From Jada Pinkett Smith's facebook feed... this is why we must call this stuff out. [View all]

[redqueen]

Who will love our daughters?

Who will love our daughters when abuse is the norm? Who will love our daughters from this generation of young men who are being raised by a form of music that promotes sexual and physical violence towards women as acceptable making the violation silent and invisible? And what of our daughters whose acceptance of these disturbing, hateful lyrics is because they simply didn't notice them or they don't matter 'cause the beat is so tight? So...to my women, when will we stop singing the songs, buying the tickets and cheering in the stands? When will we make the connection that through our acceptance, our financial support we are reinforcing a mentality that makes it okay to gang rape a girl and proudly pass pictures around of the incident or even lead to committing brutal crimes like the one we are witnessing in Cleveland. When will we love ourselves, our daughters and our sons enough to say...NO MORE?

J

I mentioned the other day that I like music that carries shitty messages about women. I do, I won't lie. But I can't keep liking it. The first time I hear it, when all I'm hearing is the beat and the melody and not noticing the message yet, I can really enjoy it. Then I hear the message. Then I feel guilty for liking it. Then, I no longer enjoy listening to it. I still know I like the beat, and the melody, and I will wish I could enjoy it the way I did, but it's just not possible. The cognitive dissonance gets to be too much for me.

I also talk to my girls about this stuff, when we hear such songs on the radio. I want them to be conscious of the messages being carried along with the music, as well.

When I hear or see stuff that women need to be more conscious of not supporting, I don't just cringe internally. I say something. I call out why it is problematic. Because the more conscious we become of these things, the less likely we are to keep unconsciously supporting things that contribute to the mistreatment of women.

I saw this on facebook and just had to share it. It made me feel hopeful, thinking that more and more women are starting to call this stuff out, and challenging it, and fighting back.