BY SARAH CLEARY
"Got pissed off and ripped Pamela Lee's tits off/And smacked her so hard I knocked her clothes backwards like Kris Kross ..." — so go the lyrics of popular rap artist Eminem's "My name is", a song that has been receiving high rotation on radio stations and music television programs since it was released in 1999.
Last month, Eminem was embroiled in controversy at the US Grammy Awards over the anti-gay content of many of his lyrics. There has been an outcry from the gay and lesbian communities and there was a protest outside the awards ceremony.
Eminem's songs also carry extreme anti-woman sentiments. His songs contain continual references to women as "bitches" and "sluts". Some describe the rape of women, while others have him killing the mother of his child and chopping off the head of a girlfriend who he found in bed with another man.
Even more disturbing is the fact that these songs have not been condemned in any of the articles about Eminem that I have read in the capitalist press. The content of Eminem's lyrics is conveniently by-passed, with many writers choosing to focus on the fact that Eminem was a "poor" white rap artist, struggling to be accepted in a hip-hop scene dominated by African-American people.
Other magazine articles, and some people I have talked with, claim that Eminem's lyrics are not meant to be taken literally (at the end of a song in which he talks about shooting women, he states: "Ha ha ha. I'm just playin', ladies. You know I love you.")
Even if Eminem was not serious about the content of his raps, how funny or ironic is it to fantasise about beating, mutilating and killing women in a society where violence against women is becoming the norm? Around the time of the release of "My name is", the World Health Organisation had just released figures that showed that violence against women caused more death and disability in women aged 15 to 44 years throughout the world than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war.
In the a world of continuing and increasing attacks against women and feminism, where the idea that women are second-class citizens is being pushed strongly both by the capitalist mainstream media and governments, Eminem's sexist and homophobic lyrics simply popularise violence against women. They promote the idea to young people that violence against women is natural — if your favourite star is dreaming and singing about it, laughing about it, and making a whole heap of money, then surely this is okay.
It is no surprise that the capitalist music industry does not condemn Eminem's sexism and homophobia and continues to promote and market him. Like the fashion and cosmetics industry, the music industry reaps massive profits from the exploitation of women. It is in their interests to maintain this.
Feminists are right to be outraged by anti-woman views being produced for mass consumption by the music industry which manufactures, markets and profits from "artists" like Eminem.
It would be a mistake, however, to call for such music to be banned. Instead, we should challenge the sexist images and misogynist world view underlying them. We must campaign to raise both the material conditions of women's lives and change society's views about women, to the point where there is no longer a receptive audience for Eminem and sexist pricks like him.