By Sam Berhead
Managing Editor
Rihanna, always one to push the fashion envelope, swapped her handbag for a scumbag as her accessory of choice at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards.
That’s no surprise. Like it or not, she’s been reunited for a few months now with the ex-boyfriend who almost killed her four years ago. We’re expected to give Chris Brown a clean slate now that they’re back together, yet doing so would just be supporting the rampant misogyny and double standard coursing through the veins of the entertainment industry.
When I was a kid, I grew up idolizing celebrities like the Spice Girls and Beyoncé, artists who radiated with “girl power” and taught me I could be whoever I wanted to be without a man beside me.
Nowadays, Britney Spears can’t even make her own career decisions without her father’s approval. Madonna gets incessantly mocked for her age. Lady Gaga is actually a man, according to some.
It’s as if the mass media has unleashed some sort of vendetta against women, and I’m not entirely sure why.
An April 5, 2011 indiewire.com article outlines the difficulties women face in the world of comedy, especially on film.
“…Comedy has clearly changed as has movie going has changed and now we live in a world where men won’t go see anything that stars women, especially in comedies,” the article states.
Amy Pascal, who runs Sony and is the only female running a Hollywood studio, elaborated on the issue in the same article: “You’re talking about a dozen or so female-driven comedies that got made over a dozen years, a period when hundreds of male-driven comedies got made. And every one of those female-driven comedies was written or directed or produced by a woman. It’s a numbers game – it’s about there being enough women with the power to get movies made.”
The music industry is no better. Yes, artists like Adele and Taylor Swift release albums that often sell more than any male artist in a given year, but more often than not, female musicians feel pressure to conform to a certain image in order to get a record deal.
Take country music, a genre in which only the blondest and prettiest of girls are able to maintain successful careers. It’s a genre in which male artists sing songs objectifying women just as much as any rap artist would — just take Trace Adkins’ ode to the female derriere, “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk.”
I cringe in secondhand embarrassment.
Taylor Swift makes her millions off degrading other women in songs like “Better Than Revenge” and “You Belong With Me.” She instills in her fans’ minds the idea that girls who don’t dress in T-shirts and jeans are wenches out to steal others’ boyfriends. In her music videos, she often wears a brunette wig when playing the part of the “bad girl,” setting up an unnecessary stereotype. Yet at the same time, Swift’s main claim to fame is writing songs about the prolific relationship track record she’s had.
So rather than fixate on Chris Brown, a veritable piece of filth who doesn’t deserve good or bad attention, think of Rihanna — a girl who grew up around domestic violence and whose abusive father supports her relationship with Brown. Think of the way she’s surrounded by yes men who won’t tell her to get the help she needs. Sadly, she has become the victim in a textbook cycle of domestic violence that she might not get out of before it’s too late.
Whatever this trend in the industry is, it needs to stop.
