Storytellers F: So, then why are these girls dressed like this then? G: ‘Cause they’re getting paid. G: They’re getting paid. G: They’re insecure about themselves. Both of these passages show the girls distancing themselves from the images. They believed that the women in the videos were actually representing their true selves and yet, they reject the images as it relates to them personally (regardless of race). They are caught in an uneasy position where they reject the images as it relates to them but reinforce the messages by acknowledging ‘other’ women are like that. They have internalized this representation as authentic. The contradictions these girls deal with and the processes to deal with them also produce contradictions within the girls’ rationalizations. Their discussions of the ‘video whore’ and the reasons for this imagery in the rap video often found the girls merging their discussion about the ‘video whore’ with discussions about ‘real women/girls’. They discussed these video whore images in the same way that they discussed real women/girls as if the line between image and reality has blurred. 178 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Storytellers F: What were you guys thinking when you were watching it? G: Girls should like put more clothes on. G: Did you see that girl walking around school. G: They get tips. G: Around school in a pink skirt? G: Oh, I’ve heard about this seventh grader.... G: You never see a music video with like guys walking around in their underwear. G: A tube top. In this example, one can see how two different threads of thought were produced by the discussion of the girls in the video. Video imagery does prompt the internal images that they then observe in their surroundings. The images in the video give a ‘face’ to the internalized ‘images’ in their heads. These internalized images are about women in general and they are consistent with the implicit meaning of the ‘video whore’. The girls have used the elements of the ‘video whore’ to reinforce their existing perceptions about how some women are and points were raised about the ‘video whore’ that were actually stated in ways that blurred the video and real life. The next example is from a focus group of Latina girls and was in response to why women were ‘treated’ the way they were in the video. Pessimists G: If it was like their boyfriend or something. 179 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G: Let’s just say he gives her money, and let’s just say she doesn’t have a job, her, that maintain her life. F: Why would some girls let that happen? G: For attention. G: They’re trying to be, like, sexy. This dialogue, out of the context of the question posed, could easily be read as a discussion about women or girls they know, not the video whores. This ‘ backs tory’ was also not in the video or in the lyrics but came from these girls’ understandings about women like this. As one can see, these girls have internalized a notion of how women are, and the discussion moved out of the realm of the video to speak to real life. When the girls talked about these stereotypic images and understandings about women, they did so with a detached affect, which makes sense since they have distanced themselves from the images - these images just are not them. The girls are not able to see how these images are about them because there are structural mechanisms (gender hierarchy, for instance) based on these stereotypes that do and will affect them throughout their lives. It is uncertain if they are developmentally able to see this level of abstraction or if to see a connection to their lives would mean moving outside of the place they have created for themselves to deal with these contradictions. The following passage also shows the expectations for female behavior, as Stacey from the Rap Insiders described how the “guy with the girl” is desirable and 180 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the object of other women’s advances. Stacey used real life experience to illustrate how women are, and again pointed to the internalization of female behavior that is like the video whore. Stacey: We’ll be talking to one of our friends that are boys though I have a lot of play brothers a girl be like oh what’s up but I won’t get mad ‘cuz they are talking to them but you didn’t just see us talking, can you wait a second, or can you say excuse me? I: Do you do that? Stacey: Yes! Like all the time, ‘cause they’ll think that I’m their girlfriend but I’m not ‘cuz we’re just friends but they’ll like oh, can I have your number? I: Why do you think they do that? Stacey: Because they want a guy that has a girl. I think for attention they think, “Oh, I look better than you.” I’m just gonna go and try to talk to him and try to be outgoing but in the process of being outgoing you don’t always have to be rude. How these girls deal with this kind of behavior is also with some detachment. Stacey, while discussing her understanding about how women are, was also distancing herself emotionally from the incident. These girls have confronted the images and messages about the ‘video whore’ and have internalized them prior to this viewing of the video. Being able to distance and detach from these messages can and should be difficult to do, especially if you are treated in ways that reflect this imagery. Rebecca: The guys at school they just slap their ass and just laugh about it and most the girls don’t do anything so I just don’t do anything, I think that they are joking until I 181 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. realize that this guy was like actually into me, I’m like eewww, that’s really gross, I thought you were joking, I just like I thought you were just playing around. Rebecca from the Rap Haters is actually conforming to the actions of other girls around her - actions that invade her privacy and objectify her. Rebecca, like all girls, is in a position where because of gender, to conform to this objectification is to fit in but it is also reminiscent of the imagery in the video. She conforms to behavior that she adamantly distances from, and must ease this tension somehow. In this example, Rebecca constructed the event as a joke. She has rationalized this behavior and her reaction so that her belief that the video whore/chickenhead/slut imagery is still not o f her. These last two examples also illustrate how these girls, through attitudes or actions, have internalized expectations for behaviors from boys and girls that are indicative of the same messages found in the ‘video whore’ imagery. These girls are grappling with the contradictions and in order to be able to negotiate these contradictions and still be considered ‘nice’ girls, they must distance themselves from the imagery and create rationalizations to cope with this process. The focus group discussions produced a negative reaction to the ‘video whore’ but as the girls talked about the video, the song, and the focus group discussion later in their follow up interview, not all of the girls fully agreed with the group’s negative assessment and therefore, were less likely to use these rationalizations. Although there were only three girls that did this, the reasons cited for the deviation from the dominant theme are important to discuss. As mentioned 182 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. in the last chapter, Malicka, a Black girl from the Teachers, actually felt that the depictions were not ‘bad’. Malicka: How people were saying, they were trying to say that it was wrong but I disagreed with that. I: What was wrong? Malicka: When they were saying that it’s bad to dress that way and like to be slutty. It’s like part of that ‘cause when I grow up, I want to be a fashion model. Whenever I see fashion I just think of it as another opportunity that just gives you more expression, like OK, well maybe that will work, so, yeah like slut, skank, it’s more the way you act. Malicka’s perspective on the video images is the opposite from the other girls in the sample. She is equating ‘slutty dressing’ as an ‘opportunity’ to express oneself and to be fashionable. Malicka has recognized and states that the ‘video whore’ imagery, on some level, is desirable and valued. She is different than the other girls, not because she has a completely different opinion, but because she does not feel that she needs to portray herself outwardly as someone not wanting the style and dress inherent in the 'video whore' imagery. Malicka is not bound by the fragile rationalizations the other girls provide to portray themselves as not a ‘video whore’. What the other girls have not been able to recognize, as this girl has, is that the images they are distancing from are the very same ones that makes up their attitudes, expectations and even, actions. The second reason for disagreeing with the focus group discussion of the ‘video whore’ stems from knowledge about the other girls in their group. 183 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Specifically, some of the ideas and sentiments expressed during the focus group were contrary to their personal attitudes and actions. In other words, they were saying what they thought the facilitator wanted to hear or they were lying. Mildred: Their opinions were fake ‘cause I never think they’d say something like that. I: So you were kind of surprised? Mildred: Yeah. They didn’t talk like that. I: OK. Did anything that they said surprise you? Malicka: When Brittany said that she thought it was wrong for the girls ‘cause when I first met her, she was more like that and that kind of surprised me a little. In both of these examples, the girls knew that their friends/peers were expressing opinions that were contrary to what they knew their attitudes and actions to actually be. It is, of course, quite possible that the girls were saying what they thought to be ‘the right thing’ to say about this topic. It is also possible that they hold both sets of values (one positive and one negative) about the attitudes and actions represented by the ‘video whore’. The influence of peers, including acceptance by one’s peers, may also have had a hand in the consensus in the groups as well. The points raised by these three girls and the ‘truth’ about their friends’ attitudes and actions are worth pursuing a bit. Spanning over 40 years, sociologists and psychologists have been interested in adolescent friendship and peers, particularly how they influence deviant and other at-risk behaviors (Hircshi, 1969; Sutherland, 1947). Literature on adolescent 184 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. peer influence focuses on the impact of peers on decisions and actions and the usual outcome is negative. The most robust area in this literature is the influence of the dyadic friendship on behavior. When all else is controlled or considered, the friendship dyad is the most influential of either an individual’s deviant or non deviant attitudes and behavior (Aseltine, 1995; Crosnoe, 2000; Kandel, 1978). When it comes to larger groups like cliques and social networks, these relationships can also influence an individual’s attitudes and behaviors. From a developmental perspective, peers are crucial to emotional and cognitive development and are actually part of a larger system to actually assist individuals throughout their development over their life course (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The role of peers, as was described in the last chapter, is crucial in the early stages of dating. Peers, of girls in particular, assist in understanding dating norms and function as reinforcement for cultural scripts and behavioral expectations. Most importantly, they offer social acceptance and status regarding dating partners and behaviors (Seiffge-Krenke, 2003). Often, peer influence could be seen simply by the level of agreement with statements discussed in the focus group. Maria: When the guy cheats on a girl, he’s called a pimp and when we cheat on guys, we’re called hoes and .... Jenelle: Yeah. Teresa: Yeah!!! Carla: But for guys to go with girls it’s ok but for the girl. Maria: Girls, no because then we are bitches. 185 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Interactions like this one between the Wishful Thinkers suggest the importance of social acceptance and status. During the discussions, the girls often looked to each other after expressing their opinions, nodding with what was said by the others and laughing at and with each other’s comments. In addition, many of the girls actually told their other friends about the focus groups and what was discussed. 7 f t It is outside of the scope of this project to determine if ‘peer contagion’ was at play during these groups’ discussions and the choice of topics that become the focus group discussions. Certainly it is possible the girls may have been reluctant to deviate from the topics discussed or to disagree with their peers. This fact, in and of itself, is important in the discussion of the data. Peer influence has an impact on a multitude of behaviors and actions in adolescents, and is particularly salient with girls (Burton et al., 2003; Polce-Lynch et al., 2001). The girls may have felt that they needed to reject the images in the video for these reasons. Whether group dynamics were present in these focus groups should not be seen as a liability because this project is about reading and interpreting cultural texts. The act of reading and interpreting these texts consists of interplay between intrapersonal and interpersonal factors including context, societal norms, scripts, values and peers. The group dynamics within this project actually provided a rich 7 6 For a thorough discussion o f the literature on peer contagion, see Dishion & Dodge (2005). Salmivalli (1999) illustrated how peer contagion theory can be applied to normative or pro-social behaviors in adolescents as well as anti-social or at-risk behaviors. 186 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and realistic look at how meaning is made and reinforced in peer groups and how they process contradictions in light of the presence of their peers and of adults. Adolescent girls occupy a precarious place in society as they negotiate their social lives on multiple planes. They must come to understand themselves as gendered beings (their place as females in this society and how they interact with males) and as racial beings (their place as Black, White or any other racial group and how they compare and interact with non-Black, non-White, etc.). These understandings are not simple to maintain because of the contradictory images and messages about and for women. Popular culture, rap music and peers are only three of the many ways young girls get their information and work through their understandings of that information. Deciphering and negotiating through these complex, dynamic and competing images and messages about gender, race and gender and race produces a way of thinking for girls that is contradictory but incorporates survival and coping strategies (tolerance and distancing) to allow for normal functioning. They recognize and understand that they should be reacting negatively towards these images, but they have also, even subconsciously, place some positive values on being sexual and sexy for social acceptance among boys and their peers. Young girls and women produce rationalizations to ‘live with’ the suppressive images found within culture. By normalizing these images and by rejecting the images as “images of them,” they are able to function normally. These girls, especially the Black and Latina girls, do ‘silence’ themselves. Race 187 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and gender impacts how they both actively resist and how they silence their opinions about these images. Gilligan and colleagues pointed to similar mechanisms with their sampled girls as they discussed the internal processes that make up their self-worth (Brown, 1999; Gilligan, 1993). Gilligan and colleagues focused on the internal and interpersonal processing while this project expands and incorporates cultural influences into the analysis. The dynamic interplay of the internal factors in these girls (gender and race) and external factors (peers and cultural images and scripts7 7 ) provide a balance of principles from sociology, psychology and cultural studies.7 8 By incorporating the cultural factors, the findings in this study are different than those of previous studies that did not include these factors. Brown (1998) reported that girls refrain from strong opinions about (and against) traditional scripts of femininity to provide a common ground for the girls and the women (both the researchers and the teachers at the girls' schools) on these issues. On the contrary, the girls in this sample had very strong opinions. The importance of context (location, topic) may have an impact on how girls read, interpret and talk about these kinds of issues. The sampled girls in this project were able to convey their strong reactions to the gendered scripts of behaviors and attitudes. However, their outward expressions may vary by topic of discussion, context and other situational factors, including their social locations, and may not reflect the totality 7 7 These cultural scripts also contain gendered and racial aspects but the point here is to recognize the social location o f these individual girls as it relates to internal processes. 7 8 Lyn Mikel Brown has research in progress that will encapsulate external influences. 188 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. of how they think about these issues. This study has shown that the interplay between thought and behavior is often contradictory, because of culture, context, gender, race and age. While this section focused on the gendered rationalization to explain the video whore and how these girls deal with it, a subtopic was woven throughout the discussion, and that was the racial aspect of how they interpreted the contradictions. The next section focuses more clearly on the racial dynamics. Anatomy of a Rap Video: Normative Expectations for Authentic Black Culture Suggesting that music videos and lyrics have different audiences is a rationalization these girls used to interpret and negotiate the contradictory images and messages. As part of this rationalization, they have incorporated a sub argument or rationalization that can best be called the “anatomy of a rap video.” That is, this rationalization holds that video whores are elements to expect in a normal rap video - any rap video. Five out of the seven focus groups described this ‘anatomy’ and used it as additional support for how and why these girls deal with the contradiction of both liking and criticizing rap music. The Teachers Kim: They act the same way on every video. G: Yeah. G: Um hum. 189 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G: Yeah. Kim: They just dress in these really baggy clothes and just walk around. F: Now, are you talking about like just like rap and hip hop in general? Malicka: Rap and hip hop in general. Kim: Yeah. Malicka: You always have to have the really skanky girls dancing on them and you have to have the like all the gangsta up kind of people with the big baggy clothes and stuff like that. Both the self-identified rap and non-rap fans, despite race, discussed the same rap video elements. These girls already had shared knowledge or the same images in their heads about rap videos much like they did with ‘thug love’. In fact, all of these images are related and are rooted in the intersection of race and gender and how difference is defined and (de)valued. These elements of a rap video (cars, jewelry, and money) are so pervasive that they were attributed to this video even when they were not present. I: What did you think personally about that video? Malicka: I liked the video. It was just another regular hip-hop rap video if you’ve seen one, then you’ve practically seen them all unless there’s something really great about it, you’ve always got the girls, sometimes you have like the club background, the beach background, the house. And you have the big chains. 190 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Stemming from the discussion of the last section, one of the main elements in the video is the video whore and is considered a standard part of the video. Within the context of a rap video, the focus for these girls does not deviate. They recognize the objectification of the women’s body parts in these videos while the other aspects fade away. Hillary: The music was OK, I mean but it kept on constantly repeating the same thing. It was always about these girls or they would show their lips, it was all shadowy except for certain parts which were the lips the legs and their boobs, so, I’m like hmm, I wonder if they try to glisten those things up to just make it like Wow! The only other salient element discussed by the girls is the rappers themselves. During the discussion of rappers, race figures prominently in the White focus groups in particular. The anatomy (or elements) of a rap video are highly racialized with the image of rappers as ‘pimps’, ‘gangsters’ having ‘bling’ or chains with diamond pendants, cars (usually the Cadillac Escalade or the Hummer), Cristal champagne and women. The discussions about the rappers fluctuate from awe to infatuation to disgust. This finding supports the scholarly discussions about rap and the representations of race. Actually, these findings support the discussions that focus on the commodification of authentic Black culture as it is embodied in rap music. Dimitriadis (2001) criticized rap music because it has been constructed as representative of Black life, particularly Black male life. These representations focus on immorality, violence, aggression and sexual promiscuity and thus, the image of Black social life is uni-dimensional, focusing on racist pathologies. As 191 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. the White girls in this project discussed rap music, they did equate the rap images of Black men, in particular, as representative of all Black men. The pimp lifestyle, as portrayed in these videos, was seen by these girls as a representation of Black men. Their discussion of the video contained references to Black men and, in particular, their sexual activities. Debbie: And how he said, I’ll go for your other friend if you’re not ready to go for me, you just go for whoever you want, you don’t really put a goal, the thing about Black guys, they’ll just go for any girl, they don’t want the chase, you want a guy who will try to go for you, only you, you know what I mean and there’s nothing to them, it’s just, how many girls I can get in a week. Rap Haters F: So there’s only like one topic really in rap videos? Rebecca: Yeah. Generally. Debbie: Ya. Well, what, if you ask a guy, a Black guy what they are . . . reem her in the ass, you know. Rebecca: That is what it is. Debbie: That’s all a girl is. The representation of the pimp lifestyle is not only thought to represent Black culture but in fact, these girls believe that Black men treat women in this manner and feel the need to qualify the male behavior in the video as ‘Black male’ behavior. By framing the rap video as representative of Black male sexuality, these stereotypic behaviors are no different than the ones originating in the United States during slavery. The depiction of the rapper further perpetuates the myth of hypersexual, deviant Black man and the paradox that lies within this discussion is 192 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that many Black men (outside of rappers, gangsters and athlete) accept the image for it offers to them ‘a status’ within this society (Boyd, 1997; 2003; Hooks, 1992). The White girls criticized and stereotyped Black social life and culture in overt ways. They were not hiding these stereotypes and racist opinions, because in their minds they were just discussing normal Black culture. For the White girls, the rationalizations were much stronger and easier to maintain because they did not identify with the images in the video. They discussed Black culture and life in terms of difference, with a preference of White over Black. Rap music appears to make racial boundaries more rigid. The dichotomies around gendered and racial expectations that are prevalent in society are reinforced by rap music. These same dichotomies are processed by these girls, leading to a fragile position where they both reject and enjoy these images and messages with rap music. The final rationalization they provide or need to use to deal with the contradictions is actually the more difficult one to maintain or accomplish because it is about their own behaviors. The representation of rap videos and the White girls’ belief in its authenticity created ‘evidence’ for racial differences. At no time, did these girls provide a case for how racial groups are similar, how the depictions are erroneous, or for how White culture is not superior to the others. This indicates that rap music is not a ‘unifier’ but actually perpetuates the racial divide and continues the historical stereotypes associated with Black women (Jezebel/chickenhead/‘video whore’) and with Black men (hypersexual/pimp/gangster/rapper). This project 193 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. provides empirical evidence to support the criticism levied against rap music. In addition, these girls illustrate how rap is used to reinforce and not rebel against dominant cultural scripts. Internalizing and Rejecting the ‘Video Whore’ The final rationalization provided by these girls is another offshoot of the larger intended audience rationalization. These girls are not able to see how some of their disclosed behaviors and attitudes were consistent with the way they understand ‘video whore’ actions and attitudes. Even though they do not have this awareness, they do often provide a rationalization for why girls can Took like a whore’ and not ‘act like a whore’. As these girls negotiate the contradictory images and messages they receive regarding sexuality, they must rationalize how one can be attractive to boys (as they understand boys’ wants), while still being a ‘good girl’. This section will explore this process by reviewing how these girls implicitly hold accepting attitudes about “looking like a whore,” and minimize the fact that their own attitudes, actions and behaviors are similar to those associated with the ‘video whore’. These girls do spend a lot of time, energy and emotion distancing them from the video imagery, but they have disclosed actions and attitudes that are very similar to the imagery as well. Brittany: You know that’s how at parties like, some people actually act that way, will dress that way and I mean I would too probably. 194 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I: What would be considered shitty? Malicka: It’s mostly the way you act, not really the way you look and stuff. Like if I think about it it’s more like the way somebody acts like if you’re all talking about doing stuff with guys and you're not supposed to but the way you dress doesn’t matter. It’s just expressing yourself. I kind of like the party part of it ‘cause when I grow up I want to go to like a bunch of clubs and stuff like that, yeah. Both Brittany and Malicka expressed attitudes about wanting to engage in these behaviors if the opportunity arises. They did not compare their actions to the ‘video whore’ imagery or even see the parallels, but they did provide a rationalization regarding the difference between promiscuous dress and promiscuous actions. In these rationalizations, the girls were not talking about the video imagery or confusing/transposing the video image with real life. These rationalizations were made about real life situations and incidentally, occurred predominantly during the personal interviews and not during the focus groups. Jennifer: It doesn’t matter if you’re wearing like the shortest skirt or whatever, it doesn’t reflect on your personality. You have to get to know the person. Much of the use of this rationalization was done from the third person perspective. For instance, Jennifer forwarded an accepting attitude about the ‘looks’ of promiscuity, suggesting that ‘looking like this’ does not represent ‘being a whore’ which is extrinsically ‘bad’. This rationalization would be necessary to allow these girls to negotiate the contradiction between being a ‘good’ girl while 195 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. looking like a ‘whore’. This would make them desirable to men as the ‘fantasy’ for boys (short skirts) or the ‘image’ of the video whore. Rebecca: They dress like that to get attention from guys. I know that works. I have a friend that tries to and it works. I: In what ways would it work? Rebecca: Well, it works because guys want hot girls to dress like that, that would do anything with them. I mean they are like slutty. Since these girls cannot or will not see or recognize these contradictions outright, rationalizations allow them to occupy dual but opposite attitudes and even, identities - the good girl and the ‘video whore’. Regardless of how they outwardly discussed the depictions of the ‘video whore’ or how much they distanced themselves from the racialized depictions, all of the girls disclosed attitudes that these actions might be necessary if the circumstances call for it. I: So why do you think people make these judgments based on what they see? Stacey: Because it’s just how they dress. We’re not really judging them, were just like why would, even though they are paying you, why would you disregard yourself, why would you wear that? I: Why do you think they do that? Stacey: ‘Cause they get paid. I: OK. So they get the money, would you consider doing it? 196 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Stacey: It depends on what situation I’m in, because it depends on what situation. If you really don’t have money and you have to do what you have to do like if you have kids or something, then I would understand but not just oh, I’m in a video. Interestingly, several girls used the phase “I am not a prude” (and in similar ways with the use of “I am not racist”), as if on some level, they know what they are about to say is dealing with fragile logic that someone may question. Brittany: One of my friends she actually dress like that but really she is like, I’m not saying that, I’m not a prude. But like you can be like dressed like you’re like somebody really bad and everything but really like when you get to know them, they’re not. It’s like unless you see somebody do something bad then you can say that they did something bad. Another way they also support their use of the rationalization about the difference between looks and behaviors is by personally knowing someone who dresses this way but is not slutty. Using this rationalization often included a discussion of a friend and/or relative that supported the point made. Stacey: Yeah, that like even though they look like that, they’re probably not like that cause my cousin, she’s in videos a lot and she’s totally different than the way they appear her ‘cuz they’ll think, oh, look at her, she looks “ugh”, I can’t believe she’s wearing that in the video, I would never do that in the video, but they don’t really know the person, cause my cousin, she’s in a lot of videos but she’s totally different, she’s like a really nice person, you would never think that what she wears is how she acts. This rationalization is another way to negotiate the contradictory images and messages found within rap music and in their everyday lives. Each of the 197 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. rationalizations presented in this chapter provides the means for these girls to occupy dual identities and positions, but they have no apparent awareness of this duality, unless it is something that is not disclosed. At this age, they are unable to realize they are living these dual positions and the question becomes whether or not they inwardly realize the disjuncture of dualities or if they ever will. What may be illustrated with these examples is a survival strategy to deal with the reality of their multiple positions. When discussing their own actions, they were reflective of the video images. As they recounted their own experiences, they were willing to be objectified for a boy they liked. These disclosures came out during the follow-up interviews. Debbie: You want the touching from the guy you like. You want to be looked at or whatever and then if he does it once to you, he will do it again, and then you know he’ll like you, he’ll notice you, because you’re not, or it could be the other way around, you could say no and he’ll keep trying, but most guys that, usually the guy that, I don’t know, they have other girls to play around with Debbie expressed how desirable it is to be objective through touching and looking. The passage also points to an understanding she has that if a girl says no, it is expected that the boy will move on because “they have other girls to play with.” Despite the disclosure of their acceptance of these images, the girls still dismissed and disparaged the images. I: And if you see women allow guys to do that? 198 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Debbie: I kind of lost my friend to that, my really good friend, she went and became like a hoochies basically and we used to be friends for a long time and I was like no, it’s not for me, you know what I mean. I: So you kind of made that decision? Debbie: I made it like, if I lost my best friend to that. I can’t be hypocritical about it because maybe I do it sometimes, but um, if, girls get annoyed by that, but they don’t show it ‘cause they like the guy. But what they do not recognize is how their own actions as they describe them are comparable. The aspects of the ‘thug love’ narrative have been internalized to the point where they would act in ways like the ‘video whore’ if their boyfriend “was a pimp.” The girls themselves admitted that they acted, dressed and allowed boys to treat them in similar ways to what they saw in the video. As the Rap Insiders placed themselves in the place of the ‘Other’ - boys - we can see how they believe they are seen by boys. F: And what would happen if there was one guy in here? Brooke: Why you all hate me? Why you all hate me! Y’all just mad. Leticia: Y’all some haters. Why y’all hating. Brooke: You all just mad ‘cuz because you all hating. Leticia: You just wish you wuz in the video and she’s mad ‘cuz she in there and you not. Brooke: Yeah. 199 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Leticia: You’re mad because she is better than you. Brooke: Yeah. The girls believed that the “ideal woman” boys want is the ‘video whore’ that is “better than you.” The girls distance themselves from rap images but when they actually described situations they have been in, these situations were very similar to the ones that are depicted in these videos. The social value placed on these ‘video whores’ is a curious one. The racial markers placed on the images prevent these girls from identifying or connecting their real life actions to the images. This can be discussed in two possible ways - why the connection is not seen by the White girls and why the images are tolerated by the Black and Latina girls. These girls have internalized what boys’ desires are, and although they want the ‘sweet and innocent’ from and with boys, they also know that boys want the ‘video whore’. If girls orient themselves through the eyes of boys, it makes sense that they would ‘look’ into ways to get a boy’s attention. Developmentally, they are at the age where girls do want to experience heterosexual love and romance. Ironically, the verse of another popular rap/hip hop song at the time of this project expresses the duality of positions girl must occupy. • 7Q We want a lady in streets and a freak in the bed. By not outwardly accepting of the negative label, ‘video whore’, girls negotiate these contradictions through active distancing and tolerance, but they are drawn to these images because the images are considered desirable. In order to attract male 7 9 “Yeah” by Usher, retrieved on June 6,2005 at http://www.azlvrics.com/. 200 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. attention, they should appear in ways that are desirable. Thus, subconsciously, they accept the images and messages, but in order to be able to do so, they provide rationalizations for them. The rationalizations are outward manifestations of the internal conflict in dealing with these contradictions. These girls are developmentally at an age when they are processing their understanding about themselves and others. These girls are developing both gendered and racial ideologies that are challenged and reinforced in the environment around them. That environment is made up of a multitude of contradictory images and messages from peers, family, schools and ‘culture’. Rap music is a popular and pervasive aspect of popular youth culture. Rap music represents what is cool and desirable. Malicka: People don’t really listen to lyrics when you listen to music, I mean if you really like the song you try to learn it but you don’t ever learn the whole song. You just learn the chorus and then the chorus, it kind of like just makes you act cool enough to do it cause like if you learn the chorus, that’s all you need cause that’s all anybody knows anyway and then once somebody else starts singing the song you kind of get bored and go on to the next subject. Like most popular culture, rap music is male-oriented. As girls find a way to enjoy popular culture that is not oriented towards them, they must find a way to carve a niche within it. This is an uneasy task but the girls are able to see romance in misogynistic images and use it to process their uneasiness with these feelings and emotions. Not all of the girls dealt with the uneasiness and the contradictions in the same ways. Racial differences in how they negotiate these contradictions are 201 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. apparent. The White girls in the sample did see romance and love but adamantly distanced themselves from the images and messages by categorizing them as representative of Black culture. They were outwardly dismissive of the images and messages as not being about them. They consequently did not take on any of the identities associated with rap, including being a rap fan. Yet, they were just as likely to rationalize why the messages and images were present. They were also more likely to disclose behavior consistent with the ‘video whore’. The Black and Latina girls identified more substantially with the messages about love and romance and also believed rap music was a Black/Latino music genre. Like the White girls in the sample, they also distanced themselves from the image of the ‘video whore’, but given the fact that they do identify with the message in the lyrics and identify rap as an aspect of their culture, they reacted a bit differently. They distanced themselves but they were also tolerant of the images. The rationalization of intended audience and the anatomy of a rap video allow them to deal with the duality and contradictions. These normalizing techniques are also used by the girls to explain how they may Took like a whore’ (or want to), but not ‘act like one’ or ‘be one’. They have internalized these images and messages as desirable to males and in their pursuit of boys, believe that looking like these images will bring them closer to what they want. Girls occupy an uneasy, contradictory position where they place the wants and desires of boys over their own. The way they know how to do this is by normalizing the offensive images and behaviors. Normalizing them allows the 202 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. girls to enjoy a misogynistic aspect of culture and becomes a strategy to operate and exist in a contradictory position. By believing that this is just how things are, the perpetuation of these images continues. The girls often expressed boredom or disinterest in the rap videos and even went so far as to say that they did not watch them. Brittany: I watch TRL everyday. But they only show it like ten minutes, like a little flash of it. Eve: Yeah, I had seen it but I never really watched it. Although it may appear as if these girls are a passive audience, closer inspection uncovers an alternative explanation. These girls may have tuned out the images because they are demeaning and problematic and because to express non-interest is to support their intended audience rationalization. This could be another attempt to distance themselves from the images but again, the rationalization is fragile because they DO listen to and watch rap. They may feign ignorance by saying that they do not watch videos but their interviews and consumption patterns paint a different picture when 24 out of 31 girls listen to rap everyday and only two out of 31 had never heard or seen the sampled song prior to viewing it in the focus group. They have found a way to ‘use’ a misogynistic genre by engaging primarily with the issues that are salient to them. By using these mechanisms or rationalizations to distance themselves from the problematic aspects of popular youth culture, they have found their niche. They can identify with something in rap music, while all other aspects of the song are either tolerated or distanced from 203 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. their experience to ease the tension. Although one can characterize their reaction to misogynistic images with more active agency than other scholars have afforded in the past, the effects of this schizophrenia and the internalization of all the aspects of the image and message are difficult to determine. This project has shown that some of the actions and attitudes in the song lyrics and imagery are problematic. What is even more important to realize is that these girls are constantly dealing with the contradictions, trying to make sense of them. Although they do not identify with the images of actions and behavior, this does not mean they did not disclose engaging in similar behaviors or holding similar attitudes in order to appear desirable to boys. 204 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER VII CONCLUSIONS “I’ve never really experienced that; maybe I’ve gone to the wrong parties.” The goals for this project were to answer two general questions about girls’ consumption of popular culture. The first question asked quite simply: “What do adolescent girls see and hear in rap music?” The second question, also simple, was: “What do they think of what they saw and heard in the music?” Simple questions do not necessarily translate to simple answers. This project has illustrated that there are indeed complexities and contradictions inherent in consumption of popular culture. Although simplistic in nature, these questions speak to larger issues about culture consumption and usage as well as the interplay between external and internal factors in the production and reproduction of sexist and racist cultural images and messages in individuals and among individuals. After reviewing the relevant literature, the research questions presented that guided this project were: 1. What subject-position do adolescent girls take as they ‘read’ rap music? 2. Do the images and messages in rap music create or relieve the tension of occupying the ‘insider-Other’ status? 205 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. These questions were answered by following the interpretative process between and within adolescent girls. The potentially detrimental effects of culture on attitudes and actions, specifically those from rap music, were explored. The purpose was to challenge and expand upon the academic and public discourse about the relationship between cultural images and messages and adolescent attitudes and actions. This project focused on integrating cross disciplinary concepts and theories and capturing these very same concepts and theories empirically. Why does popular discourse regarding rap music's influence on youth contain bold statements about a simple causal relationship between the genre and ‘bad’ behavior in impressionable youth, without an appreciation of the multiple factors affecting human thought and behavior? Alternately, why has the academic discourse so far, which takes into account the complexity of human behavior and correlating factors, fail to incorporate empirical evidence and a cross-disciplinary conversation to fully capture the nature of culture consumption and its implications for human thought and action? This project is an attempt to not only challenge, but actively engage in this discourse and perhaps encourage researchers to seek answers to the questions raised within the study. Thoughts, attitudes and actions are complex, dynamic and ever-changing and should be explored in a multi dimensional, integrated, rigorous manner. This chapter will summarize the project and will be divided into four different sections. The first section synthesizes the key findings of the study, namely the simultaneous and dichotomous meanings derived from one rap song. 206 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dichotomy is characterized by the two dominant representations of the song - the audio (‘thug love’ narrative) and visual (‘video whore’ image). How the participating girls process these representations simultaneously lies at the heart of how culture is consumed and used in social life and the unique considerations for girls and women in the consumption of culture. In the engagement with popular culture, young girls manage contradictory images and messages as they learn about themselves as gendered and racial beings. The second section of the chapter describes the implications of these findings for the literatures of cultural studies, adolescent development and the scholarship on rap music specifically, and links the concepts from the disciplines of psychology, sociology and cultural studies into a dynamic model of culture consumption and its relationship to an individual’s understanding of self. With reflection on the findings and how they fit into the literature, the third section discusses limitations of the present study. The limitations, thus, can offer directions for future research in this area of inquiry about adolescent development and the role of popular culture for young people and society in general. The last section explores this project as a glimpse more generally into the lives of adolescent girls, by highlighting considerations for how living with multiple positions and contradictory expectations for behavior affect girls. The focus is on how being female in this society suggests an additional layer to interpreting cultural symbols, which is not an issue for males. Culture and environment appear hostile and in some cases, dangerous for young girls as they negotiate messages, images 207 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and expectations about what it means to be female. These girls reject and embrace misogynistic images and illustrate ways that resilience is learned. How they make sense of these contradictions has lasting implications for the girls themselves and society as a whole. Summary of Findings This first section provides a summary of the key findings from this project. The key finding from this project is that the sampled adolescent girls simply ‘saw’ and ‘heard’ two different and contradictory images or messages simultaneously while viewing and listening to the rap song. This project best illustrates how these girls (and possibly more broadly, individuals) can derive two different meanings from cultural symbols or representations simultaneously. Although these two different representations were seen differently and assigned a positive and negative value respectively, the girls who enjoyed the song, which was the majority of the girls, devised elaborate rationalizations for their engagement and enjoyment of the song. The elements of these rationalizations are the result of the dynamic processes and interplay between external and internal factors for each adolescent girl. The need for these girls to rationalize stems from a point Radway (1991) made in her work. But it is important to understand that for... women, the media text(s) fulfills certain basic psychological needs for women that have been induced by the culture and its social structures but often remain unmet in day-to-day existence as the result of concomitant restrictions on female activity (Radway, 1991, 113). 208 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. One of the representations gleaned from the song was inherent in the audio component of the song, or from what they heard. The audio ‘message’ they heard in the sampled song was a narrative about love and romance (or the ‘thug love’ narrative). This narrative was familiar to all the girls. The ‘thug love’ narrative is part of a larger cultural script (myth) about the good girl and bad boy meeting each other, eventually leading to the bad boy falling in love with the good girl and changing his ways. Hearing this narrative in music suggested a use of music as an emotional outlet for these girls as they maneuver through the early stages of dating and romance, particularly gendered expectations for attitudes and actions during courtship and coupling. Music gave words to thoughts and emotions as these girls sought to understand what love and romance means to them as girls as well as trying to understand boys’ expectations and behaviors. Rap music, in this case, functioned as a mechanism for girls to make sense of boys’ behaviors. Sally: Like when a guy’s trying to get a girl. They have to use that attitude and just like how some guys get girls and it makes a girl feel like, oh, OK, well. If they’re being like so gentle and that’s how the song was. Well that’s how guys get girls. Rappers always have a girl in the music video and I don’t know what kind of message that’s sending out but I guess they want to not just attract the guys but to attract the girls and if a girl like sees a really pretty girl with like a bad guy, like a bad boy, it kind of is like, hey, maybe we should dress like that so we can get a bad boy. ‘Thug love’ has its genesis in these larger cultural scripts with traditional and gendered expectations that equip girls with the tools for how to behave with others (particularly boys) and what behaviors to expect in return. These 209 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. expectations position women as subordinate to men. The greater concern, however, is that the ‘thug love’ narrative reinforces already internalized gendered expectations where girls (women) understand themselves (who they are) through the eyes of boys (Tolman, 1994). ‘Thug love’, as part of this larger cultural script that projects certain understandings about gendered expectations for heterosexual love, romance, and coupling within this society, were already known and internalized by these girls. The sampled song triggered an emotional response and recollection of this larger script. The messages in rap songs do not necessarily cause certain attitudes and actions, but may be more likely to trigger already understood cultural expectations for what is desirable. While discussing the messages behind ‘thug love’, these girls blended the song with real life examples or situations, which served to further reinforce the internalized attitudes and gendered expectations attached to the cultural scripts the girls recognized in the song’s lyrics. The girls remembered only certain phrases and reconstructed others in order to ‘fit’ the song lyrics into a representation of this narrative. These reconstructions ‘overlooked’ the alternate narratives and lyrics within the song. An example used earlier illustrated this point follows: Wishful Thinkers Carla: And then like when he’s with that other girl, he looks at her and he follows her. And then there’s this other part when he says that he’s her homey. That kinda means like he is her friend and she can like trust him and she can like get to know him better. 210 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Maria: Yeah, I’m not your boyfriend, I’m your homey, that’s what he says. The actual song lyrics suggest that they only remember a fraction of the song content, usually the part that reinforces their reconstructions of the song’s message. This is the part they forgot, which gives a different meaning to the phrase, “I’m your homey.” Now bitches be frustrated with a bailer, wonder why I don’t call her Maybe because I’m busy and she need someone to spoil her It get annoying, from time to time I gotta ignore her Surroundin me, houndin me, tryin to by my ON-LY O A I'm not your boyfriend, I’m your homey. These alternative narratives were not applied to the audio representation of the song. Stuart Hall (1997) discussed how decoding the messages in cultural/media texts may be impacted by a variety of elements including race, class, and gender difference and are filtered through the interpretative process of these girls. For Hall (1997), interpretations made are important to the process of consumption of culture. Meaning did ‘slide’ for these girls but the sliding was not necessarily discrete. It switched instantaneously in some cases. These girls recognized both the dominant representation (‘video whore’) and those not so readily apparent (‘thug love’). There was some suggestion of racial differences in the level of ‘use’ or emotional attachment to the messages in the ‘thug love’ narrative. The Black and Latina girls were more likely to emotionally attach and identify with the narrative, 8 0 Retrieved on 2/20/05 at httpV/getlwrics.com/lvrics.php/G-Unit+F— +Joe/SHOW+LYRICS/ Wanna+Get+Know... 211 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. which may be explained by the belief that rap music is a ‘Black/Latino’ musical genre and therefore, is representative of Black/Latino experience. Malicka: It’s like you like rock, then you’re automatically a White person. Or if you like rap, then you’re Black or Hispanic. And like pop is like really prissy like White girls. When I see a White girl listening to rap, I can kind of tell that they’re not like all in to it. They like the style they see on TV. That’s like the only reason why they are doing it. When you see them dance it’s not them, they always like skip a beat. It’s just not really in them. No matter how hard they try. It’s just not there. The White girls, in contrast, were just as likely to ‘hear’ the narrative but distanced themselves from the messages because to them, rap music represents Black/Latino culture, which they do not see as similar to their experiences. Janet: In White music videos, they don’t have like slutty girls like that. Hillary: No. Janet: Like Hoobastank and something. Rebecca: It is what you’re used to in their videos: I think that Black people imparticularly have like a culture that White people don’t understand. I just think that Black people have a culture that White people don’t, I think that White people feel more comfortable being sensitive, cause a lot of White songs or like White artists songs are about like romance and like being really in love. Hillary: I love you, I miss you too. Rebecca: Yeah, exactly. Debbie: I miss you, I miss you. 212 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This project illustrates how racial difference has a strong and early foundation in individuals. These boundaries are reinforced, legitimized through cultural symbols. As stated many times throughout this discussion, issues of race, class and gender are often expressed through binary opposites to understand differences along these categories (Hall, 1997). Racial, gender and class differences allow individuals to understand themselves through comparisons with those that are opposite. These White girls, in particular, recognized racial (and gender) opposites within the rap images and the ‘Spectacle of the Other’ embodied in rap music (both the rapper and video whore) was produced with meaning made (Hall, 1997). Reconstructing the ‘thug love’ narrative, which reinforced internalized gendered expectations regarding love, romance and dating was an interactive process, where meaning was established and reinforced through discussion with same-sex peers. The internal pictures in these girls’ minds about desirable romance and dating experiences were given external representation and reinforcement by the song lyrics and the approval from and consensus with their peers. The representations of these internalized cultural scripts were reinforced through an interface between internal processes within the individual girl, the interpersonal exchange among peers and the lyrics of the rap song. The other dominant representation was a visual one. These girls ‘saw’ something much different in the song's visual representation, the video. All the sampled girls, regardless of race, consumption patterns or emotional bond with the song lyrics, saw misogynistic images in the video - specifically, the ‘video whore’ 213 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. image - where women were seen as sexually aggressive and provocative. The focus group discussions all critiqued and rejected (distanced from) the ‘video whore’ image. There were slight differences, however, in how these girls distanced themselves from the image. For instance and consistent with their reactions to the ‘thug love’ narrative, the White girls distanced themselves from the image because the ‘video whore’ was not an image of White girls (women) but rather in their minds, of Black/Latina girls (women). Rebecca: If we were Black (girls) and we were in that room and we were watching the videos, we would say, oh that’s awesome. As the White girls made these distinctions, they did so with stereotypic and racist ideology without hesitation. The reasons for their candor may be attributed to one or two of many intervening factors. For instance, the facilitator of the focus groups was also White, possibly leading the girls to believe they could disclose sensitive racialized sentiments with someone who, because of the same racial status, would not be threatened by the remarks and possibly share the same understandings about racial difference and categorizing (and value). However, it is also possible that these girls felt they were speaking 'truths' which were represented in rap video imagery. Debbie: And how he said, I’ll go for your other friend if you’re not ready to go for me, you just go for whoever you want, you don’t really put a goal, the thing about Black guys, they’ll just go for any girl, they don’t want the chase, you want a guy who will try to go for you, only you, you know what I mean and there’s nothing to them, it’s just, how many girls I can get in a week .... 214 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Ya. Well, what, if you ask a guy, a Black guy what they are . . . reem her in the ass, you know. Ultimately, both explanations may have a part in explaining the level of candor regarding the racial assignments these girls placed on rap music in general and the ‘video whore’ specifically. These disclosures produce an understanding for how rap music functions for White audience - defining who they are not as well as the legitimacy to preference White over Black. The Black and Latina girls also distanced themselves from the ‘video whore’ but the process of doing this posed interesting dilemmas for them. The simultaneous representations of ‘thug love’ and the ‘video whore’ were more difficult to negotiate because the Black/Latina girls were caught in an uncomfortable position - they both identified (with the ‘thug love’ narrative) and distanced themselves (the ‘video whore’ image). In order to occupy this position, they incorporated the practice of tolerating the problematic representations of the song (the ‘video whore’), while attaching to the aspect that appeals to them (‘thug love’). In order to tolerate the image, they devised rationalizations. It is possible that the Black/Latina girls tolerated the images because they also understood rap music's elements (including the video whore) to represent an aspect of their culture. They may also have internalized these representations of Black/Latina culture (and women). Thus, they distance themselves from the image but also, tolerate the image because of their larger understanding about Black/Latina culture. When faced with contradictory images, messages or expectations behaviors, these girls 215 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. must make sense of the contradiction and do so by providing rationalizations for the discrepancy. This mechanism was not just used by the Black/Latina girls but as will be illustrated, by the White girls as well. Rationalizations seem to occur when there is a discrepancy between images and messages with a cultural text, across texts and between thought and action. But did these girls really relieve the tension through this rationalization? The rationalization was fragile and easily contradicted. The work involved in maintaining the rationalization may have temporarily relieved tension, but it seems to create another type of tension - having one's rationalization breakdown unexpectedly, which must be remedied to maintain one's sense of self. Racial expectations (like gendered ones) are internalized, produced and reproduced with interplay of culture, other external (such as peers) and internal (such as gender, race and cultural scripts) factors. What the Black and Latina girls illustrate is that race and gender affect this interpretative process. The project findings illustrate that the rationalization is not always uniform and is often, contradictory and difficult to maintain. These girls had, in many ways, a better sense of boys’ expectations of them than they had of their expectations of themselves. They viewed themselves from a male perspective, supporting feminists such as Tolman (1994) that forward this idea. In order to maintain a tie to or to participate in popular culture that both rectifies racist and sexist images and messages, individuals must carve a niche that fulfills a need or bond, on one hand, and must also distance and tolerate 216 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. problematic images in the process on the other hand. These mechanisms (distancing and tolerating) produce an uneasy space to occupy, where these girls learn to ignore or overlook problematic elements within the genre of rap music in order to continue to enjoy and engage in the genre as entertainment. They are grappling with wanting to engage in and be part of a cultural form that represents gender and racial difference perpetuating structural hierarchies. Conventional wisdom suggests rap music is not the only place where this occurs. Brown and Gilligan (1991) found evidence that girls often “dumb down” their intelligence for their male peers at school. It is important to uncover how they come to terms with these contradictions but also why they continue to enjoy a genre that is, in many ways, hostile toward them. They worked through these contradictions by attempting to normalize them through rationalizations. The dominant rationalization used by these girls is one that describes the contradiction as a result of targeting different audiences. In this case, the intended audience for the song lyrics, according to the studied girls, is girls. The intended audience for the video images, according to the girls, is boys. With this rationalization, the image of the ‘video whore’ could be distanced from and/or tolerated by these girls because the problematic images were, according to the girls, not directed at them but, a mechanism to attract boys to the song. Kim: I think they do that (put girls in the video) to get a male audience because guys wouldn’t listen to them as much. 217 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. These rationalizations allow them to continue to engage emotionally to the message from the lyrics (‘thug love’) and still enjoy the song. This explanation proved fragile, however, because the image of the 'video whore' was salient and in some ways, dominated the ‘reading’ of the rap video. The fragility of these rationalizations was brought on by the fact that the girls had internalized the image of the ‘video whore’ and the attitudes and behaviors associated with it. Thus, the values attached to some of these attitudes and behaviors were not always negative. In addition, using the intended audience rationalization to distance from the image of the ‘video whore’ was difficult because the pervasiveness and salience of the image was often hard to deny. These girls have found a way to participate in this cultural form but they do so at the sacrifice of being objectified and largely silent about the results of this objectification in their lives. These girls do represent a subculture within culture, one that is largely silent and consistently suppressed and dismissed. As a subculture, these girls find a niche in a hostile, male-dominated, largely misogynistic culture. To do so, they use cultural symbols differently than boys, for example, using this rap song to represent love and romance. As the girls worked through the contradictions, meaning was made and reinforced by their own attitudes and the attitudes of their peers, making their rationalizations contextually bound and dynamic. Although girls get their information from many places and will filter information, the role of peers in constructing and reinforcing these rationalizations is important. The interpretative 218 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. process is a combination of intrapersonal, interpersonal and external factors like culture. Deviation from the shared knowledge about ‘thug love’ and the ‘video whore’ was resisted, overlooked, or additional complementary information (e.g., anatomy of a rap video) was created to allow the girls to maintain their rationalizations. These negotiations offer evidence for Kenny’s ‘insider-Other’, where girls are compelled to both engage and reject culture. Girls occupy an ‘insider-Other’ position in culture and in society. This position is an uneasy and fragile space because of the duality of positive and negative values associated with expected gendered attitudes and actions. Evidence of this can be found in the ways they interpreted the ‘video whore’. These girls both accept and reject these expectations as they negotiate and reconcile the conflicts and contradictions within their consumption of rap music. Adolescent girls may process competing images, messages and rationalizations in order to maintain a level of ‘normality’ in their lives. The intersection of race and gender complicates this process for the Black and Latina girls because they do identify with rap music as a Black and Latina cultural representation. Video imagery and audio messages prompt and brings to life the internal pictures in these girls’ heads. As they discuss these images, they easily juxtapose real life as they attempt to rationalize the contradictions. This juxtaposition,' ultimately, serves to further reinforce the internalized understanding about gendered and racial expectations where White is better than Black; White girls are 219 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. better than Black girls and females’ worth is gauged through male interest. The paradox is that the girls actually distanced themselves from the images when, in fact, the images mirrored their own attitudes. The image of the ‘video whore’ with the connotations about sexuality was rejected when many of these girls (all races) disclosed very similar behaviors or at least, the belief that some of these behaviors are necessary for male attention. They hold two sets of values (one negative and one positive) about the messages and images from the music. This project illustrates the interplay of an individual’s subject-position(s) and the images and messages within cultural texts, and how this interplay is wrought with contradictions. Conflicts arise due to context, race and gender. The identification with a subject-position became very difficult for these girls as they were ‘reading’ two contradictory images and messages within the same cultural text: two representations that have both positive and negative values attached to them. The result was the creation of rationalizations to maintain multiple positions and subjectivities - an ‘insider-Other’ status. Implications The public discourse regarding the negative influence of rap music centers around the depictions of violence, use of drugs and alcohol, guns and even curse words, especially how these elements influence young people. Yet, the outcry against the misogynistic depiction of women has not reached the same proportions. Corporate sponsors like Reebok did not pull their “I am what I am” ad campaign 220 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. featuring rapper, 50-cent, because his videos depict misogynistic images of women. This study illustrates that rap does not ‘erase the color lines’, and may actually serve to solidify these lines and reinforce the 'gender line,' where women are subordinate to men. Girls who consume rap are a subculture within a cultural form (rap music) because they want to engage in a pervasive element of society, one that identifies with youth. However, what place does rap occupy for these girls? From this analysis, rap reinforces misogynistic understandings about female sexuality. These girls illustrate that rap music does not teach them about sexual aggressiveness or promiscuity but reinforces already existing scripts about gendered, sexual behaviors and attitudes. Rap, then, comes to represent desired dating behaviors in much the same way the White girls expressed that for them; rap represents 'authentic' Black culture. The salience of the meaning of ‘thug love’ is important to note. Much of the attention (both academic research and public discourse) continues to focus on race and less on gender. The intersection of race and gender is discussed in work that explores the meaning of the stereotypes about women (Emerson, 2002; Rose, 1994; Pough, 2004). What is not focused on, although related, is how race and gender intersect in the messages and images in rap music, with the connection to behaviors surrounding dating and romance. ‘Thug love’ was a salient meaning derived from the rap song by these girls. 221 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This project provides a better understanding for how popular culture influences norms and values about dating and courtship for adolescents, and how this influence may interface with the phases of adolescent development and other internal and external factors. During adolescence, personal and interpersonal norms and values are salient and certainly, are reinforced and influenced by a variety of factors. Individuals are dynamic and their attitudes and actions are not the result of one factor, but many. The disciplines of cultural studies and developmental psychology complement each other to bring depth of understanding to how attitudes and actions are formed and regulated. Each discipline also provides an explanation for how factors influence thought and action. Because each discipline/theory focuses on a different referent (e.g., the cultural studies focuses on culture and the developmental psychology on intrinsic factors), the understandings regarding thought and action within both disciplines imparts one-sided views about what influences thought, action and the relationship between the two. The result is a static view of what is a dynamic, ever changing process of forming thought and choosing action. If one reflects on the disciplines of cultural studies and psychology in this manner, the combination of perspectives gives the examination of adolescent girls and the depth of their rap music consumption, by bringing what was lacking from each. Bronfenbrenner (1979; 1987) provided a macro-level perspective for how culture and context interact with internal processes in young people to ultimately 222 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. form and reinforce thought and action. Although the perspective was able to provide a macro-level, systematic model for how external factors influence development, Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) model did not connect to micro-level processes for how these external ‘systems’ (as Bronfenbrenner calls them) interact within an individual along the various developmental stages. Bronfenbrenner’s model is significant in the field of psychology for focusing on the importance of external influences. His macro-level view of this relationship, however, is static. To be sure, the focus on understanding what development is and entails has been explored for years within the discipline. Linking the macro to micro in these cases might be fortuitous because developmental psychology focuses quite closely on micro-level analysis but has not so readily been linked to theories like Bronfenbrenner model. The founding fathers of psychology (e.g., Piaget and Erikson) were focused on development and the internal processes associated with it. Without linking to the external factors, the discussion is uni-dimensional. The missing piece is culture, which has been a separate area of study. The girls in this sample were able to apply and extrapolate ideas and concepts to make meaning or explain their points, but they were not consistent. Part of this inconsistency can be explained by the contradictory images, messages and expectations that place girls in multiple subjectivities. The omission of other contextual factors such as peers and culture and the contradictory nature of the intersection of these factors with intrinsic factors including gender and race add another layer that would be omitted if only one discipline had been consulted to 223 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. orient this project. These girls undertake a dynamic processing to make sense of incongruent and contradictory points. How context, gender, race, peers or culture impact thought and action is not explained in developmental psychology. This project can be used as an example for the potential benefits of interdisciplinary foundations for research. The gaps in developmental psychology can be filled by adding a focus and inclusion of culture. Carol Gilligan's work with adolescent girls provided a basis for empirically testing how girls learn to negotiate the conflicting messages based on their class, race and gender statuses and thus, her work is used as a model for this project. Gilligan provided strong insights into internal processes, and how and why self- silencing occurs within adolescent girls. Gilligan’s work focused less on accounting for how girls process ‘stimuli’ with both positive Mid negative values simultaneously and how this duality is interpreted by the individual girl, which ultimately leads to thought and action. Quite the opposite from Gilligan’s findings, the girls in this sample were eager to voice their opinions about their displeasure with the misogynistic images. As girls face contradictory messages without the knowledge of how to deal with them, it may be easier to silence in the presence of adults. But given the right circumstances, they can discuss these issues (Checkoway et al., 2003). Upon reflection of these findings and the literature that informed them, there was still a quality to the girls’ discussion and interpretations that was missing. Regardless of how much they liked or disliked the song or interpreted and 224 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. processed the messages and images, these girls still presented a positive perspective or outcome for themselves personally. Psychology gives an explanation for this missing quality and may help to explain their ability to make positive meaning even in the face of contrary and negative messages and images. The psychological concept, positive illusions, posits that in the face of damaging information that can potentially affect an individual’s self image, positive perceptions or evaluations allow individuals to feel good about themselves and maintain equilibrium (Taylor & Brown, 1988). Thus, individuals filter information, putting a positive spin on any negative and threatening information. These illusions (perceptions or evaluations) are particularly adaptive (Taylor & Brown, 1988). The girls normalized the problematic aspects of rap music through their rationalization about intended audience, which on this surface, is really not only a process of filtering information, but actually a mechanism for justifying the filtering. By saying the images of the ‘video whore’ are intended to attract male audience, these girls place the problematic aspects in a space where the girls distance and tolerate them because the images are not for them or of them. As they try to maintain this rationalization, the fragility was apparent. Taylor and Brown (1988) did not mention how an illusion can be fragile and thus, do not speculate about what happens when the illusion breaks down. This concept seems reminiscent of Stuart Hall’s (2001) use of selective perception. Selective perception, cognitive dissonance and attribution theory all have similar features but 225 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. seek to explore one facet of the ability of individuals to negotiate, and possibly relieve, tensions. It should not be surprising that cultural studies borrowed from social psychological concepts and has since added to understanding for the place of culture in individual thoughts and actions. There are many applications for these theories in this project’s findings but what is most interesting is to focus on the simultaneous reception of contradictory images and/or messages in a cultural symbol (rap music). For instance, an examination of how these girls process these contradictions led to the discovery of their elaborate reconstruction and rationalizations of the song to fit into the meanings and values they gave it. It was an uneasy negotiation to maintain these rationalizations. As they proceeded to construct and reconstruct the meanings they gave to the rap song, they began mixing reality with the mediated images, which served to reinforce those meanings. In many ways, the girls framed these discussions, as Liebes and Katz (1998) described, using referential and meta-linguistic framing. The referential frame is when individuals use real life experiences to describe events they identify, while the meta-linguistic frame is when individuals use abstraction to discuss images and messages that they distance from their experiences (Liebes & Katz, 1988). Factors such as individual's education, and race/ethnicity were found to influence the reliance on one frame over the other (Liebes & Katz, 1998). It is not out of context then to suggest that gender, age, and even, consumption levels influence the choice of frame at any given time. The girls in this sample did decode these images and 226 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. messages filtered through both of these frames. When these girls were using real life experiences (or the referential frame), they were describing the gendered behavioral expectations for romance and dating. A meta-linguistic frame would be used to discuss those images and/or messages that these girls distanced themselves from, while the referential frame was reserved for the internalized and desirable images/messages. The uneasy position of both accepting and rejecting this cultural symbol simultaneously adds a layer of complexity that is not delineated in the work of Liebes and Katz. In fact, much of the work on the reception and consumption of culture accounts for multiple meanings of one cultural symbol but often in discreet and static ways, rather than for multiple meaning happening simultaneously. The project raises implications about understanding how meaning is made and about how the consumption of culture is neither non-linear nor uniform but constantly changing, in ways that have yet to be discussed within the literature. Turning specifically to literature that highlights the role of culture in individuals and in society, Stuart Hall's “Circuit of Culture” was the initial perspective/model used to orient this project. The “Circuit of Culture” is much like Bronfenbrenner’s model in psychology because both are ways to broadly orient and understand how, in the case of the “Circuit of Culture,” culture is consumed and used by individuals in an approximation of real life circumstances. Both models are useful as broad foundations for how to view individuals, their relationships to the external world and more importantly, how these relationships impact an 227 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. individual’s thought and action. The difference between the two perspectives is the referent of their perspectives. The “Circuit of Culture’s” focus is on culture while the individual is the referent in Bronfenbrenner’s model. Each perspective offers significant insight into the interface between an individual and the external environment, and each has its limitations. Although insightful and theoretically compelling, both models produce a one-sided abstraction about the process of consuming and using culture by individuals in their environments. The real life experience of consuming culture and making meaning is more complex, multi-dimensional and nuanced as the girls have illustrated in this project. In many ways, this project is situated to integrate these disciplines to capture a more realistic ‘picture’ of individual consumption and its relationship to thought and action. The project was also envisioned to find empirical support for the concepts and models within both disciplines, particularly cultural studies. Textual analyses (the main method used by cultural studies) have the tendency to discuss culture abstractly which is far removed from culture used in daily lived experience. Girls do occupy multiple and contradictory subjectivities and this project illustrates how girls as ‘insider-Others’ negotiate the contradictions and maintain engagement with rap music where they both reject and accept the images and messages within the genre. It is an uneasy position, where the internal and external conflicts produce complex, intricate but fragile rationalizations to allow them to engage with culture that contains gender and racial hierarchies, rectifying 228 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. stereotypes. These same stereotypes are part of larger gender and racially stratified hierarchy. The simultaneous (and contradictory) ‘reading’ of the images and messages within this rap song speaks to the complexity of engagement with popular culture. This complexity suggests how images and messages are read, consumed and interpreted. It is an uneven process, where uniformity is an exception to the norm. How individuals deal with these contradictions varies and fluctuates depending on situational and internal factors colliding. On some level, the conflict felt by these girls is part of normal social life as gendered and racial beings. The mechanisms discovered in this project allow for active engagement in culture and social life. It also allows for the appearance of active agency for these young girls. It is a hollow agency, however, because these girls illustrate how, despite their protests, they have internalized (and accepted) the image of the video whore. The girls may use rap music to satisfy a need for love and romance, such as in the ‘thug love’ narrative but ultimately, they rectify and validate the gender and racial order. Rap music mirrors the existing gender and racial hierarchy, which is part and parcel of larger society. The ways rap produces and reinforces gendered hierarchies is of equal importance and concern. These girls use rap music to reinforce existing gendered expectations which produced and reproduces the hierarchy. These girls negotiate the stigma by choosing an ‘Other’ position through distancing and tolerating problematic images with rationalizations they construct. These rationalizations are fragile minefields of contradicting images and messages 229 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. that influence these girls’ attitudes and behavior expectations. Cultural scripts interplay with developmental stages, race, and gender. The girls’ abilities to normalize contradictions and the ‘Other’ position illustrate the unique factors that influences and identifies adolescent girls’ formation of attitudes and behaviors. The difficulties faced by adolescent girls as they negotiate social life have been partially uncovered by how they read and process rap music. These girls occupy the ‘Other’ position in rap music because of their gender. Stuart Hall’s concept, the ‘Spectacle of the Other’, had a constant presence in this project. The concept, which Hall uses for a discussion of race, was found through White adolescent girls’ discussion of rap music as a marker for ‘authentic’ Black culture. These girls decoded the images and messages in the video as a reinforcement of who they were not (i.e., Black). Racial ideology was represented in rap music through the embodiment of the image of the Video whore1 and the rappers themselves. These girls used rap music to stratify culture along racial lines with White occupying the prime (positive) position, while Black culture occupying the subordinate (negative) position. The racial binary was strong within these girls’ discussions of rap music, but there were also hints of other binaries including gender, race, gender, and class. As Stuart Hall suggested, binary opposites suggest that differences could create different meanings by assigning values - one positive and one negative. Rebecca: I think we can all say that everyone here like listens to rock, about 95% of the time because I do like rap. They (the rappers) wanna be like tough. For example, 50- 230 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. cent is always wearing a bullet proof vest and that’s like his thing. Girls think it’s so sexy but like it’s just to make him look tough. It is important to note is that these meanings, values, and opposites are usually reinforced across various texts “where one image refers to another, or has its meaning altered by being ‘read’ in the context of other images . . . (or)... intertextuality” (Hall, 1997, 232). The images and message in rap music are not isolated or found only within this genre. The negative values regarding Blacks (Black women and lower income Black men) are found in a variety of texts. These values were already known to these girls and, more importantly, these girls believed in them. The ability for individuals to simultaneously read two separate and contradictory meanings in a cultural symbol is a contribution to the cultural studies literature. Symbols can be separated into parts, afforded meaning, and dealt with differently by individuals at the same time. The process of consuming culture, as described by cultural studies theorists, is supported by this project. This project expands the literature by teasing out the theoretical concepts. How individuals decode cultural symbols was explored by how these girls saw and heard two different messages in the rap song. Certainly, different representations (audio and visual) stimulate different senses and may even trigger different ‘internal images’ and/or experiences. The connection of the external and internal, the biological and social, seems appropriate to be recognized; it has not often been explored as of yet. 231 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This project illustrated different ways the ‘Spectacle of the Other’ was used by the girls such as the racial difference defined by rap music and rappers. There was also the interpretation of gender difference in two ways: (1) these girls delineated between boy and girl needs and wants where the implicit positive value was placed on boys and their wants and desires; and (2) gender difference, as interpreted by these girls, can be found in the intersection of race and gender where the racialized girl was afforded a negative value (a double negative value for being non-male and non-White). Difference can be highlighted in many different types of ‘Spectacles of the Other’. Rap music does not appear to erase color lines but actually solidifies racial and gender lines that reinforce racist and sexist ideology. Adolescent girls, however, do not appear to learn these in a rap song. They indicated that rap music reinforced existing, internalized attitudes. They occupy their ‘insider-Other’ status by both accepting and rejecting these images and messages. This status is maintained by creating elaborate rationalizations for their continued enjoyment and engagement in the music. These rationalizations allow these girls to occupy their ‘insider-Other’ status and in some ways, deceive themselves into thinking they are more ‘insiders’, than ‘Others’. Psychology, sociology, and cultural studies do not have to operate in isolation and can offer a more rounded approach to phenomena when combined. Combined disciplines, as this project illustrates, add a richer understanding about the factors that influence thoughts and actions during young people’s transition 232 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. from children into adults. Combined disciplines also give a more accurate and thorough understanding for how internal factors interact with the external ones (especially culture) to form a person’s thoughts and actions. The dynamic, complex, and non-static ways individuals create meanings, form attitudes, and behavioral expectations in real life, are brought out through the combination of these disciplines. The model on the next page (see Figure 3) offers a visual representation of both sets of theories and concepts and how they combined with the findings from this project, to produce an understanding for the connection between culture (rap music), thought, and action. Therefore, these theories can be accounted for, in one place, to explain girls’ consumption and interpretive process. The top left half of the model focuses on how external influences or factors such as culture (in this case, rap music) may influence thought and action, while the upper right half focuses on how internal influences or factors influence them. Each box in the top half contains concepts from the respective disciplines (cultural studies and psychology). For instance, the cultural studies concept ‘Spectacle of the Other’, is in the top left section of the model because it describes how cultural texts and symbols create meanings. There are two exceptions. Cultural scripts are found within both the internal and external factors boxes in the model. They are in both places because cultural scripts are simultaneously internal and external to the individuals, a point that was evident especially in the girls’ discussion of the ‘thug love’ narrative. In addition, selective perception and positive illusions influence 233 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. how the girls (who are ‘insider-Others’ to this cultural symbol) ‘read’ and decode the symbol. These two concepts are very similar and both inform the decoding process or choices for these girls. Cultural Symbol “I wanna get to know Ya’ Internal Factors (Race, Gender; Cultural Scripts) External Factors (Circuit o f Culture; Spectacle o f die Other; Cultural Scripts) Individual (insider-Other) Selective Perception Positive Illusions M eaning Interpretation (Thug Love; Video Whore) Distancing Tolerance Intended Audience Divergence (with meaning) Convergence (with meaning) Figure 3. Process of Making Meaning From the middle of the model to the lower half, the findings from this project are incorporated to illustrate how consumption and interpretation results in simultaneously contradictory images and messages, and are made based on the initial meanings assigned to the cultural symbol. Meaning is created by these girls 234 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. and when they do, their attitudes and thoughts (and sometimes, actions) will either converge with the meaning (or identify with it) or diverge from the meaning. Both convergence and divergence are initiated through the decision to either distance or tolerate the image or message. In similar fashion to the notion of the ‘insider- Other’ status for these girls, they can both enjoy (converge) and reject (diverge) with both representations, despite the contradictions, by creating rationalizations (intended audience). This model places theoretical concepts and empirical data together to offer a well-rounded understanding of the relationship between rap music and adolescent girls’ thoughts and actions. This project offers empirical support for concepts in cultural studies, specifically the ‘Spectacle of the Other’, but it also furthers the understanding on how culture impacts thought and action. The project sheds light on this process, especially on how adolescent girls experience culture. The mechanisms that allow these girls to occupy the ‘insider-Other’ status are elaborate. What is important is that these girls have learned to occupy this status and maintain an identity that is hardly a victim. However, what is also true is that these mechanisms are hollow. Gender hierarchy and stereotypic ideologies are not contested in ways that may induce change either within an individual girl’s thoughts and actions or within collective sentiment among individuals and within the cultural representations. False empowerment maintains the gendered status quo. 235 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Limitations Each study has limitations, specifically related to method, representative ness, and content of the project’s findings. This section will discuss these limitations and offer avenues to address these limitations in future research. Methodology Projects using focus group methodology must consider the impact of group dynamics (‘group think’) on the discussions or data collected. These dynamics must always be taken into consideration during the analysis and interpretation of that data. One way used in this study to uncover any traces of ‘group think’ was to incorporate in-depth interviews into the study design. The girls were asked during the follow-up interviews if they agreed with the focus group discussion or if they felt differently. Although not a conclusive sign that group think did or did not have an affect on the findings, only three girls out of the 24 who were interviewed expressed disagreement with the focus group discussions. Morgan (1997) cited group dynamics as both positive and negative attributes associated with focus group methodology. On the one hand, focus groups offer a dynamic exchange between individuals; on the other hand, it may limit the free thinking of an individual person. In addition, the interaction among the girls in these focus groups was of interest and not an unwelcome outcome of this research methodology. If ‘group think’ happened here, it may actually be a close approximation to the normal interactions between adolescent peers. Thus, 236 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ‘group think’ was a desired outcome and what some may consider a liability was not the case here. It is also possible that the girls were expressing what they thought the facilitator wanted or expected to hear (social desirability bias). With an adult facilitator, these adolescent girls may have felt uncomfortable discussing these issues honestly. In order to reduce these potential problems, the hierarchy for constructing the focus group composition (friendship group followed by racial group) was designed. It was hypothesized that discussing these issues among friends would increase the level of comfort for the girls. The level of disclosure regarding personal behavior and attitudes in both the focus group and the follow-up interviews suggested that these girls were comfortable and expressed their beliefs and attitudes as they believed them to be. Sample Size and Representativeness The sample size was small but sufficient for a qualitative exploratory study. The project’s aim was to capture a dynamic process (e.g., the relationship between a form of culture and an individual’s thoughts and actions), suggesting a smaller study to be able to tease out these details, and how images and messages are processed. These findings have produced theory for the relationship between culture and an individual’s thought and action. The next step would be to engage in hypothesis-testing in larger samples and across more diverse (geographical location, race, gender) populations. Further work should also delineate more 237 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. clearly any class distinctions or differences. Also, this project’s goal was to capture and bring to the forefront the richness of these girls’ voices - a goal not accomplished with large scale studies or different methodologies (Brown, 1999). Replicating this study with these suggestions may validate the findings and determine patterns in culture consumption and its relationship to thought and action. Capturing Internal Processes When research involves capturing internal processes, it is always difficult to ascertain whether or not what is expressed by the subject or interpreted by the researcher is what the subjects are actually expressing or experiencing. This project is no different. For instance, there was some difficulty in explaining why these girls had problems extrapolating between what they were seeing in the video to “real world” situations. A specific example might make this point clear. The end of the video contains a beach scene, with 50-cent sitting and talking to two women at a party. He leaves them to go talk to and eventually, have sex with another woman. When the facilitator asked if situations like this occur in real life, the girls answered “Yes,” but only on the beach. On the surface, it seemed that they were unable to extrapolate the actions from the location in the video to other locations. They seemed unable to discuss actions abstractly, separating them from the location they viewed in the video. There are explanations for this and most do not have anything to do with trying to capture consumption of culture and its 238 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. relationship to attitude formation and behavioral expectations. For instance, one explanation is that the way the question was worded or asked might have been difficult for these girls to understand. Likewise, the sequencing of the questions could have influenced how the girls answered this question. In addition, the developmental level of these girls may have limited their comprehension or ability to think abstractly. It might also be because the girls were framing their discussion of the content of the video meta-linguistically because of the contradiction between the message and problematic images. If these girls distanced themselves from the problematic aspects of the song, they would not discuss the video images connecting them to real life (which would be referential framing). Only the last explanation is about the consumption of culture and its impact on attitudes and behaviors. Linkages between external and internal factors are difficult to capture because internal processes are elusive. However, these findings do suggest pathways to attitude formation and behavioral expectation. Future Research The lack of literature on adolescent romantic relationships was surprising, especially since the impact of these relationships on health and well-being is significant (Connolly & Konarski, 1994; Joyner & Udry, 2000). Future research in this area should focus on how to integrate the internal processes with external ones, especially where and when cultural scripts are learned, how they are reproduced in individuals and among individuals, and how these scripts (and generally culture) 239 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. affect adolescent romantic expression. It is important to determine how these cultural scripts and expectations for behavior either build or relieve tension within an individual, especially as it relates to romantic behaviors for young people. The mechanisms that either bridge or stop attitudes regarding cultural scripts on love and romance to action need further exploration. Finally, the linkage between the tensions caused by these contradictions and health, well-being and future ‘at-risk’ behaviors must be explored. Along with these recommendations, other avenues for future research include replicating this study with diverse populations and, on a larger scale, ones that could test the findings and assist in understanding the relationship between culture consumption and an individual’s thought and actions. The Final Word One point to be gleaned from this project is how it informs us about the lives of adolescent girls in this society. The processing and rationalizing girls do with this song, i.e., what it means and represent, are probably not much different than what they do with the other contradictions they encounter. All girls, ‘normal’ or ‘at-risk’, deal with these contradictory gendered and racial images and messages to make sense of themselves and the others around them, including various relationships (gendered and racial). Misogynistic representations in culture and social structure are, in turn, reinforced by these girls accepting and even internalizing the elements of rap music. The elements are consistent with the larger 240 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. structural mechanisms that continue to reinforce the gender and racial hierarchy. The intersection of race with gender confounds how these issues are addressed and how adolescent girls negotiate with a world that is male-dominated, racially segregated, and hostile toward them. The ability to stake a claim or form a niche in this hostile environment illustrates a part of girls’ resilience, while noting this hollow effort on a larger scale - reaffirming the gendered, racial hierarchy. One cannot help but think how dealing with constant contradictions in their environment which must be processed and negotiated with other stimuli, affects girls and women. Is it possible that at-risk behaviors by adolescent girls stem from being unable to cope with these contradictions and the tension it causes between thought and action? These are tensions that may have lasting effects on their physical and emotional well-being. Statistics indicate: (i) suicide attempts; (ii) sexual assaults are high in female populations; and (iii) increase in rates when a girl enters high school. Each year, roughly 15,000 high school girls will be sexually assaulted and 37,002 will attempt suicide.8 1 Are there any links between negotiating contradictory images and messages and the situational and individual factors that invite the propensity to be ‘at-risk’ for violence? or blaming the victim? Although potentially harder to link, knowledge such as this can inform prevention and intervention efforts for risk reduction for violence and other detrimental behaviors in adolescent girls. 8 1 Statistics obtained from National Electronic Injury Surveillance System through the CDC’s WISQUARS. 241 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Academic research on the causes of ‘at-risk’ behaviors and victimization usually focus on the ‘kind of person’ or ‘type of family’ to predict or explain these behaviors and/or outcomes. However, little work explores the effects of external factors (such as aspects of culture) with these more traditional factors.8 2 Cultural symbols provide competing and contradictory images to young girls who see and hear them often without explanation or guidance. Self-silencing, distancing, and tolerating, as described here and in other research, may also contribute or lead to self-destructive behaviors. What part do the contradictory images and messages play in these behaviors? On a more interpersonal basis, much can be said about the lives of the adolescent girls by simply hearing these girls’ stories of experiences and situations. As much as generalizations cannot be made about these girls relating to the experience of adolescent, they do represent slices of adolescent girls’ experiences. Wishful Thinkers Teresa: Some girls are really like that. Yeah, just because they like a guy they’ll go with them. They’ll do anything just to get their attention. Jenelle: Yeah. Maria: One time I went to this club, this club is for any age; from twelve and up I think. F: Um huh. 82 Wingood, DiClemente et al. (2003) isolated rap music consumption (self reported hours of viewing rap videos and concluded that exposure to rap music through hours of viewing was related to at-risk behaviors (including violent activities). However, the mechanism that leads from watching a video to the choice in behaviors was not explored and arguably, could not be explored in a quantitative study using survey methodology. 242 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Maria: I went in and they’d be like standing on top of tables just to get the guys’ attention. F: They’re dancing? Maria: And they dance, yeah. Girls displaying themselves for boys in environments such as dance clubs mark the beginning of sexually objectifying their bodies for males’ pleasure and consumption. New technologies also speed up girls’ introduction to sexual objectification. Rebecca: This one guy that I met over the internet (giggling). Oh my god, he’s all like, what do you look like? I just was like thinking like “What am I gonna say, you know?” I felt that I had to like go on a diet. I’m guilty as charged but I did. But it’s like, “Hi, my name is Rebecca. I’ve lost 30 pounds” (and he would say), “Great, Hi Rebecca.” (The other girls clap.) Rebecca describes her internal processing of what this guy expects from a female. She has internalized the social images of beauty and decided that she should go on diet to make herself the standard of beauty in order to be attractive to this male. Experiences like Rebecca’s and Maria’s were discussed by all of the focus groups as common occurrences, not isolated incidents. From dancing on tables to internet dating, these girls accept and engage in these behaviors and even desire them because they see them as representing society’s norms of girls’ attractiveness. These behaviors have been internalized to hold either a neutral or positive value. In addition, these girls experience potentially dangerous situations or pathways to victimization as an everyday occurrence. 243 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Storytellers G: Like me and my friend, sometime we take the metro bus to her house and we’ll hear honks and we’re just sitting at the bus station and we’ll be, like, ‘screw you’. They’re like 40 years old. G: They are older. G: It’s kind of scary. G: Just go away. G: They like scare me so much. G: They always do that. G: If I see a truck and I’m walking alone I’m, like, “oh crap.” G: I live in LA and I’m either walking alone or my friends and you’ll see guys like in their 30’s, 40’s. They’ll honk or they’ll whistle or they’ll say hi or something but hi in a way that isn’t a friendly hi. I’m scared like they’re like gonna rape me or something ‘cause they’re all old. It’s kinda scary. G: We’re walking and these guys are like following us so we had to like go to a whole different way but finally they went away ‘cause we told them we were only like 10 years old. At this age, these girls encounter environments that because of gender, may be at the very least, objectifying and at the very most, dangerous. However, even at this age or younger,8 3 these girls have become accustomed to these male-centered and male-initiated behaviors and accept (or tolerate) them. 8 3 The girls’ examples reference these situations occurring when they were 10 years of age - 3-4 years prior to this project. 244 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Hillary: Men can overrule women but women can’t do anything, only the men can. Rulers are the men and men are the rulers. There was a girl in my landscaping class whose sister was in a relationship with a twenty-one year old. She’s thirteen, my age. What do these experiences and disclosures tell us about the lives of girls? Regarding the findings of this project, how do they consume cultural images and messages? The resignation could be present in these girls because these images are no different than what they experience on a daily basis. Listening to young girls’ stories gives us insight into the factors that impact their lives - factors that are not often recognized. The excitement and energy these girls brought into the focus groups and interviews suggested that if given a space for them to voice their wants, desires and frustrations, they will tell us what affects them. 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APPENDIX A ANNOUNCEMENT FUN OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH HIP HOP VIDEOS AND EAT PIZZA! I f you are: a. a girl (ages 13-14) b. interested in watching hip hop videos and talking about them c. having fun and eating pizza! I f you are interested: a. Please fill out this sign-in sheet b. Take home one of these packets for your parents to read. c. Return the letter signed by your parents to Kay Kezirian in the Admissions office ASAP. A student from University of Southern California is doing a research project on hip hop videos. Once you’ve turned in the letter, she will call you. Just a few other things: a. Whatever you say about these videos is private. b. The only one that will hear what you have to say is the student from USC. c. You will watch videos with three other girls and also, answer questions about the videos you’ve watched. 267 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX B HIP HOP VIDEOS RESEARCH PROJECT Sign in Sheet Please print your name, give a phone number where you can be reached. Be sure to write down if you received a packet to bring home to your parents. Thanks for your interest in participating! It should be a lot of fun! Name Phone number Received packet (please write down yes or no) 268 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX C BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE What is your favorite rap/hip hop video? Year of Birth Are you: Circle one White African-American Latina Asian Other Your zip code at home Your father’s job Your mother’s job How often do you listen to rap/hip hop music? Check one Every day Couple of times a week Once a week Once a month Never other (please explain): 269 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX D “I WANNA GET TO KNOW YA” LYRICS [INTRO-JOE] I wanna get to know ya I really wanna thug you, baby One dose of your lovin I know it gon’ drive me, crazy I wanna be your lover I wanna get to know you, baby One dose of my lovin I know it gon’ drive you, crazy [VERSE ONE - YOUNG BUCK] I’m lovin how you look in my eyes, swangin them hips when you pass I’m visualizin my name tattooed on that ass baby Jump on this Harley, let’s go smoke some of that Bob Marley Sip some Bacardi then go pull up at the after party I think we make a perfect couple, but you think I’m trouble Maybe that’s the reason you gave me the wrong number (what?) She got me feelin like, maybe she the wrong woman Think I’ma be chasin the chickenhead, you’re on something Your toes painted, hair fixed all the time And your Gucci boots the same color as mine If you read between the lines you can see what I want you I betcha I’ll have you doin what you said that you won’t do Made a decision shorty, good thangs don’t last long Your girlfriend keeps showin me that thong, Before I head home I’ma stop at your house and blow the hom If you come outside you know it’s on, holla at your boy [CHORUS] [VERSE TWO - LLOYD BANKS] Now bitches be frustrated with a baler, wonder why I don’t call her Maybe because I’m busy and she need someone to spoil her It gets annoying, from time to time I gotta ignore her In order to let her know that we friends and nuttin more She loves it when I’m in town, hate it when I’m not around 270 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. I get her and wear her down, next door neighbors hear the sound Pictures hittin the ground, just enough to hold us down I’m stickin and movin, cruisin after the third round Just lay back baby and let me drive you crazy I can make a forty year old fell like a young lady I admit I fell in love with my friend And to make her feel special I let her call me by my government name Her panties wet over fame, fell in love with my chain I wonder if I wasn’t an entertainer, would she remain? Surroundin me, houndin me, tryin to by my ON-L-Y I’m not your boyfriend, I’m your HO-MEY [CHORUS] [VERSE THREE - 50-CENT] Yeah Don’t know what f**k me up more, watchin her lick her lips Or watchin her walk, she hypnotized me with her hips man I sweet talk her if she like Cause all she really want is a n***a to treat her right, right? Look, I’m legit now, I used to break laws Now you can reap the benefits of world tours Big house, big Benz, girl it’s yours Mink coats, Italian shoes, stones with no flaws You ain’t got ta look like a model for me to adore you All you gotta do is love me and be loyal Don’t indulge in my past, f**k what happened before you Cause to me some bunny’s gon’ hate you that never saw you C’mere, let me touch on you, I let you touch on me Put my tongue on you, you put your tongue on me Let me ride on you and you can ride on me We can do it all the night, we can have a bailer night [CHORUS 2X] Cited from http://getlvvrics.com/lvrics.php/G-Unit+F— +Joe/SHOW+LYRICS/Wanna+Get+Know...(retrieved on 2/20/05 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX E ANALYTICAL NOTES ANALYTICAL NOTE FIRST READING FOCUS GROUP #2 January 9,2005 There were two themes in the focus group: 1. Description of what a rap video consists of (anatomy of rap video) • For these girls, this video was not different than others. It had the same elements and was therefore “boring” • However, they were immediately cued into the depiction of women in the video F: So what’ s happening in the video though? Like, what are the scenes about? G: There’s bunch of skanks dancing around This was the response to the second question I asked and was a theme that was continued throughout • The women dancing around in the video made the video boring to these girls and just like all other videos. It is interesting that in spite of it being boring, these girls would still watch it if it came on television. What function is video watching for these girls? Just to pass the time? F: And so um you had said that you liked the song but you guys don ’t necessarily like the video, so do you still watch the video 272 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G: um hum! G: yeah when it comes on F: You 7/ still watch it, you won 7 turn it off, G: yes F: and why wouldn 7 you turn it o ff i f you don 7 really like the video ? G: Cause there’s nothing else to watch G: see what’s on next • These girls took time to explain to me what rap videos all look like and the description women (or “skanks”) are an element F: OK, um tell me um a little bit more I know you guys were mentioning about the way the girls were dancing, how about the guys in this video, what did you think about what they were doing? G: They act the same way on every video G: yeah G: um hum G: yeah F: Oh, G: They just dress in these really baggy clothes and just walk around F: Now, would it be, are you guys talking about G-unit or are you talking about like ju st like rap and hip hop in general G: Rap and hip hop in general G: yeah 273 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. F: So they kind o f all do the same thing? G: You always have to have the really skanky girls dancing on them and you have to have the like all the gangsta up kind of people with the big baggy clothes and stuff like that [unclear] • When pushed a little, these girls will concede that there are some differences in each video (like a different ending) but all the same elements. • When asked why all videos look the same, they began to discuss the fact that this is their “logo” but they moved further and actually understood that the videos were like this for a reason and it particular the women in the videos were in there to sell “stuff’ F: All these girls in the videos are they kind o f doing it fo r the guys? G: Probably G: yeah G: Just to sell stuff F: To sell stuff? G: They’re probably worried that their music isn’t good so they put skanky people in their videos. G: Cause like, this nature is all about sex and killing and stuff to sell. G: I like the video though F: You still like the video G: yeah G: Um hum G: yeah G: I don’t know. I just like it. 274 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G: The video is okay. It is fine if [unclear] • Again, contradictory statements here - at first, the video was boring and dumb with “skanks” but then, later another girl starts saying she likes it and then, the rest do too. • It seems that whichever opinion starts off in response to my question is picked up by the rest and then, later when another girl answers a similar question but has a different opinion than the rest of the girls follow. The above passage illustrates this when compared to the beginning part of the focus group • When asked about the messages about women, they recognize that it is derogatory. They do seem to bring the impressions about the videos and make statements about “life” and how it impacts women and girls. They reference that girls model this behavior to get attention from boys - as if this is the only way to get a boys attention - - and yet, these girls distance themselves from this way of acting - they are like an objective person looking in and not being part of it (I wonder how much of that is true) F: OK, do you think that that having girls dancing like this in the videos sends out a message about women and girls? G: I think it makes it look like that G: they are generalizing G: they’re like skinny and voluptuous G: They generalize the girls or whatever, they should be, they should look this way and act that way or whatever, I don’t know F: So they should generalize them to look which way, explain a little more G: skinny, F: um hum G: like tall and I don’t know, the way they dress, they’re saying like we should dress that way or whatever so I don’t know 275 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. F: Ok, what else do you guys think? G: they’re probably like saying like um like we should if you go to parties your cool and like you need to like dress like that like you get attention from the guys and everything like that cause when G: yeah G: yeah when you’ll get accepted or whatever. F: So what do you think about that? G: It’s like, I don’t know, it’s like, it’s like, it’s like wrong, it’s like, it’s like, [unclear] girls go to parties and like its really sad because [unclear] they’re dressed like that [unclear] what to do to get attention. They think th at‘s the only way to get attention. That sucks. • This final part was interesting too. It is almost as if the girls on the video are the fantasy for boys. They don’t really expect girls to dress like that but if they do, they will like it. It is a catch 22, because later these girls state that if you do dress like this, boys like it but won’t respect you. Girls dress this way to get their attention to live out their fantasy of getting a guy to fall in love with you - the video becomes that conduit or mechanism for setting up both men and women to fail in relationships. F: They don’t respect women like this you mean ? G: yeah F: yeah G: they may like you of course but they don’t respect you • With this last bit, we can see that it is implicit that boys won’t respect you if you dress like this - the girls know this already. 276 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 2. The difference between reality and perception; looks and behaviors • There was some very interesting discussion about gangsters and wannabe gangster from a group of girls that live in the suburbs. Again, most of the conversation came from the Black girl in the group with the others agreeing. The depictions of gangsters are stereotypic - It was also interesting how these girls could quantify or qualify how they knew the difference they just did - and I kind of believe them but again as they tried to verbalize they were relying on the stereotypes. F: OK, anything else? We were talking a little bit about this whole thing that is gangster what does it, what does it mean for it to be gangster? G: um like to act or look a certain way G: yeah, like, I don’t think he’s a gangster, but more like a wanna be gangster F: Which one? G: Light one [unclear] G: 50-cent (giggles) F: OK, OK, so he’ s a wanna be gangster? OK, what’ s the difference? G: Like, if your gangster like a real one goes around shooting, sells drugs and G: yeah he’s real like he’s dancing and those are like a good thing to do, dance and everything, go to parties and have fun and kind of like gangsters you know like out and like shooting people and like doing he never did that F: OK G: he used to do that, he was shot like nine times F: (laughing) G: but he was drive by or whatever What does this mean? He was an innocent bystander - interesting that this would not be characterized as being a gang member 277 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. F: Yeah, um, can you guys tell the difference between a gangster and a wanna be gangster? G: yeah! G: yeah G: A wanna be gangster is a person that like dressed like them and they try to act like them but they don’t really they just too scared like everything else to prove it F: So how do you know that though G: Because they like, ok, they, they um like they don’t go around doing drugs and everything they just like their good but then they dress like they try to act like they’re really bad F: OK G: but they look really stupid doing it (giggles) G: cause you see them on the street and they’re like “yo, yo” just acting really stupid F: What else? What are some of the other things that can distinguish between them? G: um, (giggles) you run from a gangster; not a wanna be; you run away F: Even though they kind o f sort o f dress the same like how do you tell that they are different? G: It’s just like if you know like a gangster does everything with a gang like drive-bys, drugs and everything G: yeah and the gangster like usually they all all of the people hanging around they all have to wear the same color this was one of the White girls (the cheerleader) - gangs haven’t worn colors like this since the 1980s. F: OK G: like one them, they’re just like they [unclear] baggy clothes 278 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. G: baggy clothes and they talk like they’re a gangster; they talk tough but they’re not [unclear] F: OK, so do you guys know gangsters? G: Um no G: uh uh G: No G: ummmmm F: There’ s none, are there any here at this school? G: um there’s a gang.. .a couple of gangs, but they’re not really like gangs G: well, they’re not really considered a gangster, but it’s like it’s just a bunch of kids G: there’s kind of wannabes how do they know? I wonder F: OK, so there’ s some wanna- be gangsters here? G: Yeah (giggles) F: OK G: there’s a lot G: but most of them are wanna be gangsters F: OK, G: gangsters or punks? There are so many punks F: really? G: oh my gosh, you see a person a person walking by one day like normal and the next day they’re punk. Just like “I’m punked out” It’s like, um, no, no. 279 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. • This last quote gives a glimpse into kids at this age - one day being “normal” and the next being “punked out” - illustrates how identity and personality are being formed during this time - kids are outwardly express their individuality • Both the images of women and gangsters in video - are just a part of the rap video as understood by these girls. In addition, these girls when discussing videos move into a discussion about issues in general that apply to them - as if they were working out their feelings as they are discussing them - being more aware and listening to others. F: And do they dress G: I don’t think it’s a bad thing though F: OK, so that’ s not a bad thing in the same way like a gangster is? G: Well, no cause it’s not really anything bad. I mean dressing a certain way, there’s nothing going on with it F: OK G: like you can dress that way but not act all G: yeah they dress like that but they don’t like go dancing around guys F: Are there some girls that maybe do that? G: well I mean I know that they are some people at this school that are not exactly virgins F: yeah, yeah G: and there are still people who dress skanky but they don’t G: yeah, you could be like the nicest person like the biggest prude and like dress like a slut G: yeah, exactly G: yeah the way you dress doesn’t’ affect like the way you act or whatever. 280 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. • Again, these girls are distinguishing between appearance and actual behavior in the same way they were discussing gangsters. Here the girls were all taking turns discussing the topic. • These girls were making the point that appearance don’t necessarily mean that anything but that you need to get to know the person first. Here was a little different - they weren’t as into it as they were when discussing the issues in the beginning — not sure if that means it was as important to them or just the fact that it was the end of our time together. Other ideas: • Although these girls admitted to seeing and hearing this song “a million times,” they knew very little about it and could not recall specifics in the video content or in the lyric content • This focus group was supposed to have all White girls in it but one Black girl came into the room, started to eat before I realized she was there. Seems as though she knew one of the girls and thought I had forgotten to call her for the focus group (she had signed a consent - 1 just had her slated for another group). The dynamics were a bit different - two girls (the Black girl and one White girl) were very close friends; the other two didn’t know each other (one very shy; the other a cheerleader). The one White girl (not shy or cheerleader) was extremely sarcastic and very nonchalant about the questions asked - her tone indicated to me anyways that she thought they were “dumb” or obvious • Interestingly, when it came to describing the rap videos; who gangsters are; the other girls deferred to the Black girl even though to her own admission she didn’t know any or hang out with any gangsters (she lived in the suburbs like the rest of the group - 1 think she said). It was as if she was the only one that could explain to me what a rap video consists of or what a gangster looks like 281 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. APPENDIX F NAME GRID Name* Focus Group Age Race Residence Rap Consumption Carla Wishful Thinkers 14 Latina city Every day Teresa Wishful Thinkers 13 Latina city Every day Jenelle Wishful Thinkers 14 Latina city Every day Maria Wishful Thinkers 14 Latina city Every day Malicka Teachers 14 Black suburb Every day Kim Teachers 14 White & other suburb When at friend's house Brittany Teachers 14 White suburb Every day Jennifer Teachers 14 Asian suburb Every day Brooke Rap Insiders 13 Black city Every day Stacey Rap Insiders 13 Black city Every day Mildred Rap Insiders 14 Black suburb Every day Leticia Rap Insiders 14 Black city Every day Sally Popular Girls 14 White suburb Couple x/wk Eve Popular Girls 14 White suburb Every day Katie Popular Girls 14 White suburb Every day Rebecca Rap Haters 14 White suburb Only on radio Janet Rap Haters 14 White suburb Once a week Debbie Rap Haters 14 White suburb Every day * The names provided are pseudonyms. 282 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

Asset Metadata

Creator Lomonaco, Carmela (author)

Core Title Romanticizing misogynistic images: Adolescent girls and rap music

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Sociology

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag anthropology, cultural,music,OAI-PMH Harvest,sociology, ethnic and racial studies,women's studies

Language English

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c16-621290

Unique identifier UC11341076

Identifier 3222546.pdf (filename),usctheses-c16-621290 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 3222546.pdf

Dmrecord 621290

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Lomonaco, Carmela

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA