1. Aretha Franklin
2. Madonna
3 Diana Ross & The Supremes
4 Joni Mitchell
5 Etta James
6 Ruth Brown
7 Janis Joplin
8 Mariah Carey
11 The Shirelles
12 Whitney Houston
13 Bonnie Raitt
14 Martha and The Vandellas
15 Patti Smith
16 LaVern Baker
17 Stevie Nicks
18 Gladys Knight
19 Carole King
20 Janey Jacksno
21 Chrissie Hynde
22 Annie Lennoc
23 Debbie Harry
24 Linda Ronstadt
25 Cher
26 Chaka Khan
27 Grace Slick
28 Emmylu Harris
29 Pat Benatar
30 Tori Amos
31 Laura Nyro
32 Ricki Lee Jones
33 Joan Baez
34 Tracy Chapman
35 Ann and Nancy Wilson
36 Sarah Mclachlan
37 Roberta Flack
38 Kate Bush
39 Dusty Springfield
40 Salt-N-Peppa
41 Karen Carpenter
42 Carly Simon
43 Patti Labelle
44 Dionne Warwick
45 Brenda Lee
46 Connie Francis
47 Sade
48 Wanda Jackson
49 Joan Armstrading
50 Mavis Staples

http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages/best_artists-female.html

That is a list of 50 of the 200 'greatest female artists of rock n roll'. How many of those names are new? How many of these women are feminists? People say that The Spice Girls and the Pussy Cat Dolls are feminist artists of today. The Spice Girls made 191 one that list. The Pussy Cat Dolls didn't make that list at all. These are the women empowering us? The Spice Girls- fine. They were all unique in their own ways - which means we can be too, right? The Pussy Cat dolls on the other hand... they are all nine feet tall and stick thin, typically wearning slim to nothing. Maybe it's empowering women to be skeezy if they want? I'm unsure.

Grrls.

After I began digging up some of these lyrics, and seeing how degrading they really are, I was determined to find something empowering to women. There is actually quite a list of feminist music artists out there. I was even more pleased to find out that I’ve heard of a few of them before. Most people automatically assume, when they hear feminist music, they are going to hear about bra burning, and hairy legs. This isn’t necessarily true, I did find one song called Armpit Hair by Alix Olson, but the rest of what I have found is more geared towards being a strong woman.

Here’s a small list:
Ani DiFranco
Indigo Girls
Melissa Ferrick
Dar Williams
Joan Jett
Pat Benatar
Tori Amos
Catie Curtis
Patty Larkin
Cheryl Wheeler
Lori McKenna
Kris Delmhorst
Jess Klein

As I said. This is just a small list of the more mainstream feminist artists. There are many more, and even more up and comers that haven’t made it into the spot light quite yet. Finding all these names and listening to the music made me feel much better about the music industry. Unfortunately we still have a long way to go, because these names are not nearly as popular as The Rolling Stones and Eminem.

Eminem,

It's no surprise to anyone that Eminem has controversial song lyrics about women in the majority of his songs. I found a list of eight reasons why Eminem's popularity is a disaster for women.


1. His song lyrics help desensitize boys and men to the pain and suffering of girls and women.
--frequently rapping about mistreating, raping, torturing and murdering women.
2. Girls are encouraged to be attracted to boys and men who don't respect women.
--despite the fact that he is ultimately a 'woman-hating' rapper, he is still featured on the cover of magazines such as Cosmogirl and Teen People as a bad boy sex symbol.
3. His relationship with girls sends a dangerous message to boys and men.
4. The racial storyline around Eminem perpetuates the racist myth that "hip" white guys are those who most closely emulate the sexist beliefs and hypermasculine posturing of some Black males.
5. Eminem's personal trajectory perpetuates damagig mythology about abusive men.
6. Eminem's success has unleashed a torrent of mother blaming.
7. Eminem has elevated to an art form the practice of verbally bullying and degrading people and then claiming "I was just kidding around."
8. Eminem's rebel image obscures the fact that sexism and men's violence against women perpetuates established male power - it is not rebellious.

None of this is really surprising. He degrades just about every type of person possible in his music -except his daughter. I wonder if he considers the message he is sending for her once she starts understanding what his words actually mean. Even if he is 'kidding around,' he is still sending these negative messages to his listeners, and putting ideas in their heads that they more than likely didn't originally already have.

Who's Ya Daddy - Necro The Sexorcist
Yo its necro the sexorcist, the porn king, show me your breasteses, im the best there is the foul shit, bounce with me, degrading, depraving, debouchery, your naked on the couch with me. Bitch getting fucked in your ass thru your fishnets. cutting queefs, your bound to eat shit next. A tit fest, I'm fucking dumb blondes til my dick is numb hoe lick the scum sticking a gun in your cunt for fun. Fakin making believe Im raping you choking you makes you cum. Its edge play, be careful, fuck around and murder you by mistake and leave you dead in the bed slayed. Not my intentions. You'll lick prick til your lips rip the hips split in your cryptic. Explicit, sadistic, innuendos sluts in the windows bimbos dipped in timbos. Short black leather skirts, stomach tattoo, glitter panties sexy belt had to have you. Ridiculous pussy lips I predicted you be addicted to my dick once you lick it. Bent you over backwards upside down reverse is more perverse fucked on the floor first. To a raw verse rippin your clothes off blow my nose off on your hair then I doze off.
What's Your name (Whats Your Name)(The Sexorcist)Who's Ya Daddy? (Who's Ya Daddy?)(Necro)Be real, is He Rich Like me?Has he Taken, Anytime (Anytime),To Show, To Show You what You Need
The raunchiest, flaunt your tits. Im the horniest fornicating, torturing clits a porn genius. With a long penis diggin' up your organs jiggin you, stabbing you, friggin you, Im to big for you. You got a tight sphincter, you need one in the pink and one in the stink, till liquid magentas Drippin' outta your ass ill cum in your drink. piss in your face spit in your mouth fuck what you think. Shit on your blouse, then kick you outta my house naked and slut take it that's what initiations about. An official occasion to go all out, fuck a bitch in the ass 'til her colon falls out. Rubbin' oil all over you fat round ass, smack it, abuse it, lick it,then pound it fast. Stick it continuously when I get in you I strenuously pin you to the floor and generously fuck your G spot rapidly, happily, dapily to the boombapity beat. the sexorcist, the next to blitz and blow up some bitch go get your hair fixed prepare your lips. for fellatio you spacey hoe, the ratio of your brain to if usable is way too low your made to blow you're a delicious nutritious dish of fish an official bitch.

Necro seems to take great pride in being blatantly disgusting and degrading. Rapping about how big his penis is, and having sex with girls -- disgusting, violent, horrid sex that no one wants to be a part of. The part the probably bothers me most in this song is when he is talking about raping and choking a girl, and his sex is so violent, if you mess up it could end up being murder. I just find it appalling. Necro isn't mainstream and not many people have heard of him. However he still does have a big following, and these are the messages he is putting out there. How do you think people that take in these messages, and enjoy his music act? Do you think they aspire to have sex with girls in the same manner? Are they just are degrading and crude to women? Probably.

Under My Thumb - Rolling Stones
Under my thumb
The girl who once had me down
Under my thumb
The girl who once pushed me around

Its down to me
The difference in the clothes she wears
Down to me, the change has come,
Shes under my thumb

Aint it the truth babe?

Under my thumb
The squirmin dog whos just had her day
Under my thumb
A girl who has just changed her ways

Its down to me, yes it is
The way she does just what shes told
Down to me, the change has come
Shes under my thumb
Ah, ah, say its alright

Under my thumb
A siamese cat of a girl
Under my thumb
Shes the sweetest, hmmm, pet in the world

Its down to me
The way she talks when shes spoken to
Down to me, the change has come,
Shes under my thumb
Ah, take it easy babe
Yeah

Its down to me, oh yeah
The way she talks when shes spoken to
Down to me, the change has come,
Shes under my thumb
Yeah, it feels alright

Under my thumb
Her eyes are just kept to herself
Under my thumb, well i
I can still look at someone else

Its down to me, oh thats what I said
The way she talks when shes spoken to
Down to me, the change has come,
Shes under my thumb
Say, its alright.

Say its all...
Say its all...

Take it easy babe
Take it easy babe
Feels alright
Take it, take it easy babe

When I was little, most of the music I was subjected to, was what my father listened to. I can remember sitting around with my dad, and listening to this song. Thankfully I never read into the messages in the lyrics. This song is obviously about how he is controlling this girl, and has him under his thumb. She'll do whatever he tells her to, because he controls her. I don't think there can be any argument to this song. Just another example of how music people hear in their every day lives can have negative messages, that go unnoticed.

Woman is the Nigger of the World

Woman is the nigger of the world
Yes she is...think about it
Woman is the nigger of the world
Think about it...do something about it

We make her paint her face and dance
If she wont be a slave, we say that she dont love us
If shes real, we say shes trying to be a man
While putting her down, we pretend that shes above us

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you dont believe me, take a look at the one youre with
Woman is the slave of the slaves
Ah, yeah...better scream about it

We make her bear and raise our children
And then we leave her flat for being a fat old mother hen
We tell her home is the only place she should be
Then we complain that shes too unworldly to be our friend

Woman is the nigger of the world...yes she is
If you dont believe me, take a look at the one youre with
Woman is the slave to the slaves
Yeah...alright...hit it!

We insult her every day on tv
And wonder why she has no guts or confidence
When shes young we kill her will to be free
While telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumb

Woman is the nigger of the world
Yes she is...if you dont believe me, take a look at the one youre with
Woman is the slave to the slaves
Yes she is...if you believe me, you better scream about it

We make her paint her face and dance
We make her paint her face and dance

This song is obviously racist, but is it degrading to women, or is Lennon trying to make a point that women deserve a higher status in society? There are plenty of arguments for each side, but who is to say how each individual that is listening to it is going to interpret it? The first time I listened to it, I thought this song was clearly degrading to women, and ridiculously racist. Woman is the nigger of the world, make her paint her face and dance, we insult her every day, we kill her will to be free. It initially seemed degrading to me, but then I rethought it, and wondered if maybe Lennon was just trying to bring to light the fact that these are the things we do to women.

Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up

Change my pitch up.....Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up.....Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up.....Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up.....Smack my bitch up
....Smack my bitch up
....Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up.....Smack my bitch up
Change my pitch up.....Smack my bitch up


Clearly this is one of the most obvious examples of degrading women in music, no need to go into much depth analyzing this one. The whole song is about smacking a bitch (woman) up. This only encourages violence against women. Yet thousands of people enjoy listening to this song. Women included. Why do we promote this behavior?

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