These conversations took place backstage during the Hoodie Allen concert on Saturday, Sept. 20:
Band member to student: Is there anything going on in Northfield?
Student: Uh, there’s a chill British pub downtown. If you’re looking for a club, then no.
Band member: Actually, I just want to chill out and smoke.
Student: Oh, we can do that.
Band leader to student: Drive me somewhere, to a party with about 15-20 people. It would be good if they were hot girls.
Student: Yeah, that’s not going to happen.
It was just a stupid little comment, right? Isn’t it obvious that guys in the music industry act like this? Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll?
Wrong, wrong and wrong.
Asking to be served a group of college girls on a silver platter is unacceptable, yes, even for famous rappers. That is a disgustingly entitled view of women that directly affects all of us.
Boys are taught that they deserve sex with attractive women. Girls are taught to be attractive sex objects. The majority of women involved in pornography and prostitution are not there by choice – men put and keep them there to make money. If you don’t believe me, check out breakingfree.net and go to a St. Olaf Leaders Abolishing Slavery SOLAS event.
Music is one of the most acceptable ways to objectify women. When we take for granted these seemingly small instances of misogyny and objectification of women, we are doing a disservice to ourselves and to everyone around us. We are consciously and unconsciously affected by the media we consume. Much of the time, an artist’s personality, personal views and outlook are opaque. Lyrics are often explained away as artistic statements or just having fun. But occasionally, in a Kanye “Imma let you finish” sort of way, we get to actually meet the artist. What if the band members had said these things on stage instead of during the performance? Would the audience have left in disgust?
But now that I think about it, Hoodie Allen did say something of the sort. Has anyone ever listened to his lyrics before? Maybe you even cheered for them during the concert.
carlsonj@stolaf.edu
