Op-Ed

Article Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry By: Mike Norman (Hope for Brighter Days Social Media Contributor) When Rihanna was assaulted by Chris Brown on February 08, 2009, many people were shocked and didnt know what to make of it. It seemed like the first report of its kind since the repeated incidents between Bobby Brown and victimized wife Whitney Houston (she was abused from 1992 to 2007). Here is the police report laying out what happened: "The victim said she became enraged and slammed both of her fists against the dashboard on the passenger side of the car they were in. She reported that the defendant then pulled the vehicle over and reached over her with his right hand." "He opened the car door and tried to force the victim out." According to the report, Chris Brown was unable to shove Rihanna out of the car, though he tried, because she was wearing a seat belt. The report continues, "When he could not force her to exit, he took his right hand and shoved her head against the passenger window." "The victim then faced the defendant and he punched her in the left eye with his right hand. He then continued driving. As he drove, he continued to punch the victim in the face with his right hand while steering with his left hand." Rihanna told police the "assault caused her mouth to fill with blood and blood to splatter over her clothing and the inside of the car." Rihanna told police after Brown "stopped his first assault, she looked in the mirror and saw her eye beginning to swell. [Brown] looked at [Rihanna] and said 'I'm going to beat the shit out of you when we get home! You wait and see!'" Rihanna told police she tried to call her personal assistant, but she didn't pick up - but Rihanna says she "pretended to talk, saying, 'I'm on my way home. Make sure the cops are there when I get there.'" Rihanna says she did this "because she did not want to get beat anymore." But after Rihanna's fake phone call, she claims Brown became even more enraged with her, looked at [Rihanna] and said, "You just did the stupidest thing ever! Now I'm really going to kill you!"

Rihanna told cops that Brown unleashed a second wave of punches, "during which time [Rihanna] interlocked her fingers behind her head and brought her elbows forward to protect her face." He continued to punch her on her left arm, which caused a contusion on her left tricep. At that point Rihanna tried texting her assistant. Brown threw the phone out of the car, stopped the car and Rihanna then tried opening her door to get out, but Brown sped off and the door shut with her inside. Brown placed Rihanna in a headlock while he drove, then bit her on her left ear. The car eventually stopped and Rihanna took the keys out of the ignition, and Brown began to punch her again in the face and arms. He placed her in a headlock and started applying pressure to her carotid artery. She couldn't breathe and began to lose consciousness. She tried freeing herself, and Brown bit her left ring and middle fingers and then released her. Rihanna took off her shoe and tried breaking the passenger window, all the while Chris Brown continued to punch her. Eventually, Chris Brown got out of the car. Rihanna opened the door and continued screaming. Brown began punching her again. He got back in the car and screamed "Where are my fucking keys?" He got out, looked for the keys in vain, and when he could not find them removed several CDs and walked away. Officers were called and observed numerous contusions and abrasions to Rihanna's face, forehead and left arms. There were other injuries as well. Investigators determined Brown was wearing a large ring on his right hand, which caused several of Rihanna's injuries. (Andrews, 2009)

This incident is truly horrific and as a reader, it is even more shocking that this type of abuse took place out in public. The severity of this type of episode would usually take place behind closed doors. Many of us have heard about the incident and many of us have been on the strange, yet often textbook, emotional rollercoaster with Rihanna as she first testified against Brown back in June 2009, Rihanna offered to then defend him for a probation violation in November 2012, and as of late December 2012, they publicly came out as a couple again. As of the writing of this article, it is possible they have split up again, but that is neither here nor there. This is where the article takes a turn in focus. This article is entitled Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry. The complications that came to my mind was as I was re-reading through her history with Brown, I heard a song of hers for the first time on the radio during my evening commute home, which is called Pour It Up. The song glorifies masculinity, male dominance and dehumanization of women. A light bulb went off in my head at that moment. It could be a different world for women in the urban music industry if they would cater to women empowerment and not to the normal messages of hyper-sexualizing women, degradation, abuse, male dominance and compartmentalizing the woman into sexual body parts. Not only that, but I sought out to understand more. The main question I asked was, what is the relationship between rap music and the abuse of women connected to that culture? There are multiple facets to this and I will never be able to put in enough time and research to be the authoritative source on this concept of the interwoven elements and players involved in the cycle, which I am exploring. However, here are what I believe to be the core elements at play. Element 1: Rap/Hip Hop is a male dominated industry, which forces women to promote the masculinity of men and degradation and objectivity of women and their bodies. - A form of cultural abuse and image abuse of women and their bodies. Element 2: Many of todays Rap hits are first tested at the street level in strip clubs (most notoriously in Atlanta [or Hot-lanta as some rappers call it]) and based on the males libido experience, the amount of cash thrown at the strippers during that song and client attrition through the repeated exposure to that song and to half- naked women, the song is then fed by these DJs to the radio stations and often this snowballs into the hits we hear on the radio today through artists such as Ludacris, T-Pain, T.I. and many other industry leaders. Rap, Strip Clubs, and sexual entertainment often forced upon the women of poverty in these areas go hand in hand. - Another form of abuse on women and their bodies through this culture. Element 3: The women that work in these strip clubs are often recruited and forced to work in the clubs in order to avoid violence or having their resources stripped away from them. They are not paid wages at all (only tips), they are forced into prostitution, they have to often give half of all of their earnings back to the club and therefore cannot even afford housing. They become possessed and owned by the clubs and often are further ensnared by pimps and drug addiction in order to prevent them from leaving the club. They also often experience intense physical violence and sexual assault. This article will not even touch on the fact that strip

clubs across America are one of the main channels or avenues for the selling and buying of under aged boys and girls to be forced into child pornography or sexual slavery at the hand of their purchaser(s). Element 4: The media, male customers of these clubs and the fact that strip clubs play into the adult entertainment industry including the pornography industry, opens up society at large to the messages that women are either sexual objects to control or that they are not as strong or independent as men are and therefore are easy to control or abuse. The cycle begins to close at element 5, which was the spark that began this article. Element 5: The previous 4 elements, with specific focus on the Rap / Hip Hop male dominated culture feed into Rihannas situation. She is now a 25 year old woman, who has been inundated in a male dominated culture and has love and passion for a male dominated and hyper-sexualized music genre. She has, with good intentions, sadly become part of the urban music machine and system, by not only protecting her own popularity by becoming a sexual icon and putting her body all over magazines and videos, but she is also verbally adding to the messages through her lyrics by singing about strip clubs, men having money and power, sex with men and every other message that the male rapper personifies. It is sadly a never-ending cycle all in the name of entertainment. This cycle is not only effected by the fact that Rihanna is part of this machine, but again where it is this article began. It was a key player in the fact that Chris Brown is a player in this male dominated machine of objectifying women, abusing women and using force and threat to manipulate the women he is in a relationship with. The purpose of this article is to start a conversation. This is an article that is being presented on the greatest conversation platforms of this age social media -. I do not profess to be an expert, but I profess to be a person with passion about these issues and a person who knows how to back up discussion with research. I am seeking all of those in the Hope for Brighter Days community on Twitter and Facebook to share in this conversation with me, and start looking for solutions. Thank you for all that you do in our community to end abuse. Mike Norman References Andrews, D. S. Superior Court of California, Central Civil West, Dept 123. (2009). Chris brown affidavit and search warrant (58168). Retrieved from State of California website: http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/05/brown.warrant.pdf

Op-Ed Article Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry: Element 2 The Influence of Strip Clubs on Rap Music By: Mike Norman (Hope for Brighter Days Social Media Contributor) This is part 2 in the 5 part article series, which focuses on Rihanna, Rap Music, the victimization woman face because of the Rap industry and how female rappers ironically and tragically contribute to this cycle of victimization. I have decided to jump to Element 2 instead of covering Element 1 as a separate article. I will return to the 1st Element of this article series for the conclusion article. As a reminder, Element 1 of the cycle of abuse created by the rap industry and how Rihanna and others like her are not only victimized by it, yet play a role in it, is this: Rap is a male dominated industry, which hyper-sexualizes women, degrades them by turning them into objects instead of people (by removing their humanity) and creates a form of cultural abuse. The entire series of articles will provide evidence to this truth and it will be touched on in more depth in the conclusion article when we wrap up the series. Element 2 has the purpose of introducing the concept on the relationship between rap music and strip clubs in general and the culture that surrounds it. Think of Element 2 as an introduction to the much more important discussion on the abuse, victimization and control that woman in the strip clubs face because of the male dominated world that they live in. I first was introduced to this concept in the early 2002 when Ludacris was first on the rise. Robin Leach was commenting on an episode of The Fabulous Life (VH1, 2013) that Ludacris owed his big breakthrough with Def Jam records (Back for the First Time [2000]) to the airplay he got at Magic City. Magic City is the most influential and lucrative in the Hot-Lanta scene that is helping up and coming rappers get their shot on the radio. (Gaynor, 2012) Upon further investigation of this subject, I began searching the bowels of urban publications to look at it from their perspective and while searching for more information, I came across some information, which will strongly tie into the conclusion of this article series. Even Rihanna has frequented the clubs, specifically a strip club in New York called Club Perfections. On May 1, 2012, Rihanna hit the club with rapper Meek Mill and tweeted pictures of herself throwing down bills at a private performance by two strippers (Bianco, 2012).

There is a lot of discussion surrounding Rihanna and whether it is her responsibility to be a role model for young people or not. As far as this article is concerned, it is neither here nor there, whether Rihanna is responsible for being a role model to anyone or not. The purpose of this article series is to discuss how a male dominated industry victimizes women and how the way in which female performers interact with the industry can play a role in the cycle of a female victimizing industry. After years of this concept being under wraps, it is finally coming into the light more and being talked about. Nokia Music and Somesuch & Co. have created a short documentary mini-series called New American Noise which premiered on Sundance Channel on January 18, 2013. It was designed as a 6-part documentary series, which was created as an investigation of the underground music scene in America, which has been leading to many of the breakout artists lately. It covered the cities New York City, Portland (Oregon), Los Angeles, Detroit, New Orleans and Atlanta. Though the Hotlanta club scene is not the only channel for rap artists to be discovered, it is the driving force behind the new sound that has been revolutionizing the industry Up and coming rapper, Trinidad James, was quoted as saying this In Hotlanta, the strippers are tastemakers, and what they dance to can change an aspiring artist's future within 12 hours, because "people associate that song with naked girls, which is a good thing (Reilly, 2013). It is not only the rappers themselves who feel a sense of pride and power through using strip clubs as a way to get their music on the radio. It is also the strippers themselves who are able to draw power and status (in their own minds) for being responsible for making or breaking someones career. They also believe that their hard work on investing into an artist will bring them back a great return in the future. A stripper who did not identify herself in the film had this to say. Most of them come in to show love to the strip clubs, because when they were first starting out, our DJs would play their music and really support them. Once they get big theyll come back and spend their money on us. (Lebon, 2013)

 After reading through this second article in our series, you may feel that this is innocent entertainment or that even if it is not for you, that its up to others to decide what they pursue for entertainment. However, I ask that anyone that has read this article stay tuned for next weeks article, which is sure to change anyones opinion regarding innocent entertainment. Next week we will focus on Element 3: Strip clubs, poverty, drug addiction, violence, abuse and human trafficking. This will be the most difficult article in the series to write, not only for emotional reasons, but also due to the sheer depth and intricacy of the subject. This could easily be the content for a large research paper or book, which could be studied for a persons lifetime, as the sociological impacts of each variable as well as the human aspect only expands the subject further and into more diverging paths. Thank you all for taking this journey with me. Please feel free to continue the conversation with us on Facebook and Twitter. Also, if anyone within our network shares passion for the subjects I am covering in this series or would like to contribute quotes or supplemental articles in this series, please contact us directly via direct message on twitter, and we can discuss collaboration options. Mike Norman Follow us on Twitter: @hopebrightdays Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hope-for-Brighter- Days/522060607826967?fref=ts References Bianco, A. (2012, May 02). Rihanna & meek mill kick it at the strip club?. Retrieved from http://hiphopwired.com/2012/05/02/rihanna-meek-mill-kick-it-at- the-strip-club-photos/ Gaynor, G. (2012, June 01). Five sexy strip clubs that rappers can't get enough of.. Retrieved from http://guide.vibe.com/list/toplists-vibe/sexy-strip-clubs- rappers-love

Lebon, T. (Director) (2013). New american noise: Atlanta dreams [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.newamericanoise.com/ Reilly, P. (2013, January 19). Spin @ sundance: Twerking it with 'new american noise'. Retrieved from http://www.spin.com/blogs/sundance-nokia-music- new-american-noise-twerk/ VH1. (2013). Vh1: The fabulous life presents. Retrieved from http://www.vh1.com/shows/fabulous_life_of/series.jhtml

Op-Ed Article Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry: Element 3 - Strip clubs, poverty, drug addiction, violence, abuse and human trafficking. By: Mike Norman (Hope for Brighter Days Social Media Contributor) As I concluded at the end of the previous article in the series - This will be the most difficult article in the series to write, not only for emotional reasons, but also due to the sheer depth and intricacy of the subject. This could easily be the content for a large research paper or book, which could be studied for a persons lifetime, as the sociological impacts of each variable as well as the human aspect only expands the subject further and into more diverging paths. To break this article down into bite-size parts that are easier to digest, we are going to tackle this web of information in a very linear way. I will do my best to tie each piece together chronologically in order to take you through the life of one of these women as they begin in poverty, are pulled into the adult entertainment industry, are held prisoner first chemically through strategic introduction to addictive drugs, and then through fear due to violence and abuse. This is the main synopsis of the life of one of these women. We will touch very briefly on the issue of human trafficking as well because it is such a major element of the strip club, but we will primarily focus on these adult women entertainers and their struggles, as that is not only the focus of this series regarding the rap industry and how women are victimized by it, as well as participants in it, but also because the focus of Hope For Brighter Days is to help women who have escaped abuse understand themselves and find new meaning and purpose in their lives. Before we jump further into the nightmare, I ask our readers this same simple yet hopefully provocative question. Are strip clubs places to promote innocent adult entertainment? Think for a while how you feel about it, and then lets take a journey together into this article. Roots: Poverty The first basic fact, where are strip clubs usually located as far as neighborhoods go; in posh affluent neighborhoods, or in impoverished low-income areas? Well, to be honest, there is no conclusive evidence. In fact there is a lot of contradiction on this issue. My personal feeling after doing research is that strip clubs are located in many various demographic areas. Many types of people attend clubs from the poor to the wealthy. However, the highest percentages of attendees have either income below the poverty line (between $2,000 and $4,000 a year) or income between $50,000 and $75,000 a year. The numbers for attendance in the lower-middle class or upper-middle class are the lowest numbers by comparison (Brooks, 2007). So despite whether the evidence is conclusive or not regarding the geographical/neighborhood placement of strip clubs, what can be said is that more attendees are below poverty line between $2 and $4k a year (81% of Brooks data sample) as apposed to an average of all other income levels combined from Brooks data sample (between $5k and 75K+) averaging out at 48.4% (Brooks, 2007).

Low-Income attendees hold the highest portion of overall patron percentage, according to the limited studies we have available on this specialized subject interest. Another interesting article that provides evidence to low-income club attendees comes from a scandal that exploded a few years back that many people are not aware of. Between 3 clubs in Los Angeles (Sams Hofbrau, Seventh Veil and Star Strip), the majority of $12,000 was withdrawn from ATMs in these clubs with EBT cards, which hold funds for TANF (Temporary Assistance to Need Families) recipients (Dolan, 2010). The L.A. Times also reported that more than half the casinos and state-licensed poker rooms in California appeared on an official website showing welfare recipients where they can access cash benefits (Dolan, 2010). If you have any personal opinions about that last statement there, you better save them for our Twitter and Facebook conversations. What about the economic situation of those who are attracted to work in the industry? That is touched on more in the dream. The Dream: Strip Clubs Strip clubs advertise themselves to low-income, low-education, low-job skill individuals. They target young, impoverished women who need (clich) to make good money fast! Isnt stripping a high-pay low-stress job? Well, thats what Heavenly Bodies (Chicago Suburban Strip Club) said in their ads back in 2007 (Shenoy, 2007). In fact they said stated all kinds of promises for an easy and ideal better life for these impoverished women they targeted. Using a strong female voice and beat-driven music, a local radio ad informs mothers of a way out of poverty"by working in gentlemen's clubs. "You don't have to be poor anymore," the ad says. "Call us and change your life today. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to be financially independent." (Shenoy, 2007) The ads also promoted it as a healthy and safe environment. An environment where there would be no degradation of you or your body. You wont have to perform sexual acts, be rung into prostitution or be touched or abused by the club patrons. However, the story unfolds further: The radio ad for all three promises, "No nudity is allowed." But a Heavenly Bodies ad on a Web listing of Chicago area strip clubs and escort services says, "The girls give great dances." It continues further: "$10 for a private dance, $15 for topless. Both are full friction, and touching is allowed above the waist." (Shenoy, 2007) This is just an isolated incident. It probably isnt usually this bad right? No - its not this bad. Its usually that bad. I am trying to say, its often worse. This is just a more innocent form of selling the dream and recruiting performers for the clubs. Lets dive deeper into the nitty-gritty of how real recruiting works. Lets just say, recruiters are often a little more persuasive. The Hook: Drug Addiction

Often times, drug addiction is one of the strongest contributing factors, which pull these women into the club and keep them there. In many cases, women at the clubs are often runaway girls or child traffic victims who are addicted to substances and look to stripping as a way to afford their addiction (Mallicoat, 2012). In conjunction with this, most of the men who frequent the clubs (whom are not their for pleasure, but for business) are drug dealers, pimps, and human traffickers (Mouting And Counting, 2010 & Maddox, 2012). In one case study by Kelly Holsopple (co-founder Metropolitan Coalition Against Prostitution in Minneapolis, Minnesota), she found that 61% of women whom were addicted to substances were forced to perform sexual acts against their will in order to continue to receive drugs from either club managers, owners, staff or customers (Holsopple, 1998). The dressing rooms will be touched on more in the the next section, but they are actually set up as a place for strippers to drink and do drugs in between sets among other things (Holsopple, 1998). The Motivator: Abuse, Violence and Illegal Employment Practices Here is a collection of quotes from ex-strippers that I want to sink in with our readers before we go any further into the most important section of this article working conditions: "I would never do it again. It was degrading." "No doubt that it led me to prostitution and my pimp." "Taught me how to control men and gave me a false illusion of control. Takes a long time to regain self-control." "Don't do it. Once you do it, it is hard to get out." "If there is any way you can avoid it...it is hard to get out once you start." "I wouldn't recommend it. It is too stressful and I am always comparing myself to other women on the outside." "I wish I had put more money away and had more education by the time I quit. I just didn't know it wasn't about success for us, it was about using us." "I spent my entire young adulthood being abused. It is hard to undo all this." "Drugs destroyed beautiful, healthy women." "I blame the men...it is all bad. I didn't think highly of myself while I was in stripping, but I am glad I got out of it by standing up for myself." "It is hard to view myself for who I am and my accomplishments rather than how I look and attention from men. I got this from stripping." (Holsopple, 1998) First we will revisit recruitment, then break the strip-club down to the various physical partitions of the club and then finally go through the experiences of abuse, violence and trafficking. In a typical hiring scenario women respond in person to a newspaper ad promising big money, flexible hours, no experience necessary. As an audition the club manager asks the applicants to perform on amateur night or bikini night, both of which are particularly popular with customers who hope to see girl-next-door types rather than seasoned strippers. The manager will make a job offer based on physical attributes and number of women already on the schedule. Clubs portray the job requirements as

very flexible. Women are told that they will not be forced to do anything they do not want to do, but clubs overbook women so they are forced to compete with each other, often gradually engaging in more explicit activities in order to earn tips (Cooke 1987). They are again, recruited by the dream of easy and flexible work, which is not degrading and lets you, the employee, be your own boss and only do what you feel comfortable doing. Work your own hours; earn as much or as little as you want and work your way through school. However, like mentioned above, you are immediately in competition with others, if you dont perform; you dont get put on the schedule. If you are not put on the schedule you dont make money. If you are lucky enough to make the schedule, you better be willing to do whatever it takes to become a favorite of the patrons there, even if it becomes uncomfortable for you. Oh did I mention that shifts are often 10 12 hour shifts minimum? (Mounting And Counting, 2010). Did I also neglect to mention that strippers do not receive wages, only tips? It gets worse: Women in stripping are denied legal protection relating to the terms and conditions under which they earn their livings (Fischer 523). Most strippers are hired to work as independent contractors rather than employees. Most strippers are not paid a wage (Mattson 1995), therefore their income is totally dependent on their compliance with customer demands in order to earn tips. More often than not, the strippers have to pay for the privilege of working at a club (Cooke 1987; Forsyth and Deshotels 1997; Prewitt 1989). The majority of clubs demand that women turn over 40 to 50 percent of their income for stage or couch rental and enforce a mandatory tip out to bouncers and disc jockeys (Enck and Preston 1988; Forsyth and Deshotels 1997). Usually a minimum shift quota is set and the women must turn over at least that quota amount. If a woman does not earn the quota and wants to continue working at the establishment, she owes the club and must pay off that shift's quota by adding it to the quota for the next shift she will work. The strip clubs may also derive income from promotional novelty items, kickbacks, door cover charges, beverage sales, prostitution, and capricious fines imposed on the women. As independent contractors, strippers are not entitled to file discrimination claims, receive workers' compensation, or unemployment benefits (Fischer 1996; Mattson 1995). Club owners are free from tax obligations and tort liability. Owners pay no Social Security, no health insurance, and no sick pay. Some club owners require strippers to sign agreements indicating that they are working as independent contractors and many clubs require women to sign a waiver of their right to sue the club for any reason. (Holsopple, 1998). Club owners try to argue against it with many arguments, such as, Naked women are merely akin to wall paper or TVs with sports games playing in the background; essentially they are a side attraction in order to encourage customers to buy our true product, alcohol. If this argument were true, they could argue that strippers are independent contractors as the stipulation is that independent contractors do most of

their work to provide a commodity to the establishments main operations alcohol. They would also have to truly stick to the flexible hours that are falsely promised to show they are contractors and not truly employees of the club itself. However, according to what has been discussed so far, strippers have to compete for work, in addition, their hours are set by the club and they have quotas and performance benchmarks enforced by the club. Now lets break the club down into its physical common building structure. And look at their interactions with customers. (WARNING: Must be 18+ to read this).
[Disclaimer: I will tone the rating down as much as possible with word choice and simple censorship practices, feel free to read all unedited source/research material through the references posted at the end of the article].

The Floor: Strippers activities on the floor can differ based on whether the club is rural or metrolocated, as well as attracts high-paying/high-profile customers or those in poverty. The higher profile-clientele the club brings, the higher the performance expectations on the girls are. The floor is usually a place where the girls do their best to direct the flow of money to the club directly, before switching the focus to them. This is the time where the performers start by walking around the room nude or half/nude encouraging men to buy drinks, solicit the girls for private dances and performances. Very often, private dances are used to sell videos, photos, and other promotional items. The goal of a stripper is to make the club as much money as possible, and if you treat the club and clients good, the clients and the club will treat you good in return. Women describe their role in the strip club as hostess, object, prostitute, therapist, and temporary girlfriend and say they are there to entertain and attract men and business for the owners. (Holsopple, 1998). Strip clubs can be constructed as poorly as plywood stretched across tables to as finely as well-constructed catwalks or even marble in more high-end clubs. Each stripper usually has a 12 minute performance spread over 3 songs, in which more clothing gets removed throughout the progression of their set until they are completely nude (if its a nude club). If they are nude they are often required to flash customers who give big tips. Flashing is a term used for flashing genitals at the patrons by pulling the g-string or tbar aside and is usually meant only for high-paying/tipping customers. Some fully-nude clubs choose to accentuate this by having the girls do entire performances, almost like a crab-walk or other sexual positions, down the cat walk at eye-level for maximum eye exposure. (Holsopple, 1998). Private Dance Activities: Private dances should not be called dances. Private dances are acts of forced prostitution. Women are often forced to perform these dances, while men masturbate openly, receive hand-jobs or even stick their fingers inside the strippers (Holsopple, 1998). At least some clubs have to the foresight to provide alcohol wipes to sterilize the mens fingers first [sarcastic writers voice applied]. (Holsopple, 1998). You can read more on the specifics in the full Holsopple article, but to summarize, other private dances are offered such as Table Dancing, Couch Dancing, Lap Dancing, Bed dancing is offered

in a private room and is a simulation of intercourse with the man fully clothed and performed until he ejaculates, and some upscale clubs offer shower dancing, which allows fully-clothed men to get in showers with one or more nude women and massage soap all over their bodies. The worst is peep shows in which openly masturbating men call out to strippers in a room shielded by glass to simulate various sex acts. During private dances women are conscientious about their boundaries and safety. "I dont want him to touch me, but I am afraid he will say something violent if I tell him no." "I was thinking about doing prostitution because thats when customers would proposition me." "I could only think about how bad these guys smell and try to hold my breath." "I spent the dance hyper vigilant to avoiding their hands, mouths, and crotches." "We were allowed to place towels on the guys laps, so it wasnt so bad." "I dont remember because it was so embarrassing." (Holsopple, 1998) Dressing Rooms: Women describe a variety of dressing room experiences. In the upscale clubs, the dancers have dressing rooms with lights, vanities, chairs, lockers and tanning beds. Others have just mirrors, but nothing provided for rest or comfort. This is theoretically done to not allow the strippers to be late to their shift and not sit around and be lazy. Some [dressing rooms] are so damp or filthy that the women cannot take their shoes off. Other dressing rooms are so frigid that dancers carry small space heaters to and from work. (Holsopple, 1998). In strip joints and rural bars, women lay on blankets or inside sleeping bags between sets and nap and read. (Holsopple, 1998). One of the main complaints that Holsopple had related to her for her case study is that most of the dressing rooms are far in the back. They are secluded and away from the crowds. The reason this is so frightening is because customers will at-times locate the changing room, and assault the dancers. The room is often so far away from the main areas that when they scream for help, they are not always heard. Lets discuss the different types of abuse, strippers face. Physical: A study reports that 100% of performers experienced physical abuse in the strip club. Customer stalked almost all the women, at least one to seven times. Customers by far commit most of the physical abuse in the strip clubs and they never face any repercussions for their actions (Holsopple, 1998). In addition to the risks involved in strip club employment, the daily atmosphere and environment also proves equally horrendous. The physical contact received by strippers has actually increased since the 1980s as well as sexual harassment and physical abuse (Farley M., 2004). The customers often grab, finger, pinch the dancers in their private parts, and also spit, slap and even bite the dancers (Farley M., 2004).

Some recent examples of recorded abuse incidents are as follows: A San Francisco strip club fired a dancer in 2000, because she complained a man raped her in a private booth (Farley M., 2004). Recently, a customer at an Albuquerque strip club allegedly raped a stripper while he received a lap dance (Trevizo, 2012). Not even the customers escape the sexual exploitation found in strip clubs. A 19 year-old female customer, of an Albuquerque fully nude strip club10, said another customer gave her alcohol and a powdery substance. Later, intoxicated she alleges a dancer coerced her to dance nude and eventually a bouncer raped her (KOAT Action 7 News, 2012). Many of these women drink often to escape the pain and torment that comes with being a stripper. Subjecting your body to degradation, abuse and sexual assault by strangers night after night. Specific reports of alcohol use were quoted in the much-referenced Holsopple article, but it applies to substance use as well: The greatest response to questions regarding preparation for work was "drink". Women drink while getting ready to go to work and they drink while doing their hair and make-up once in the dressing room. Women who work at nude juice bars that do not serve alcohol or at bars that do not allow women to buy their own drinks report that they stop at another bar on their way in and "get loaded". Between stage sets and private dances, women drink some more, clean themselves with washcloths or baby-wipes after performing on a dirty stage or being touched by a lot of men, apply deodorant, and perfume their breasts and genitals. (Holsopple, 1998) Finally, I will touch briefly on child/sex trafficking in the club, but I will provide more references at the end, for readers who are interested in learning more about this relationship of strip clubs and sexual enslavement. Pimps and human traffickers [may] easily prey on these women and coerce/force them into stripping or prostitution. Operators and employees of strip clubs may also serve as pimps, in soliciting these performers to pursue illegal sexual activities for drugs or money. Customers also exploit these womens vulnerable predicament by closing their eyes to underage dancers, substance abuse, and rape in the strip clubs. (Maddox, 2012) Under the control of a pimp, minors in the forced sex trade are often forced to carry a fake I.D. (Shively, 2010). Here is a quote from an article that gives you a snapshot of the relationship of human trafficking and strip clubs in a nutshell: Treasures allows pimps to traffic their women inside Treasures, the suit alleges. And through force, fraud or coercion, pimps cause these women to engage in prostitution. Treasures knowingly receives benefits from participating in the prostitution trafficking venture. (Reed, 2012) I will attach a link to the full court deposition in the reference notes as well as a link to the full article. However, that is a topic to be fully explored another day.

Before concluding this article, we will include six tables regarding abuse types and frequency from Holsopples initial 1998 case study. Table 1 - Frequency of Physical Abuse

Abusive Action Ever (by men At Least Once At Least Once in stripclub) Every Day Every Week (%) (%) (%) Grabbed by arm 78 44 6 11 S 28 C 50 6 11 S 6C 28 C C 33 M 11 11 S 11 C 17 C C 17 M 6 6 11 S

At Least Once At Every Month Once (%) Year (%) C 6M O

Least Every

C 11 O 6 M 6M 6 6M C 6M M

Grabbed ankle Grabbed waist Bitten Licked

by 56 by 94

C 11 C 11 C

56 78

11 C 11 6 6 11 S C 22 C O M 17 C 11 C

Slapped Hair pulled Punched Pinched

39 39 72 72

6C 6C 6C 17 C

11 C 6C

17 C

6 6 6S

C 22 M 6S

Kicked Spit on Pulled

11 61 costume 83

6C 6C 22 C 6 28 C C 22 C

off Ripped costume Flicked cigarette Sprayed beer Threw ice Threw coins Threw cans/glasses Threw garbage Threw other 44 33 39 61 83 22 39 28 6C 6C 6C 6C 17 C 6C 17 C 11 C 11 C 6C 6C 11 C 11 C

6 6M 6C

O 6S 17 C 11 C

6C 6C 11 6S

6C 6C C 28 C

N = 18 Key: C = customers, O = owners, M = managers, S = staff Table 2 - Frequency of Sexual Abuse

Abusive Action

Ever (by men in stripclub) (%) 94

At Least Once Every Day (%)

At Least Once Every Week (%)

At Least Once Every Month (%)

At Least Once Every Year (%)

Grabbed breasts

28 6M 39 C

17 C

17 6M 39 6 6S 11 6M

17 6O 6 6S

Grabbed buttocks

89

11 C

C M

Grabbed genitals

67

17 C

17 C

Exposed to her

penis

67

11 C

6C

6 6 6M C O M 6C

C O

33 C

Rubbed penis on her

78

39 6M

22 6 6 6S 11 C

22 6O

Masturbated front of her

in

78

33 6M

28 C

6C

N = 18 Key: C = customers, O = owners, M = managers, S = staff Table 3 - Attempted and Completed Sexual Abuse Abusive Action Experienced Attempted Abuse (%) vaginally with 61 6M 33 C 33 6O 28 6 6M 17 6 6M C C Experienced Successfully Completed Abuse (%) 39

Penetrate fingers

her

Penetrate her anally with fingers Penetrate her with object

17 11

Force her to masturbate him

C O

17

Force intercourse on her

C O

11

N = 18 Key: C = customers, O = owners, M = managers, S = staff

Table 4 Frequency of Name-Calling - Verbal Abuse Abusive Action Ever (by men in stripclub) (%) At Least Once Every Day (%) At Least Once Every Week (%) At Least Once Every Month (%) At Least Once Every Year (%) 11 6M C O M 11 C C

Called "cunt"

61

28 6M 28 6S

6C

17 C

Called "slut"

61

6C

17 6 6 6S 17 6 6 6S 11 C

Called "whore"

78

28 6S

6C

C O M

22 C

Called "pussy"

72

39 6S 39 6S

11 C

11 C

Called "bitch"

89

11 6 6 6S 6C

C O M

6C

22 6M

Called other

56

17 C

17 6M

6C

Table 5 - Stalking Occurrences

Abusive Action Ever (by men in stripclub) (%) Range of occurrences

Sent her letters against her wishes Sent her gifts against her wishes Called her home against her wishes Followed her home against her wishes Followed her to her car against her wishes Followed her around on her private time Followed her from club to club, city, and state Other

28 22 39 56 67 28 28

3-100 times 2-100 times 2-360 times 2-500 times 12-500 times 1-150 times 6-360 times

28

1-360 times

N = 18

Table 6 - Percentage of Women Pressured for Sexual Exploitation Recipient Pressured by customer (%) Pressured by owner (%) Pressured by manager (%) Pressured by staff (%) Pressured by vice officer (%) Pressured by police officer (%)

Owner's friend Owner's relative Owner's business associate Manager's friend Manager's

39 11

33

17

relative Manager's business associate Customer Vice officer Police officer 72 22 17 17 11

17 11 11 N = 18

6 6 6 11 22

In conclusion: there are two things to discuss in order to bring this back to where this article series started; Rihannas episodes of abuse with Chris Brown and her victimization and participation in the rap industry. The music itself is beside the point. Its the content of the music. What inspired this series of articles in the first place was Rihannas song Pour it Up, which has officially been coined 2013s Strip Club Anthem and has been remixed by the most notorious group of celebrity attendees to the club Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Juicy J, and T.I. Again, this series of articles looks at the paradox and complication of Rihanna, being abused by a man, who lives and worships a male-dominated medium, which presents messages that push for objectification, control and abuse of women. Rihanna then creates one of the biggest strip club anthems of all time and despite being a victim of Chris Brown, she is also a major influencer and force behind the similar culture values and messages, which shaped and influenced the man she was abused by. In her video for Pour it Up she dresses as a man on one side and as a seductive stripper on the other side. Through music video magic, both personas are on the cat-walk at the same time and the male version of her sexually gropes and provides pleasure to herself on a public catwalk. I wonder what message that is promoting? Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry? Are strip clubs a place for innocent entertainment? Are women compensated well for what they go through and do they deserve to be treated that way because of their choice of participating in that industry? I wont present any answers; only these questions. To learn more about this subject and to see a more in-depth compilation of this information, please consider reading the following books, articles and legal papers: Strip Club: Gender, Power, and Sex Work (By Kim Price-Glynn) http://www.amazon.com/Strip-Club-Gender-Power-Intersections/dp/0814767613 Connecticut Law Tribune (Suit again Clubs for Unlawful Labor Practices)

http://www.llrlaw.com/pdfs/exotic_dancers_claim_clubs.pdf Texas & The City of Houston vs. Treasures Court Deposition http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/yourhoustonnews.com/content/tncms/asse ts/v3/editorial/c/8d/c8d50bce-9fa0-11e1-8405-0019bb2963f4/4fb420eaf16f9.pdf.pdf Read the Full Groundbreaking Research Article by Kelly Holsopple here: http://www.drjudithreisman.com/archives/2011/02/stripclubs_acco.html Also learn about Kelly Holsopples Story and how she became the authority on stripresearch http://pibillwarner.wordpress.com/tag/the-bio-of-kelly-holsopple-who-is-now-anassociate-attorney-and-working-for-a-law-firm-in-florida-would-make-for-a-great-johngrisham-novel-like-the-the-associate-which-time-called-hardcore-law-p/ Watch Rihannas Official Video for Pour it Up here: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyfi33_rihanna-pour-it-up-officialvideo_music#.Ucifn_Z369Z Mounting and Counting: Blog by a stripper who is for the industry, but also admits to the drug & alcohol problems as well as the violence & criminal activity of her customers: http://mountingandcounting.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/drugs-are-bad-mmmkay/ References Brooks, T. (2007). In da club: An econometric analysis of strip club patrons. WORKING PAPER, Department of Economics: University of Wisconsin, Retrieved from http://www.uwlax.edu/faculty/brooks/prof/working/Brooks AEA December 2007.pdf Calhoun, T., Julie A. H. Cannon, and Rhonda Fisher. 1996. "Amateur Stripping: Sexualized Entertainment and Gendered Fun." Sociological Focus 29: 155-166. Cooke, Amber. 1987. "Stripping: Who Calls the Tune?" Pp. 92-99 in Good Girls, Bad Girls: Feminists and Sex Trade Workers Face to Face, ed. Laurie Bell. Toronto: Seal Press. Dolan, J. (2010). Thousands in welfare cash tapped at california strip clubs. Los Angeles Times, Retrieved from http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/welfarecash-dispensed-at-strip-clubs/comments/page/4/ Enck, Graves and james D. Preston. 1988. Counterfeit Intimacy: A Dramaturgical Analysis of an Erotic Performance. Deviant Behavior 9:369 81. Farley, M. (2004). Bad for the Body, Bad for the Heart: Prostitution Harms Women Even if Legalized or Discriminalized . Retrieved from Chicago Alliance Against Sexual

Exploitation : http://g.virbcdn.com/_f/files/89/FileItem-149912Badforthebody.pdf Forsyth, C. and Tina Deshotels. 1997. "The Occupational Milieu of the Nude Dancer." Deviant Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Journal 18: 125-142. Holsopple, K. (1998). Stripclubs according to strippers: Exposing workplace violence. Unpublished manuscript. Retrieved June 24, 2013 http://www.drjudithreisman.com/archives/2011/02/stripclubs_acco.html KOAT Action 7 News. (2012, March 2). Police: Alcohol found at Palms Strip Club: Controversial Club Faces more Trouble. Retrieved from KOAT 7 Albuquerque: http://www.koat.com/news/30598084/detail.html Maddox, D. (2012). Strip clubs and their sexual exploitation. Informally published manuscript, New Mexico State University, Retrieved from http://www.releaseglobal.org/images/Strip_Clubs_and_their_Sexual_Exploitation .pdf Mallicoat, S. (2012). Lives in Transition: A Needs Assesment of Women Exciting From Prostitution . In R. Muraskin, Women and Justice: It's a Crime (pp. 156-169). Upper Saddle River: Pearson. Mattson, H. (1995). Ivy league stripper. New York Boston: Arcade Pub. Distributed by Little, Brown. Mounting and Counting (2010, May 15). [Weblog message]. Retrieved from http://mountingandcounting.wordpress.com/2010/05/15/drugs-are-bad-mmmkay/ Prewitt, Terry J. 1989. Like a Virgin: The Semiotics of Illusion in Erotic Performance.The American Journal of Semiotics 6(4): 137-52. Reed, M. (2012). human trafficking, drug activity at treasures strip club, alleged by prosecutors. Houston Community Newspapers, Retrieved from http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/news/human-trafficking-drug-activity-attreasures-strip-club-alleged-by/article_b5e54988-9f9c-11e1-91e60019bb2963f4.html?mode=story Shenoy, R. (2007). Clubs promise path from poverty. The Chicago Reporter, Retrieved from http://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2007/08/clubs-promise-path-poverty Shively, M. (2010). Developing a National Action Plan for Eliminating Sex Trafficking. Retrieved from Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation: http://g.virbcdn.com/_f/files/11/FileItem-149938FirstOffenderProbation_ABT.pdf Trevizo, A. (2012, February 11). Police Investigate Rape at TDs Gold. Retrieved from Albuquerque Journal: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/02/11/abqnewsseeker/policeinvestigaterape-at-tds-gold.html

Op-Ed Article Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry: Element 4 The messages of rap-music, strip clubs and other media about women By: Mike Norman (Hope for Brighter Days Social Media Contributor) The discussion continues in our 5 part article series regarding Rihanna, rap-music and the relationship between her, messages in media, culture and the abuse against women perpetuated by this web of factors. Article 4, which is our discussion today, will look less at strip clubs and actual physical/sexual abuse and focus more on the messages that precede these realities. What messages are conveyed by the culture of clubs, by the sexual and physical assault and what messages not only feed this but are fed by this reality. First lets discuss some key terms to get everyones vernacular, vocabulary and terminology on the same page. Here are a few terms that are prevalent in much of the research from current articles as well as classes I took in my social studies and womens classes: Mechanistic Dehumanization: Denying human nature to others, representing them as objects or automata. Or as Montague and Matson (1983) put it the reduction of humans to machines. Objectification: Treating a person as a commodity or an object, without regard to their personality or dignity. Sexual Objectification: treating a person merely as an instrument of sexual pleasure, making them a "sex object". Sexualization: Similar to objectification, except with the added notion that, involves the imposition of the sexuality of adult persons on girls, who are emotionally, psychologically and physically unprepared for this at their particular stage of development; prematurely. Hypersexualize: To make extremely sexual; to accentuate the sexuality of Pornified: The increasing occurrence and acceptance of sexual themes and explicit imagery in popular or mainstream culture Now that we have identified some essential terms and brought everyones vocabulary to the same page, we can begin to break down these things more relevantly to the subject matter and discussion at hand. Many of you have studied this subject matter before. I am not going to try to teach you things you dont know, I simply am going to connect some of these concepts into this article series and draw things together. Media, Marketing and How Women Are Objectified:

Cropping Heads and Isolating Body Parts This is one of the main ways in which media advertises their products, while objectifying women. Removing a womans head from a photo is removing her humanity. The head contains the personhood of any human and to remove it is to focus merely on the body, or the impersonal part of the human. The head is where we receive and give eye contact to one another. Eye contact is a major method of communication. Eyes can convey a persons emotions and interests, and engaging in eye contact, in most cultures, represents respect and engaging in the very person themselves. The head is also where the mouth and the brain are stored. Through the use of our brain and the communication tool, which is our mouth, people convey thoughts, feelings and ideas and can express what they enjoy and what they dislike. It is essentially the central way in which a person can express their inner essence to another person and is the main tool for how we form relationships with one another. When an advertiser removes the head, they remove the person. In the same way, if we simply focus on a body part anywhere on the body, we are removing the womans personhood and sending the message this woman is a machine with which to fulfill sexual desires through, whether she wants you to have sex with her or not.

Cropping Heads [Isolating Body Part (w/ Ludacris)] (Chicken-n-Beer, Def Jam Recordings 2003) Being a man and being exposed to locker room talk aka testosterone driven male conversations, Men sometimes discuss women, the same way one of these advertisements do. They ask each other who would you do (do means have sex with). In response, sometimes men will jokingly say __________ is so butterface or shes a total bagger. Butterface is slang for a longer phrase everything is pretty about her but-her-face. Similarly, if a woman is deemed a bagger that means that

men would be willing to have sex with her because her body is appealing, but only on the condition that they wouldnt have to look at her face while having sex.

These methods of advertising as well as this mindset that some men have, contributes to the overall pornification and sexual objectification of women in our culture. It mechanistically dehumanizes women and the act of sex itself. Sex is supposed to join two persons together - two personalities together. It is not simply for experiencing sexual pleasure. The head-cropping mentality turns humans into machines, with the soul purpose of fulfilling our own sexual desires in a one-way transaction. Sex is meant to be two-way as well, where its not just about what you can get out of the experience, but what you can give to the other person as well. Turning humans into impersonal machines is the same mentality that leads to sexual and physical assault in the first place. The person you are assaulting or abusing becomes simply an object to control or overpower. Strip Club Messages Strip clubs are contributing majorly to the pornification of modern mainstream culture, especially in the United States. As I write this article, I am listening to Miley Cyrus We Cant Stop (RCA Records, 2013) singing To my home girl there with the big butt, shaking it like we at a strip club... Similar to Rihannas Pour It Up lyrics (Def Jam, 2012) I referenced in the first article in this series. It is becoming more frequently common for female artists to glorify and endorse strip clubs. On March 5th Newton Media Group released Strip Club Queens: Atlanta on UrbanClout.Com. This is a reality show that follows the life of 5 strippers in an Atlanta strip club. They are currently on season 2 as we speak. VH1 was at one point in talks with Newton Media Group, but decided to not pick up the show. HBO has also aired series on sex industry subject matter such as Cathouse (2005) was a hit fictional show on HBO. Now they are working on a docu-drama called King of Diamonds: Make it Rain. This show, again, follows the lives and inter-workings of the King of Diamonds strip club in Miami, FL. The show will focus on the lives of the

club owners, managers, celebrities, and of course, the strippers. It is self-described as: at the very heart of the piece is a real story. [Owner] Terry managing a thriving business and juggling his other business ventures. At the same time, being a father figure to his employees, giving advice, coaching, paternally guiding some of the girls, making sure that his team of managers (the four horse men) and his self are on the same page, keeping his "A" list celebs clients, music entertainers and athletes happy...and doing all of this as a happily married man with a family of his own! (Youtube, 2012) There are others that I wont go into, but my point is, that Strip Clubs are not solely buildings anymore where people have to pursue entrance into, in order to experience strippers, nudity and lap dances. Strip Clubs are being advertised as innocent places, of adult entertainment. They are being pushed on the average household and even children, through artists and singers like Rihanna and Miley Cyrus, which are artists whose core audience is 10 30. Through the success of these various reality shows, strip clubs are only becoming more mainstream and the message that women are sex objects, and that the way to have true power and success in life is for women to offer up their body and sexual pleasure to men is what is prevalent in media of all types these days. Rap Musics Messages Rap music has been prevailing these messages long before the most recent intensity of the hypersexualized media wave. I am personally a huge fan of rap music, but I am selective based on content. I have been listening to rap music and hip hop that stems from the infancy of it with groups like Grandmaster Flash, Dougie Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew, N.W.A and A Tribe Called Quest to name a few. I have listened to everything in between and currently listen to current rap music as well from artists like Lil Wayne, Trey Songz, Flo Rida and others. Despite the increase in discussing strip clubs in more mainstream rap music and hip-hop, the actual presence of degradation and dehumanization of women through song lyrics has been present since the very beginning. The focus on sex in rap and hip-hop music in mainstream music culture could be traced back without argument to Salt-N-Peppas Lets Talk about Sex (Next Plateau Records, 1990). It was present before this period in music by artists such as NWA, who could be possibly credited with starting Gangsta-Rap with their violent and misogynistic lyrics. ( Since 1986, Rap made a major shift away from its B-Boy days, which relied heavily on party-themed dance music, with high elements of funk and disco music, and became more angry, more sexually explicit and more violent. This is when rap music started calling women bitches and hoes and singing about how they shouldnt talk back to any man and that if they did they would get slapped down. Women were painted as dumb, dependent, drug addicted individuals that were a hassle for a man to care for, but their only redeeming factor is that they might give a man oral sex or

pleasure. This is the birthplace of much of the content of todays modern rap music that glorifies mens status and importance and reduces womens importance to being purely sexual in nature. Rihannas Participation in These Messages To continue with the previous discussion and transition to the subject of Rihannas involvement in these messages, the discussion of female rappers lyrical content comes into play. Female artists, such as Rihanna, participate in these degrading and disrespectful messages of women through their own music. Lil Kim, Da Brat and Foxy Brown were the first breakout solo female artists in the rap game, and their debut albums focus heavily on sex and materialism (Williams, 2005). Lil Kims debut album Hard Core (Atlantic Records, 1996) was described as sexually explicit and raunchy. Lil Kim has been viewed as having lyrics that are sexual and masculine. Interestingly enough, Lil Kim believes that part of what makes her stand out is that she is actually combating these messages purveyed often by male rappers. Emily Newman puts it this way in her article entitled Female Rap Artists and the Establishment of Female Identities: She [Lil Kim] turns the table on the dominant hegemony of mainstream rap by adopting an aggressive, traditionally male form of vocal delivery and language. With the above words, she is describing how she is using men to satisfy her desires. This completely contradicts the roles of men and women created in most male rap songs. Typically, it is the man using and objectifying the woman. However, Lil Kim flips the script. Not only does she objectify men, but she is also in control of her own body. This role reversal is furthered with the male singer, Sisqo, who sings in the chorus, So, how many licks does it take till you get to the center of the? Typically, females tend to sing the chorus while the male artists rap. Having a man sing reinforces Lil Kims masculinity and emphasizes her power over men. (Newman, 2012) There are many who disagree with Lil Kims effect on these messages that degrade women. Many believe she is only perpetuating the belief that women are hyper sexual creatures that will sleep with men on a whim, and that it is not about the relationship, but it is about getting sex at all costs, while ignoring the persons humanity. I am not here to argue in this debate, but to present it to our readers. In the end, Rihanna also participates in this. Lyrically she sings about her enjoyment of being in strip clubs (as well as enjoying strip clubs in her personal life). She also sexually portrays herself provocative limited clothing on her album covers and through publicity of herself in music videos and print media outlets. Even if she believes in respecting women and their bodies, she also is part of the machine and willingly participates in sexual objectification and dehumanization of herself and other women through her lyrics, promotion and lifestyle.

Conclusion What I believe summarizes this article, is well communicated through this quote from a research article from University of Michigan, entitled Objectification Theory. An indicator that our culture is highly saturated in heterosexuality is shown through the socially sanctioned right of all males to sexualize all females, regardless of age or status (Westkott, 1986 & Schur, 1983) This quotation is an old one as far as research standards for a 2013 paper is concerned, but the succinctness and poignancy of this quote is perhaps the most powerful wordage I have found. It describes the overall message that is being perpetuated through this culture of sexual objectification of women through Rap Music, Media, Strip Clubs and even Rihannas celebrity image, song lyrics and self promotion through media. Rihanna is not the enemy or the root of these issues, she is simply a participant - a victim of the system, yet someone who should take responsibility for her presentation and messages to our society and present herself in a healthy and positive way. Men often think this is harmless; the fact that we have been given a sanctioned right to sexualize females regardless of age or status. When we sexualize women of all ages, other types of expressions of this accepted degradation of women become evident. Sexually degrading women brings about other degradation of women. Sexual assault is a sexual degradation of women, but through an extreme violent assault of that woman; forced sex without her consent as well as to her emotional, psychological and physical harm. Throw in the possibility that because women of all ages are degraded and sexually objectified, the notion that children are also sexually assaulted. Sometimes, young girls, look as if they have the sexual maturity of a woman and therefore, many teen-girls are raped and assaulted. I am not going to even discuss rape and sexual assault of young girls with no biologically mature sexual characteristics. That is better left for another day. Again, I ask, is this ok? Are strip clubs harmless? Is it ok for Rihanna to sexualize herself and advocate for self-sexualized objectification and promote this image to young girls? Should advertisers be allowed to remove womens humanity by removing their heads from magazine and billboard ads? Is pornification of our society health, safe and beneficial to the women in our society? These are rhetorical questions from my point of view, but each reader has to make their own choice and observation. The purpose of this article is to start a conversation. This is an article that is being presented on the greatest conversation platforms of this age social media ---. I do not profess to be an expert, but I profess to be a person with passion about these issues and a person who knows how to back up discussion with research. I am seeking all of those in the Hope for Brighter Days community on Twitter and Facebook to share in this conversation with me, and start looking for solutions.

Thank you for all that you do in our community to end abuse. References Hypersexualize. (n.d.). Definitions.net. Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.definitions.net/definition/hypersexualize. Montague, A., & Matson, F. (1983). The dehumanization of man. New York: McGraw-Hill. Newman, E. (2012, December 03). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blog.richmond.edu/rapmusic/2012/12/03/test-2/ Pornification http://oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/pornificatio n Schur, E. M. (1983) Labeling women deviant: Gender, stigma, and social control. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Sexualization http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/femm/p r/904/904064/904064en.pdf Westkott, M. (1986). The feminist legacy of Karen Horney. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press Williams, S. (2005). Rap hip-hop timeline 1990-1999. Retrieved from http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best_rap-timeline2.html Other Interesting Articles to Check Out http://www.sanchezlab.com/pdfs/FredricksonRoberts.pdf http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/SDT/documents/2010_MollerDeci_GPIR. pdf http://newyorksociologist.org/11/Berberick2011.pdf http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/11/medias-growing-sexualization-of- women/28539.html http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases/2011/08/12769.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/20/king-of-diamonds-reality- _n_1612862.html http://www.loop21.com/mistresses-of-atlanta-show-trailer

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/therootdc/post/strip-club-queens-atlanta- to-debut-march-5/2013/03/04/61908ca4-7fa1-11e2-b99e- 6baf4ebe42df_blog.html http://msmagazine.com/blog/2012/07/03/sexual-objectification-part-1-what-is- it/

Op-Ed Article Is Rihanna a Complicated Woman or is it Complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry: Rihanna is a victim and Perpetuator of this Cycle By: Mike Norman (Hope for Brighter Days Social Media Contributor) This is the final article in our series discussing Rihanna, Rap Music and how she is a victim and perpetuation to the hypersexual and male-dominated cultural cycle that results from the rap music industry. She is now a 25-year old woman, who has been inundated in a male dominated culture and has love and passion for a male dominated and hyper-sexualized music genre. She has, with good intentions, sadly become part of the urban music machine and system, by not only protecting her own popularity by becoming a sexual icon and putting her body all over magazines and videos, but she is also verbally adding to the messages through her lyrics by singing about strip clubs, men having money and power, sex with men and every other message that the male rapper personifies. It is sadly a never-ending cycle all in the name of entertainment. Rihanna on Magazines

This magazine cover is especially intriguing to me. This image conveys a few messages. 1. She is grabbing her crotch, which is interesting in two ways. a. Males in rap music often grab their crotch to assert their sexuality and masculinity. [Complex Music, 2013)

b. This is an example of what researchers in a recent study out of the University at Buffalo (NY) call: Hypersexualized imagery. The research reviews Rolling Stone Magazine from 1967 to 2009 to study the difference in sexualized portrayal of men and women on the covers of pop culture magazines. What the study found is that since, 2000, the rate of hypersexualized women on magazine covers increased 10 times (Nauert, 2011)

The above image would likely be considered Hypersexualized because of her grabbing herself, her skin exposure, her mostly uncovered breasts and her facial express, such as her mouth partly open, licking her lips and the look of sexual desire in her eyes. If you are interested in reading the entire study entitled, Equal Opportunity Objectification? The Sexualization of Men and Women on the Cover of Rolling Stone you can find it here: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs12119-011-9093-2# Does she knowingly encourage strip club culture? My answer is yes. In her interview with Soo-Young Kim of Complex Magazine (2013) Kim, in reference to Rihannas 2012 album Unapologetic, asks:

As I have reference in past articles. Pour it Up has been referred to as a strip club anthem and has been re-mixed by multiple strip club DJs and artists who are showin love for the club.

Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, Juicy J and T.I. Remixed and released it March, 2013

That last interesting thing to point out as far as Rihannas participation in the messages and culture she is a victim of his her music video for We Found Love (Def Jam, 2011). The video actually romanticizes domestic violence as well as the idea that women are sexual objects to be possessed and had. Watch the video here and judge for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg00YEETFzg

To remain focusing on lyrics, Rihannas representation in the media, and strip club culture would fall on the verge of redundancy. We have focused thus far in this article about how Rihanna contributes to these hypersexualized, objectifying and degrading messages towards women. But besides being pressured to participate in these messages for the same of fame and money, how else is Rihanna a victim of the male-dominated industry she thrives in? The Presentation of Women in Media and How it Affects Men According to Jean Kilbourne (1999), Most of us know by now that advertising often turns people into objects. Womens bodies, and mens bodies too these days, are dismembered, packaged, and used to sell everything from chain saws to chewing gum. But many people do not fully realize that there are terrible consequences when people become things. Self-image is deeply affected. The self-esteem of girls plummets as they reach adolescence partly because they cannot possibly escape the message that their bodies are objects, and imperfect objects at that (26-27). Kilbourne points out the dominating image of the painfully thin and flawlessly beautiful woman in advertising remains the ideal for American women. The bottom line is, to a great extent, the media tells men and women who they are and who they should be. And, if the cumulative effect of some

of these messages, for example, is to degrade or objectify women, surely that is not the intent of the all the creators it is simply an unfortunate side effect (Kilbourne, 1999). In the same way that the media tells women who they are, what is expected of them in society and what their value is. Media tells males the same thing. Women are often lowered, degraded and objectified by the media, rap music and cultural messages, but what are men told by these messages? Both Kilbourne and Wolf argued that the pressure to conform to an idealized concept of femininity damaged women. On the other hand, Jackson Katz (2003) stated that representations of men in advertising consistently featured violent white male icons, such as uniformed football players, big-fisted boxers, and leather-clad bikers. Sports magazines aimed at men, and televised sporting events, carried millions of dollars of military ads. Additionally, there were constantly ads for products designed to help men develop muscular physiques, such as supplements and weight training machines (Katz, 2003). Meganck (2010) continues: These hegemonic constructions of masculinity that are emphasized in mainstream advertising directly lead to males increased belief that they should be strong, ambitious, sex-oriented and competitive, as well as normalize negative hegemonic qualities, such as violence. And, although these qualities portrayed in advertising are not necessarily intentionally created to degrade women, increase eating disorders or sexualize violence, its unfortunately a side effect, according to a number of researchers. (Meganck, 2010) After analyzing media and cultural messages, we realize a few things. One, is that media is often very uniform and collusion-like in that it universally spreads the same messages across companies, people and society. Two is that these messages that lower womens status and raise mens status are born from system structures that ensure continued patriarchy in our society. Thirdly, because these messages work together to create an extreme power and status differential between men and women, it can lead to severe damage to women on levels of self-esteem, identity and even physical pain, whether inflicted on by themselves (eating disorders) or by relationship partners (abusive significant others). One of the first and most important assumptions of the study of mass communication has been the presumption that media and their content have significant and substantial effects. This presumption of media effects is easy to understand. It makes common sense that anything that consumes so much money and time must have some impact on our lives. It has been proven that the portrayals created in vehicles, such as advertising and pornography, directly lead to

unhappiness with our bodies (Kilbourne, 1999; Wolf, 2002), uncertainty surrounding our roles (Friedan, 1963; Douglas, 1984) and even gender violence. (Meganck, 2010) We will conclude this discussion of womens portrayal in media and how it affects men with a closing passage from the Meganck (2010) article. Please read the entire article to read the entire discussion Meganck presents here: http://ramsites.net/~megancksl/assets/Text/Sex%20and%20Violence%20in%20 Advertising.pdf Covell and Lanis (1995) stated that there has been a lot of research conducted on gender role portayals in advertisements; however, there has been comparatively little attention paid to the portrayal of sexuality in advertisements. Covell et al. worked to correct this discrepancy by examining the effects of advertisements in which women were presented in either a sexually provocative or a non- traditional manner, on sexual attitudes supportive of sexual aggression. The authors hypothesized that if advertisement portrayals of women influenced beliefs, then scores on the Sexual Attitude Survey would be higher following exposure to advertisements in which women were portrayed as sex objects compared to those showing women in progressive roles. The authors concluded that the findings supported the hypothesis, stating that, media portrayals of women can influence sexual attitudes and beliefs (646). Males who saw ads where women were presented as sex objects were more likely to be more accepting of interpersonal violence than were males exposed to other types of advertisements. Additionally, Malamuth and colleagues previously looked at the effects on sexual violence in the media in two different studies. Malamuth and Check (1981) conducted an experiment on the effects of exposure to films that portrayed sexual violence having positive consequences. The results indicated that exposure to films portraying violent sexuality increased males acceptance of interpersonal violence against women. Malamuth and Briere (1986) presented a model hypothesizing indirect effects of media sexual violence against women. It suggested that various cultural factors, including the mass media, and individual variables interact and possibly led to antisocial behavior, including aggression. The authors hypothesis was based not only on the frequency of sexually aggressive portrayals in media, but also on their positivity and potential for increasing womens victimization. After a review of relevant data, the authors concluded that exposure to media sexual aggression may adversely affect some mens thought patterns, but not their sexual arousal patterns. The argument here is that devaluing women and sex, as we have in advertising and pornography, is extremely unhealthy for a society that

is unfortunately prone to gender inequality and sexual violence. It is not proven that ads or any other form of media directly cause violence; however, turning a human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person. It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to be violent to someone we think of as an equal, someone we have empathy with, but it is very easy to abuse a thing (Kilbourne, 1999, 278). There is no excuse for what Chris Brown did to Rihanna in 2009. There is no excuse for domestic violence or violence between any human being. However, the point is that these are the messages that are in our culture today. These are the messages that are putting women in their assigned rolls as passive, weak, sex- objects, who are supposed to find all of their purpose in relationship to their membership to a family, a household or a man. Likewise, men are taught to be violent, competitive, sex-driven, power-driven individuals who are to force sexual pleasure to happen, even if that means by way of rape or abuse. Rihanna is a victim of this media culture that conveys itself in rap music, advertisements, culture and within the interpersonal relationships she has around her. She also is a strong participant in these messages with her own self- objectification, support of strip club culture and male dominance. Every time she sells her body on a page, drops bills at a strip club she encourages the male dominated hypersexualized culture we live in. As this series of articles is titled, it is true that Rihanna is not a complicated woman, but that it is complicated to be a Black Woman in the Rap Industry. I hope you enjoyed reading this series of articles as much as I did researching and composing them. I do not profess to be an expert, but I profess to be a person with passion about these issues and a person who knows how to back up discussion with research. I am seeking all of those in the Hope for Brighter Days community on Twitter and Facebook to share in this conversation with me, and start looking for solutions. Thank you for all that you do in our community to end abuse. References Covell, K. & Lanis, K. (1995). Images of Women in Advertisements: Effects on Attitudes Related to Sexual Aggression. Sex Roles, 32(9/10), 639-649. Douglas, S. (1984). Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. New York: Random House. Friedan, B. (1963). The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Hatton, E., & Trotner, M. N. (2011). Equal opportunity objectification?: The sexualization of men and women on the cover of rolling stone. Sexuality & Culture, 15(3), 256-278. doi: 10.1007/s12119-011-9093-2

 Katz, J. (2003). Advertising and the Construction of Violent White Masculinity: From Eminem to Clinique for Men. Gender, Race and Class in Media: A Text- Reader (349-352). Dines, G. & McMahon Humez, J. (Eds.), Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Kilbourne, Jean (1999). Cant Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel. New York: Touchstone. Kilbourne, J. (1999). Killing Us Softly 3. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cakLF_16I4 Kim, S. (2013, January 17). Rihanna talks eminem, future, and strip club records. Complex, Retrieved from http://www.complex.com/music/2013/01/rihanna-talks-eminem-future- and-strip-club-records/page/2 Malamuth, N & Briere, J. (1986). Sexual Violence in the Media: Indirect Effect on Aggression Against Women. Journal of Social Issues, 42(3), 75-92. Malamuth, N. & Check, J. (1981). The Effects of Mass Media Exposure on Acceptance of Violence against Women: A Field Experiment. Journal of Research in Personality, 15, 436-446. Meganck, S. (2010). Sex and violence in advertising: How commodifying and sexualizing women leads to gender violence. Retrieved from http://ramsites.net/~megancksl/assets/Text/Sex and Violence in Advertising.pdf Nauert, R. (2011, August 11). Media's growing sexualization of women. Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/08/11/medias-growing- sexualization-of-women/28539.html Wolf, N. (2002). The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women. New York: Harper. Music References Talk That Talk Def Jam Records, 2011, We Found Love, Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris Unapologetic Def Jam Records, 2012, Unapologetic, Rihanna