My Paper on 'Gangsta Rap'

Introduction

The idea of a masculine crisis, according to Faludi (1999) has been precipitated by the fact that men have been enmeshed in an ‘ornamental culture’ of display so that they have been forced to become like women. American men are in a crisis, primarily because they are considered ‘feminized’ consumers rather than ‘manly’ producers. However, Robinson (2000) suggests that this idea of ornamentalization of man may not be such a bad thing and considers if a crisis in masculinity really is a bad thing and for whom would it be bad for. In fact it could offer a good outcome if it leads us to think about the nature of masculinity and femininity.

The onset of the ‘boy crisis’ in education, first started in 2005, when first lady Laura Bush, a former school librarian and wife to George W. Bush, had publicly announced her concerns over the problems with boys. The concerns of Laura Bush were summarized in an article written by Michelle Norris which states that Laura Bush was concerned about the lack of attention that boys were receiving and felt that they have been neglected. (Morris, 2006). The media were quick to pick up on this moral panic called ‘boy crisis’ in numerous newspapers and by many professionals, suggesting that that school environments are in favor of girls. Many professionals addressing the concern of boys underperformances compared to girls in schools, have used different reasoning from biological brain differences between boys and girls (Gurian & Stevens, 2004; Tyre, 2006; Rivers & Barnett, 2006), gender treatment differences in schools between boys and girls that suggest boys are unsettled and unfocused in the classroom (Sacks, 2005; Thompson, 2006; Lewin, 2006ª; Young, 2006; Lewin, 2006; Chiarella, 2006), and that there is a anti-male bias in education materials that has been said to be of more benefit to girls learning (and reading) than with boys. (Sommers, 2000; Klienfeld, 1998; Chiarella, 2006; Brooks, 2006).

Many of these theories make use of psychological and biological reasoning, while others look to performance measures on testing to show that test scores and performance overall does not support a ‘boy crisis’, especially when we look at different race and class groupings (Mead, 2006). Sara Mead, senior analyist at the Education Sector and author of a report for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, aka: The – federally funded since 1971- Nations Report Card) which is an independent educational think tank, has looked at data complied by the NAEP that has found that, over the past three decades, boys test scores are mostly up and boys are getting bachelor degrees. Although low income boys, like low income girls are lagging behind middle class students, boys are scoring significant gains in elementary and middle school and are much better prepared for college, the report says. It concludes much of the pessimism about young males seems to derive from inadequate research, sloppy analysis and discomfort with the fact that although the average boy is doing better, the average girl has gotten ahead of him. “The real story is not bad news about boys doing worse,” the report says, “it’s good news about girls doing better.” (Mead, 2006).

In other studies, race and class have shown to also confound the supports for a ‘boy crisis’, based on US department of Education(2002) statistical evidence of US public schools versus US Department of Defense (DoD) schools in relation to White, Black and Hispanic boys and girls. On writing achievements there were gender differences across all races, showing females fair better and with DoD students doing better than public school students. In other statistics, like in Boston public high school graduation and college enrollment rates based on gender differences examined by Khatiwada & Sum (2002), shows the numbers of female graduates per 100 males graduates, and as follows, shows that there were 79 White females per 100 White males, 124 Black females /100 Black males, 122 Hispanic females /100 Hispanic males and 115 Asian females /100 Asian males. However, 8th grade math achievement for 2002 gender differences are small to nonexistent and the racial patterns of whites are doing better than Hispanics, who are doing better than blacks, is the same for public and DoD schools for both sexes and in both, math and writing. The NAEP offers hope for the situation of black boys in reading and suggests that,

“And while academic performance for minority boys is often shockingly low, it’s not getting worse. The average fourth-grade NAEP reading scores of black boys improved more from 1995 to 2005 than those of white and Hispanic boys or girls of any race.” (Mead 2006).

There is most recent 2004 NAEP on reading achievement for grades 4, 8 and 12, shows that boys and girls scores are nearly identical but the reading scores are different, with girls having higher scores than boys that diverges with advancing grade. (Mead, 2006). All this evidence alludes to the fact that boys are doing better in math and girls better in reading and that with each consecutive grade both boys and girls advance and the NAEP states,
“The most recent main NAEP assessment in reading, administered in 2005, does not support the notion that boys’ academic achievement is falling.
In fact, fourth-grade boys did better than they had done in both the previous NAEP reading assessment, administered in 2003, and the earliest comparable
assessment, administered in 1992. Scores for both fourth- and eighth-grade boys have gone up and down over the past decade, but results suggest that the reading skills of fourth- and eighth-grade boys have improved since 1992.” (Mead, 2006).

When we look at scores and assessments on boys and girls divided by race and class we can see that it is too simple to say that it is a problem of boys or a problem of girls. DoD scores show otherwise that it is a problem of boys or boys inabilities to learn compared to girls. This points then to pedagogy, school structures and settings, rather than gender and biological brain differences as the problem, and this then only helps to promote those who are advocating boy exclusive classrooms and also lends more support towards the claims of anti –male bias in educational reading materials. Jay Matthews from the Washington Post, as well as other opinions on the ‘boy crisis’ is that we need to be careful of assumptions drawn when we look at subgroup performance and he and others, hold an even handed look at the situation and does an excellent job of debunking ideas that have become conventional ‘wisdom.’ (Matthews, 2006; Young 2006; Sacks, 2005; Rivers & Barnett, 2006; Sheppard, 2006).

The ‘boy crisis’ also includes issues that are outside of the mainly dominated educational arena into other areas. Some scholars believe that issues around violence in other areas, like sports, music, and the violent visual aspects of televison and movies and video games, contribute to the ‘boy crisis’. In the video Raising Cain, Michael Thompson raises the point that the violence seen in video games and movies confuses boys in real life because they see these images but also get the real message that this is wrong and that it is then difficult for boys to discern between fantasy and actual violence. Thompson suggests that schools need to make the distinction between fantasy and actual violence and that all boys are faced with a ‘culture of cruelty’. From the video, one case of a teenager named Mike Evans who likes to play the drums and is considered to not be following the hegemonic ideals of masculinity because he is considered to be a goth and says himself that he knows he is strange and he accepts this perception of himself. He says he has also become a bully to feel better and gain popular acceptance. As it points out in the video, all boys need to master a skill to gain acceptance from their peers. (Thompson, 1992).
In relation to televison and video game violence, the cultivation hypothesis, formulated by George Gerbner suggests that video games and televison violence, “has long term effects which are small, gradual, indirect but cumulative and significant.” (Wikipedia 2006).

O’Brien and Szeman (2004) summarizes David Grossman’s work on violent video games and the desensitization to violence and killing in video games (Doom) are used by the military to train soldiers, which is characteristic to many point – and –shoot type games played by children who can become desensitized to real life attacks and violence (85-86). Micheal Kimmel suggests that various visual media exposes us, “to a culture that accepts and expects violence….and that the National Televison Violence Study…found that violence is ubiquitous (61 % of all shows contained TV violence [for the year 2000]), and that it is typically …by a white male, who goes unpunished and shows little remorse…[and is] justified…in a humorous way. (Kimmel 2000: 158). Narrator Jackson Katz touches on all areas of the hardship that faces men in our culture regarding violence and the media in the film, Tough Guise: violence, media and the crisis in masculinity, where there the tough guise is a front put on by men to show this tough image of masculinity for other men and that this type of behavior is found in all socioeconomic groups. It is a behavior with an emphasis on physical toughness and this shows a, “growing connection increasingly seen in problems of contemporary masculinity.” (Jually, 1993).

Also in the video, Richard Mays suggests that there are men of color poses called the ‘cool pose’, which is a front using their bodies in such a way to present gesturing and poses and this originates from an urban street culture turned mainstream to glamourize street style and the black pose and body. He suggests that middle class White boys today emulate poor Blacks who are emulating Italian mobsters from ganster films. The idea behind this is that men of color feel the need to assert their dominance that has been stripped of them from the dominant culture. (Jually, ; Way & Chu 2004: 220-21; Forman & Neal 2004: 127; Kimmel & Messner, 2001: 5-6). Some of the effects on society that we see are events like the Columbine school shootings and the arising of the moral panic across the States of other various school shootings between the years 1992 (Olivehurst, CA: May 1) up to the year 2001 (Oxnard, CA: Jan 10; Santee, CA: March 5; El Cajon: March 22). Other school shootings occur all over the country in the years between 1992-2001. (Kline, 2004). The Columbine shootings were staged by two middle class White boys who didn’t fit in with the mainstream sports physicality of the other boys who bullied them, at their school, and through the use of guns felt they could reassert their masculinity from the power that these guns provided for them.

One area of Black music that makes extensive use of images, sounds and lyrics about guns and violence is ‘Gansta’ rap (Ganster rap). Gangsta rap is one genre of many different forms of rap music. This paper discusses gangsta rap in particular because, more so than other genre’s of rap, its lyrics and sound makes use of direct violence in a first person narrative (Quinn 2005: 25; Rose 1994; Dimitriadis 2001: 69), which unlike other forms that only speak from a third person narrative (Rose 1994: and do not always include the sounds of guns and also talks directly about institutional forms of minority oppression and street life in a contextual manner. Also gangsta rap is heavily influenced by consumer culture and consumerism unlike other rap forms today and in the past, and the gangsta life includes more hegemonic displays of masculinity through the use of toughness and violence and materialism, whereas other rap forms were more of an underground political movement against racism, oppression and poverty, and so were not as prevalent on televison music programming that could reach a Black and White middle class audience. (Quinn, 2005; Perry, 2004; Rose 1994: 8-9).

Relevance To Feminism

The crisis of masculinity is a concern to feminists, as already pointed out, young men and boys are seen to be underachieving in school and are subjected to violence of the media, but also it seems that it is harder to say with any certainity what masculinity actually is. It also seems that the arising disadvantageous circumstances of men in terms of examples like, using ‘cool poses’, engaging in violence in different degrees and forms, feeling the need to perform the hegemonic masculine ideals, are said to be the backlash of the feminist movement. Christina Hoff- Sommers feels that misguided femininism is harming young boys in that feminist ideals in schools had negative effects on boys learning. Education content had a zero sum (set quanity of power) where their was (and still seen to be) an anti male bias of materials in favor of girls reading and boys experienced this zero sum effect. (Class Notes, Oct 6). Sommers also argues that natural masculine traits have been pathologized and she attacks pro feminist education which she feels has resulted in a reverse sexism in schools and that female styles of communication and a ‘talk show culture’ have contributed to a view of male communication reserves as dysfunctional (Sommers, 2000: 155-56).

The feminist perspective challenges the institutional power of men over women while believing in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. The blame of the feminist movement and /or traditional forms of feminism for a masculinity crisis are based on view that feminists hold a perspective that only emphasized the suffering of women in the patriarcial system. However feminism today, much like pro-femininst men’s movement basically feel that the patriarcial system is paradoxical. In other words, men benefit from institutionalized power, but also suffer from gender role segregation and stereotyping. The reason of calling attention to the men’s dilemia, is in hopes of developing more equal gender relations. Robert Connell(2000) suggest that self identified feminism, “is a highly literate political movement…someone becoming a feminist will read a lot.” (Connell, 2000: 143). Connell also suggest that it requires a certain level of polticial literacy in order for men to be able to read (read into) feminist texts (or even feel that they are a feminist) without feeling like the ‘bad guys’. “The men who do grapple with the texual politics of feminism are likely to be from priviledged class backgrounds…whose political literacy is an aspect of his easy insertion into higher education.” (Connell, 2000: 144). In relation to masculinity, Connell feels that there is a problem in society of a non fully recognized nor accepted view of masculinity, and that there are in fact other forms that co-exist with a hegemonic masculinity, which are, marginized, subordinated and complicit. Connell also suggests throughout the chapter of the book that there are a few strategic issues, such as, male bodies and health issues, global influences of gender constructions, understanding the process in the change of masculinities, issues of the patriarchial dividend, as some examples of possible research agendas. Connell is making a start suggesting a pressing need to research what is really happening to men in different walks of life and if they perceive their masculinity to be in crisis.

The crisis with boys would perhaps be seen as largely an issue regarding gender according to Judith Lorber. To Lorber, gender is paradoxical in that it is a structuring tool used by bureaucrats and the institutions of society. Gender allocates resources in a socially organized, discriminatory way in both personal and institutional arenas. (Lorber, 2005). Lorber describes, the view she supports, ‘degendering’ as, “not gender neutrality…[and] is heading off those effects by not gendering in the first place…by treating people as a conglomeration of status positions, characteristics, attitudes, and behavior, we can undermine gendering.” (Lorber 2005: xiv). Both Michael Kimmel and Michael Messner hold the view, similar to Connell’s view of multiple masculinities, in which they state, “the single, seemingly universial masculinity obscured ways in which some men hold and maintain power over other men in our society, hiding the fact that all men do not share equally in the fruits of gender inequality.” (Kimmel & Messner, 2001: 1-2). Susan Wefald, the director of institutional planning of the Ms. Foundation, reasons why a woman’s organization has helped financially support the Education Equity Center’s quest for determining where a problem lies with boys in education, because, “The lives and futures of women and girls are interwoven with those of men and boys. Unless we engage men and boys in our work, we cannot end violence against women.” (Mead, 2006). The Ms. Foundation is a feminist organization who directs resources to many different projects in the attempts to help women which in effect, they believe is the goal to helping women’s families and men overall.

Discussion of my research

There are many forms of rap that appeared roughly a decade before rap music, which arose alongside Disk Jockies (DJ’s) and Emcees (MC’s) as a means to draw the spectator and crowds attention from the DJ’s being seen as a performance spectacle, onto the rapper (Rose, 1994; Chang 2005; Watkins, 2005). Violence and ‘gat popping’ (gun shooting), and the gangsta lifestyle are what the lyrics of gansta rap are about. One example of the most violent lyrics, by a 1980’s West coast hard rap is from the group, N.W.A. (Niggaz With Attitudes). Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, DJ Yella and the late Easy E, were the member’s of the, “first true gangsta rap group” from the West Coast rap scene, which truly set the tone for gangsta rap. (Bogdarnov et al, 2003: 564-565). One of their songs from the Straight Outta Compton, “---- Tha Police”, “inspired the FBI to write an angry letter to Priority Records.” (Bogdarnov et al 2003: 565). Unlike their social consciencious counterparts, like Public Enemy,…[they] have no ethical remove from their violence, gang bangin’ and drugs in L.A.’s inner city.” (Forman & Neal 2004: 65). A sample of their reality is as follows:

“ ---- the police, comin’ straight from the underground. A young N****r got it
bad ‘casue I’m brown/ And not the other color, so police think/ They have the
authority to kill a minority/…Searchin’ my car looking for the product, /Thinkin’
every n****r is sellin’ narcotic/ …But don’t let it be a black and a white one, /
‘Cause they’ll slam ya down to the street top, / Black police showin’ out for the
white cop.”

Forman & Neal (2004) says that, “N.W.A. celebrates a lethal mix of civil terriorism and personal cynicism. Their attitude is both an answer to, and the logical outcome of, the violence, racism, and oppression in American culture.” (65). N.W.A. however are expressing police brutality no doubt, but they have also taken part in gang violence, which can be seen as a response of the other forms of violence that they experience in the ghetto and this in a way presents a vicious nilhistic cycle of violence. (Bogdarnov et al 2003: 65).

Gansta rap became one of the most commodified of all other rap styles, through its use of product endorsement, beginning with the start of gansta rapper Ice Cube’s (O’Shea Jackson) career in the late 80’s, early 90’s, through the endorsement of high alcohol content (7.3%) St. Ides 40 ouncer malt liquor lanched by MacKenzie River Corporation.(Quinn, 2005). Ice Cube was the first successful endorser of St.Ides, which became iconic assessories of gansta rap, homologous with the focal concerns, activites, and collective self –image of the working class subculture from which the music sprang. (Quinn, 2005). The malt liquor lacked cultural capital and this was intentional. The idea was to go against bourgeois taste, in that the product and the commercials around it deployed, “ghettocentrism” which, “expresses the focus of the poor and working- class urban identity, culture, and values, which increasingly pervaded Black youth culture…in no small part as a result of gansta rap.” (Quinn, 2005).

This is important because later see that current gangsta rap is about ownership and materialism, which is homologous to elite White culture, as a part of the Black male identity. This suggests that, gangsta rap was seen to have culture capital and was influencing a larger audience, across socioeconomic barriers and across race. Much of the gangsta rap lyrics and posturing, seen in movies and heard in gangsta rap music exploits a pre- scripted and poverty enhanced blackness for material gain. There is a general theme throughout rap in general and is also in gangsta rap and that is the ghetto motto or call, ‘keepin’ it real”, which suggests that being down to earth is synonomous with being able to claim and navigate ghetto life despite one’s real origins (Ribeau, 2003; Chang, 2005; Perry 2004; Quinn, 2005; Watkins 2005: 103). Watkins (2005) points out that with the ‘keeping it real’ mantra, “eventually, the line between performing gangsta and living gangsta became blurred.” (103). The mantra of ‘keeping it real’ became, “synonomous with ‘aggressive’ and even ‘gangsta’. (Nichols, 2006). Along with this motto comes all the realism of ghetto life, which includes violence, drugs, sexism, abuse, and death, which the rapper portrays in the lyrics of his tracks. There is a reasoning that supports the idea that the ghetto is the first site and the true place of existing of the black male idenity. Rose (1994) suggests that rap related violence is discussed in certain ways in the popular media that, “is fundamentally linked to the larger social discourse on the spatial control of black people…social containment [an] understanding that black people are a threat to social order.” (Rose 1994:126).

Tricia Rose also explains that the ‘social construction of violence’ is, “when and how particular [events] are violent.”, and that, “rap related violence is one facet of [a] contemporary ‘urban crisis’ that consists of a ‘rampant drug culture’ and ‘wilding gangs’ of black and Hispanic youth. Labels presented by news reports are important, because they assign a particular meaning to an event and locate that event in a larger context.”, and, “[l]abels are critical to the process of interpretation, because they provide a context and frame for social behavior.” (Rose, 1994: 132). Rose further points out the work of Stuart Hall et al. in the Policing Of The Crisis that once labels are assigned, “the use of the label is likely to mobilize this whole referential context, with all its associated meaning and connotations” (132). It seems that the question is about how crime [in rap and crime that is connected to rap] is labeled. One example presented by Billboard News explains a case where the most recent gangsta rap film (50 Cent: Get Rich Or Die Tryin’), a biography of rapper 50 Cent life(Curtis James Jackson III), was pulled from a Homestead, PA theatre, “where a man [Shelton Flowers, 30] was fatally shot even though officials said they [did] not know whether the film was a factor in the slaying.” The Loews Corporation vice president, John MacCaully admitted that in the decision to stop showing the film, it was unsure if there was a direct connection between the shooting of Flowers by three gun men and the violence of the film. (Billboard News, Nov. 11: 2005).

The 50 Cent movie threatre shooting was framed in the context of a violent gangsta rap film even though it wasn’t clarified if the movie had even caused the shooting, and it makes one think of whose interests does this framing serve. It is left open for readers of this article to choose whether they think movies of gun toting black men are bad influences that cause violent reactions in young men. Others have showed concerns over the movies bulletin advertisements for the movie. Los Angeles county supervisor Michael Antonovich had asked Paramount’s chair man, Brad Grey, to remove a billboard of the 50 Cent movie, Get Rich Or Die Trying, which had shown, 50’s character standing with arms out on each side, holding a gun in one hand and a microphone in the other. His concerns were that the ad was outside a school in the north suburb of Altadena, and he felt that, “[The] billboard conveys to students a disturbing message actively promoting gun violence, criminal behavior and gang affliation.” (BBC News, 2005).

Many gangsta films like the 50 Cent movie and others (Boyz N The Hood; Menace II Society; New Jack City; Sugar Hill; Jason’s Lyric; Juice) exhibit black on black violence, and Rose (1994) suggests that gangsta rap, “is more heavier and includes explicit male black on black violence” caused by failed drug, business and alliance relations between black men. (141). Black rap gangter films make explicit use of the black male as being the one the victims of gun violence by other black men. (Kitwana, 2002: 123). The escalating violence that we see in the years after the ‘Boyz’ was an attempt to “outgun Boyz” and…films went overboard in portraying outlandish violence and in the process constructed a young Black thug genre, almost Black parodies of white gangster flicks.”(Kitwana, 2002: 127). Kitwana (2002) further points out that, “Black gangsta films…helped accurately depict a new Black youth culture, they have helped to reinforce the rap messages….” (139). The Billboard news article did not mention if the threatre shooting was black on black audience and so the reader is once again left to assume that it was, since black on black crime is prevalent in movies and rap music again and again.

After the concerns of Tipper Gore (wife of Al Gore) overheard some explicit Prince lyrics on masturbation, she went before congress to urge that warning labels be placed on records marketed to children. The Parents Music Resourse Center (PMRC) had also shown concerns over explicit lyrics and the rebellion of rap counternarratives as well. Both these events fueled the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) to introduce the black and white parental watch logo in 1990. (Quinn 2005: 87-88; Siegal, 2005). These warning labels were also extended to hard core rap albums with the label, “Parental Guidience – Explicit Lyrics” on them. (Quinn 2005: 88). The RIAA initated this system, but left it to the record companies to determine which labels should be labeled.

Nichols (2006) describes that 50 Cent makes use of Jackson Katz explaination of the cool pose, in his own shielding of his vunerability. 50 Cent brags about his tough and seemingly bulletproof exterior in one of his hit songs “In Da Club” , where he raps, “I got hit wit a few shells, and now I walk wit a limp…”, this is further charactized in his video that 50 was shot 9 times, in which he clearly prides himself on but also points out that limping is the price to pay to get rich and a limp is the evidence for his bravado. The rest of the song goes as follows,

“but hell ya in NY, Niggas’ll tell ya I’m loco, when tey playin’ like they got their rap game in a choke hold/ Im a fully focused man, my money on my mind, got a Mil at the Will and Im still on the grind/ Now shorty ya she’s feeling my stash and feeling my flow …/ You can find me in the club, bottle full ‘o bubbly, look mommie I got the X if your into takin’ drugs/ I’m into having sex , I ain’t into making love/ So come giv’ me a hug if your into getting’ rough…/ My flow, my show brought me the dough, that bought me all my fancy things, My crib, my cars, my clothes, my jewels , Look N****r I got more and I ain’t changed/ U should be lovin’ it way more than you hate it / N****r U mad? I thought you’d be happy I made it/ Im that cat by the bar, toastin’ to the good life/ U that fag**t ass N****r tryin’ to pull me back, riiiight? / Im up bumpin’ in the club, its on, now wit my eye’s on a B**** and now she’s gone/ If the roof on fire,
let tha MothaF’r burn/ If ya talkin’ ‘bout money, homey I ain’t concerned…”

This song clearly shows that the good life of having lots of money from being a
Rap star is the signifying role of a young Black male that says he has made it big and his
achieving this is important to the Black community, where others should be happy for
him and the fact that his fame and riches hasn’t changed who is, points out that he is real
and those who don’t like it have the problem. The song also includes misogynist attitudes
by the labels used for women, as bitches. Although this song is not as violent in the way
the N.W.A. song is, it still includes affliations with drugs, swearing, homophobia and
rampant sexism. However this is perhaps connected to a Black historical culture past, of
the southern Black Dolemite and Stackolee characters from the early 20 Century
folklore.(Quinn 2005: 95).

Nichols (2006), also suggests that, according to Katz, men receive pressure from society to conform to a narrow definition of manhood, exemplied by ‘dominance and control’ and further Katz says that these ideals and the behavior that accompany them are learned through being exposed to the media. Katz says that the ‘tough guise’ may affect men of color even more than white men because, “there is [very] little diversity of images of them” seen in the media.

One specific case of how the affects of the tough guise are felt more so, by young Black boys than White boys is explained by, Bakari Kitwana (2002), in which he points out that the Florida shooting of Barry Grunow, a 35 year old English teacher who was shot by Black thirteen year old, Nathaniel Brazill, “became the poster boy for the turn of the century spate of high school shootings rather than Dylan Klebold…and Eric Harris [of the Columbine shootings]…media coverage [had] humanized them”, and so, “Young Blacks who commit crimes, such as Brazill, rarely receive this kind of humanizing treatment in the mainstream press. This contributes ot the alienation of young Blacks from the mainstream culture.” (Kitwana, 2002: 19-20). Along with this treatment of Black youth compared to White youth, who commit violent acts there is certain pressures that Black boys face that White boys do not.

Howard C. Stevenson suggests that, “Black male youth are often pressured to present a static identity, not ambiguous or multidimentional, because the social interactions within a context often demand it….negative images can take control of one’s presented identity.” (Way & Chu, 2004: 60). Stevenson further explains that the function of the ‘cool pose’ in fact is a coping mechanism of, “exaggerated macho identity stances” that are, “essential in social and ecological environments where danger to personal and familial safety is high.”, and identities built through the use of these stances can leave many Black boys feeling, “missed, dissed and pissed” as well as, “hypervunerable” and, “all three of these dynamics are key aspects to the…hypervunerability that many Black boys experience.” (Way & Chu, 2004: 61). Stevenson suggests that it is, “Black youth who do not change the basic nature of insecure masculinity…and other boys and men are emulating…Black youth by buying rap music….amounts to… the blind leading the blind. They are led by the simple but life polarizing mission of insecure masculinity.” (Way & Chu 2004: 63).

In general, others feel that rap music as one of the factors responsible for the decline of Black student achievements. (Way & Chu, 2004: 317-18).

One white rapper who had a lot of influence and was aligned with other Black gangsta rappers was Emimem (Marshall Mathers) who had helped bring fame to 50 Cent. Emimem’s record label, Shady records had helped produce 50’s debut album, Get Rich Or Die Tryin’ in February 2003. 50 Cent’s ambition to be a rapper is revealed in his biographical movie of the same title of his album, where he states that listening to Tupac Shakur when he was growing up in the ghetto had cemented it as his foreseen destiny. Tupac Shakur was a gangsta rapper from the early 1990’s who was shot four times and killed in September 1996 from an unknown drive by shooting in Las Vegas and this shook the hip hop world that still managed to thrive. (Perry, 2004: 24; Foreman & Neal 2004: 601; Bogdarnov et al, 2003: 565). Tupac was the son of the Black Panther, Afeni Shakur, who was a member of the Panther 21, “a group arrested and indicted in New York for alleged bomb threats.”

The Panther 21 was a New York group that had split from the Oakland chapter and this had caused a war between the West and East coast Panthers and, “it had been alleged that the FBI fueled this war.” Afeni survived and gave birth to Shakur, and later Shakur, “claimed alliegance with California gangsta rappers and became intergral to the East /West Coast war that…claimed his life, and [as well as] the life of New York rapper Biggie Smalls aka The Notorous B.I.G….[also in a drive by shooting] outside a Los Angeles night club.” (Forman & Neal 2004: 286: 601). The death of rappers, or gangsta rappers we can see is not a direct cause of the violence in rap but however the media clouds these facts and suggests that it in fact is, but instead is due to intra poltical relations and hidden agendas related to politics, and racial and social oppressions. (Forman & Neal 2004: 559-562)

Eminem is another rapper who experienced oppression in the form of poverty if not race, in which Mathers turned to rap art forms which, “provided [him] a refuge.”, but, “years later the stain of Eminem’s impoverished life would establish a deep sense of anger and provide ample ammunition to launch an avalanche of lyrical bombs that would gain him widespread notoriety and scruntiny….(Watkins 2005: 91). Emimem expressed anger on society and his past childhood worked well with the theme’s he was seeing in hip hop, which helped him connect. (Watkins 2005: 92). Watkins further suggests that, “The idea that poor Whites and poor Blacks might come together, in fun or fury, remains radical. But racial boundaries have often divided the poor against each other thus helping, in the end, to sustain society’s racial and economic distinctions.” (Watkins 2005: 92-93). Quinn (2005) suggests that gangsta rap provides the, “subcultural pleasures of stylized youth rebellion, entrepreneurial moblility narratives, and masculinist identification. Much of the gangsta’s appeal stemmed from shared, youthful, masculine pleasures rather than the ‘othering’ of racial difference.”, and, “…the themes of youth rebellion, hard –rocking ghetto posuring, and freedom of expression provided much common ground (…rap reportly crossed over to whites…than metal did to Blacks) (Quinn 2005: 85-86).

Jeff Chang (2002) poses the question as to why we hear so little of protest music today, especially after 9/11. Hip hop culture is about social protesting and Black community cohesion, rap is about racial oppression and having a voice, gangsta rap is about claiming figurative territory, and the rights to possessions and playing out excessive fantasies of materialism, sexism and masculinity. Gangsta Rap was particularly vocal about speaking out against and using violent threats on institutions like policing, the state, however today we do not see much gangsta rap about social protest anymore, most of the gangsta rap includes black on black violence, stronger than ever sexism, and materialism. Chang (2002), starts with hip hop asking where the alternative voices against war have gone, especially in a post 9/11 world, and he states the words of rapper M-1 of the group Dead Prez,

“many musician commenting on war are just not being heard…hip hop has not yet produced much anti war music because a lot of ‘conscious rappers’ were never clear about their political positions in the first place, [rapper M-1 of Dead Prez] believes, and Sept 11 revealed their basic lack of depth.”, and,

“the subcateogory ‘conscious rappers’ are used to sell Levi’s geans and GAP clothing to college educated, disposable income spending hip- hop fans. In this logic, it’s not the rappers message that brings an audience together, it’s what there audience wears that brings the rappers together. There's a lifestyle that goes with not being aligned with the politics of U.S. imperialism. It's not just a one-day protest," he says, "We're in a new period. A lot of people are not seeing what has to be and are looking at it from just a red, white and blue angle."

This exactly points to the reasoning as to why the gangsta rap image is seen as only having market value from the very beginning and not a positive message like other rap forms in promoting peace, while other softer rap forms are now, following the suit of market value and not promoting positive protest messages that once have had. Gangsta rap has aligned itself with market forces, beginning with rapper Ice Cube and St. Ives in the early 90’s. Pease and Pringle (2001) explain Bell Hooks’s idea of the Black male as needing to “participate in the feminist struggle to end sexism” and she uses “imagery from slavery” to compare the relationship of the “slave/ master arrangement” of the “explotitive nature of black male rappers” and “white supremist capitalist patriarchy” in which the Black male is rewarded materially for the violence they portray and this, “can only lead to their destruction.” (Pease & Pringle 2001: 160-1).

Gangsta rap pushes more expensive products that appeal more so to a bougoise audience not a poorer Black audience and violence is a main part of the gangsta image, whether the rapper lives the life or not as a gangsta, the lyrics of gangsta rap and the movies both include gun violence and materialism in a first person narrative.

There are issues of censorship, as to why we do not see gangsta rap messages of murderous rebellion against institutions like the police and the powers of state control, as there once was. According to Sourcewatch, a project for the Center of Media and Democracy, Clear Channel Worldwide, program directors issued a ban on certain songs being played on radio stations, after 9/11, that where considered to be provoking to people’s sensitivities. One such song was by gangsta rapper, the Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Juicy” which includes the line, “Time To Get Paid/ Blow Up Like The World Trade.” (SourceWatch, 2006). The song was also edited to remove the words, ‘World Trade’ from possible future air plays, rereleases, professional samples, the voice sample of the song in Jay-Z’s song, “A Dream” from The Blueprint 2: The Gift And The Curse album. (Wikipedia, 2006).

Application Of The Feminist Perspective

It certainly is not an easy task figuring out a definitive solution for dealing with representations of hegemonic masculinities, for example, as seen in gangsta rap because it opens up to categories of race and class and not just gender. However, gangsta rap is not an inclusive style of music adapted by Black men, it has also been adopted by White rappers, like Eminem, who had shared a similar class background to many gangsta rappers of who had all felt the societial pressures of living in a lower poorer class. But the message that contemporary gangsta rap sends out, is that material wealth and hegemonic displays of masculinity, success and power can be achieved and this includes aggression, violence, sexism and homophobia. Robert Connell (2000) suggests that in relation to peer culture in its interplay with school, some, “images and interpretions…are racially based, such as…violent Black masculinity that is familiar in white racism- and has now been seized by young Black men (…rap music) as a source of power. Some of these representations are at odds with school agendas.” (161-2).

Judith Lorber does a better job at how we can look at issues of violence and hegemonic displays of masculinity, by turning to multicultural feminism, which, “argues that all [the] aspects of subordination have to be fought at the same time.”, and that, “members of subordinate groups [are] disadvantaged…by a mutltiple system of domination [and] multicultural feminism is…critical of feminist theories that contrast…men and women…because no one is just a woman or just a man.”(133-34). Lorber further presents her ideas from her work titled, ‘paradoxes of gender identity’ that help support her theory of degendering. In relation to her fourth paradox, she suggests that in order to be, “multicultural, you need to maintain distinct cultures.”, she mentions Urvashi Vaid’s idea of virtual equality that is created from mainstreaming, which is, “the erasure of differences without changes in the social structure that make it possible to live together.” (142).

Virtual equality is apparent in gangsta rap music, since both Black and White men have adopted the gangsta image and life, which is apparent in the case of both Eminem and 50 Cent, and both had equal footing in relation to a background class position of being poor and being from rough inner city neighborhoods. Lorber further summarizes Vaid, “But for the group, the marks of differentness may help their members identify one another as sources of help.” (142). The racial difference of both the rappers is not seen as a barrier nor acts as a (dividing) difference, since both grew up with the same feelings of class oppression but the racial difference is not forgotten, since Eminem makes a point to bring the attention upon himself as a white rapper in his music but also puts down his whiteness because he has chosen the image of a rapper gangster and is rebellious of dominant white patriarchal images (Watkins 2005: 105-6).

In a way this is how the racial boundaries become broken down to react out against dominant white patriarchal images but it is still harmful because both are adopting aggressive hegemonic masculine behaviors. In relation to the interplays of culture and gender, Lorber (2005) suggests that, “culture is one of the main supporters of the dominant gender ideology.”, and this is evident in the media respresentations of rappers in movies, music videos and music lyrics depictions of violent masculinity. (172).

Lorber (2005) suggests that degendering as an approach to ‘gender imagery’ would perhaps create more varied cultural representations (172-3). The images and ‘cool pose’ display of rappers then could be more varied and not just the aggressive hypermasculine gender displays that many males who engage in rap culture employ. In relation to individual gender displays, presentations of males who engage in rap culture or gangsta rap would perhaps show more varied displays, not just brand names and expressive gold chains. Gender as a social institution in relation to gender statuses of male gangsta rappers holds the notion that the Black male gender status is based on an opposition to White male gender idenity statues and acts as the initial fueling factor in creating the oppression felt by violently expressive Blacks gangsta rappers.

According to Lorber (2005), degendering would eliminate gender statues all together, but if we presume a degendering after which historical oppressive racial regimes have occurred, and which it has been presumed that gangsta rap was started as an expression of taking back for the Black male identity in violent ways, then degendering would cause not an opposition to the White male idenity statues but instead, all Whites in general. This can be presumed because, by breaking down gender, will only change the form of displays of hypermasculine expressions that were initially built around feelings of oppression. But this can be seen as positive for changing future displays of hypermasculine and violent expressions of anger in gangsta rap. This also shows how important a multicultural feminist perspective is seen as important for dealing with issues around gender, race and class. Gender as a social institution in relation to the division of labour of rap and rappers gives more voice and authority to the male gender in speaking about different issues to other male rappers and listeners. Women are largely absent from having a voice that is seen to carry the same merits as their male counterpart rappers. Women are only present when they are seen as sexual objects, ‘gold diggers’ who want to take the man’s money, without a voice or as a signifyier for a male rappers studdom (sexual virility). Women rappers often make issues of sexism and relationship problems, the focus of their songs, and do not largely focus on issues of opposition to other races and the use of violence to overcome oppression.

Most women rappers speak about common problems of absent fathers and cheating male lovers (Rose, 1994). By all this, it is clear to see that these acts create a rift between males in females who adopt dominant gender role stratification and even reinforce them through the repeated rap messages. This ties into gendered sexual scripts as well, where, “the normative patterns of sexual desire and sexual behavior, as prescribed for the different gender statues”, where male rappers are presented as having more sexual prerogatives, while female rappers or females in general are considered to be a “subordinate gender” (Lorber 2005: 172).

Degendering of both the divison of labour in rap and degendered sexual scripts can, allow women a place and a voice amongst men and allow for fluid sexual scripts but there will be still be, “dominance and exploitation” and these, “will not be eliminated if social class, racial ethnic, or other stratified statues permeate the relationship” (172). In relation to degendered kinship as a social institution, no one in a family would have more right or more recognized responsibility, over another in terms of gender. The messages of single fathers as apparent in gangsta rap, would possibily be seen as an issue not just by female rappers but other male rappers as well. In relation to gendered personalities, we could see more expressions beyond anger and violence as portrayed by gangsta rappers, more emotions and feelings, like fear, shame, sadness, and loneliness for example, in terms of a degendered approach, and these displays adopted by rappers as a public display will not be critized as weakness and therefor not being gender appropriate.

In relation to a degendered social control in rap, is that there would be no, “formal and informal approval” of males conforming to gendered behaviors, therefor no stigmatization if they don’t conform to or engage in sexist attitudes and violence and perhaps getting hit with a few shells (bullets) won’t require bravado attitudes. In relation to degendering gender ideologies, it would no longer seem natural for the performances of the Black masculine male rappers (as well as White rappers) to use women as signifiers of their dominant sexualities over women. It would also be presumed that women may not desire to act in ways that undermine their assertiveness and autonomy, especially if it would have no attached risks nor gendered rewards.

Conclusion

By examining gangsta rap lyrics and narratives we can see that this form of rap takes on less of a protest form of politics and instead includes more violent imagery and language of Black on Black crime, sexism, hypermasculine displays of anger, frustration and nilhilistic attitudes. Gangsta rap has becomed more commercialzed and seen as a well working model for the promotion of consumer goods right from its beginnings, and has developed into a site for pushing materialistic attitudes, the consumption of sex, and violence. Since the media has allowed gangsta rap has become more commodified, its messages have become even more accessible to larger audience, across race, class and culture.

The form of masculinity that gangsta rap portrays is hypermasculine and violent, and homophobic and this has been seen as a way for Black males to reclaim their masculinity, abid in an aggressive form. What makes this harmful is that other males from other cultures and races adopt these forms of masculinity, perhaps to various degrees when they engage in these portrayals, but in various violent and sexist ways, and thus reinforcing these forms of masculinity.

Gangsta rap exhibits only one form of hypermasculinity and does not portray different masculinities or allow for other expressions of masculinity. From the example of a 50 Cent movie billboard near a school in Los Angeles, having been requested to be removed, shows that educators as well as community representatives are concerned about the violence that the gangsta image portrays to students and youth. It is in educators and parents best interests to address issues around violent portrayals and to educate children on what these portrayals mean and the outcomes that these portrayals can entail.

Rap originally starting as a Black protest cultural movement and is important and meaningful to Black culture and Black communities and should not be seen as entirely a harmful nor distructive cultural form. Gangsta rap arose out of the rap culture movement by starting as a form of protest with more aggression and largely by male rappers and became increasingly more so violent and sexist.

What is a concern is the effects on males who adopt the forms of masculinity that gangsta rappers embody and talk about in the popular media. Educators and parents rather than avoid addressing these issues, should talk about how and in what way these images and behaviors are harmful to other forms of masculinity as well as forms of femininity. Educators could include works by non hegemonic, non White and non hegemonic White cultural forms and portrayals of masculinity to show the multiplicity of masculinity. For example in writing, english, literature, history, and music classes, provide and teach about different forms (ie: video, games, books) of work that include and deal with different class, race, culture and non hegemonic forms of masculinity in the material contents, by other male writers and thinkers.

Educators could perhaps bring in discussion of hegemony and hegemonic masculine ideals as a frame to guide discussions on works. Educators could assign projects getting students to research individually or in groups, on the life work of men who are pro-active in the violence against others, against other men and women. Educators could ask students to explore various media on topics other than war to find examples of violent, aggressive, negative, maladaptive behaviors in everyday life and compare it to popular culture media examples of these behaviors, to generate discussion of where the harm lies in these behaviors and the behaviors portrayals and welcome solutions to harmful behaviors.

Educators could also introduce these topics with open discussions in the classroom, with the permission of parents, or the presence of parents to the class discussion, asking what they believe to be are harmful or repeated images and portrayals of masculinity in popular culture or non popular culture and if they believe these portrayals to be necessary. Educators could also use the same discussion format and instead show two video portrayals of males, one performing hegemonic masculine behaviors and the other performing non hegemonic masculine behaviors, in order to generate discussion to the same discussion format questions as mentioned above.

References Cited

Barnett, R. C. 2006. “Is There a ‘Boy Crisis’ In Education?” Knight Foundation:

Brandeis University, Brandeis: US. p. 1-23.

(http://www.brandeis.edu/centers/wsrc/scholars/Barnett/barnett_presentations/kni

ght-foundation.pdf.)


BBC News. “50 Cent Gun Posters To Come Down” BBC News, October 28, 2005.

Retrieved October 20, 2006.

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4384234.stm)


Brooks, D. 2006. “The Gender Gap At School” Retrieved September, 30, 2006.

(http://www.singlesexschools.org/nytimes_june.htm)


Bogdarnov, V, Chris Woodstra, Stephen T. Erlewine & John Bush. 2003. All Music

Guide To Hip Hop: The Definitive Guide To Rap & Hiphop. Blackbeat Books:

San Francisco, CA.


Chang, J. 2000. Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip Hop Generation. Pan Books

Ltd: New York: NY.

----2002. “Is Protest Music Dead?” AlterNet, April 16, 2002. Retrieved October 30,

2006. (http://www.alternet.org/story/12880)


Chiarella, T. 2006. “The Problem With Boys.”Esquire. Vol 146(1): Hearst Corp.

(http://www.esquire.com/feature/articles/2006/060611_mfe_July_06_Boys_04.html)


Connell, R. W. 2000. The Men and The Boys. University of California Press: Los

Angeles, California.


Curran, A & Laura S. Abrams. 2000. “Making Men Into Dads: Fatherhood, State and

Welfare Reform” Gender and Society Vol. 14(5): 662-678.


De Palma, B. 1992. Raising Cain. [videorecording] Univerisal Studios: California.


Dimitriadis, G. 2001. Performing Identity/ Performing Culture: Hip Hop as Text,

Pedagogy, and Lived Practice. Peter Lang: New York.


Faludi, S. 1999. Stiffed: The Betrayal Of The American Man. William Morrow And

Company, Inc.: New York, NY.


Forman, M. & Mark Anthony Neal. 2004. That’s The Joint!: Hip Hop Studies Reader.

Routledge: New York, NY.


Froschl, M. & Barbara Sprung. 2005. “Raising And Educating Healthy Young Boys: A

Report On The Crisis In Boys Education.” Education Equity Center at AED. New

York: NY; p. 3-28.

(http://www.aed.org/ToolsandPublication/upload/healthyboys.pdf.)


Gurian, M. & Stevens, C. 2004. “With Boys And Girls In Mind. Educational Leadership:

Closing Achievement Gaps. Vol. 62(3): 21-26.


Hopkinson, N. 2006. “The Hip Hop Generation, Raising Up Its Sons” Washington Post,

October 18: C01. Washington.


Khatiwada, I., & Sum, A. (2002). Gender Differences in High School Graduation

Rates and College Enrollment Rates of Graduates From Boston Public High

Schools in Recent Years: Findings of the Follow-up Surveys for the Classes of

1999, 2000 and 2001 and Agenda forFuture Research. Boston, MA: Boston

Private Industry Council and Boston Public Schools.


Kimmel, M. & Michael Messner. 2001. Men’s Lives, 6th ed. Person Education Inc:

Boston, MA.


Kitwana, B. 2002. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks And The Crisis In African

American Culture. BasicCivitas Books: New York.


Klienfeld, J. 1998. “The Myth That Schools Shortchange Girls: Social Science In The

Service Of Deception.” Retrieved October, 4, 2006

(http://www.uaf.edu/northern/schools/myth.html)


Kline, S. 2004. “Media Analysis Lab:Researching The Culture Of Violence.”

(http://www.sfu.ca/media-lab/research/safe school.pdf).


Lewin, A. M. 2006. “Can Boys Really Not Sit Still In School?: Experts Say Biology

Makes It Harder For Boys To Behave.” ABCNews. Retrieved October 6, 2006

(http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=1545271)


ªLewin, T. 2006. “The New Gender Divide: At Colleges Women Are Leaving Men In

The Dust” The New York Times, July 9: **. New York.


Leving, J.M. & Glenn Sacks. 2006. “Resolving The ‘Boy Crisis’ In Schools” Chicago

Sun Times, May 7: **


Lorber, J. 2005. Breaking The Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change. W. W Norton

Company Inc: New York, NY.


National Science Board. “Student Performance In Mathematics and Science” Science and

Engineering Indicators 2004. Arlington, VA; May 2004.


Newton, J. 2005. From Panthers To Promise Keepers: Rethinking The Men’s Movement.

Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.: Lanham, MD.


Nichols, J. 2006. The Realest Nigga: Constructions Of Black Masculinity In Rap Music.

Master’s Thesis, Dept. of American Studies. Maryland, University Of Maryland.


Mathews, J. 2006. “Study Casts Doubts On The ‘Boy Crisis’: Improving Test Scores

Cuts Into Girls Lead.” Washington Post, June 26: A01. Washington.


Mead, S. 2006. “The Evidence Suggests Otherwise: Truth About Boys and Girls”

Education Sector: Washington, DC.

(http://www.educationsector.org/usr_doc/ESO_BoysAndGirls.pdf)


Morris, M. 2006. “Laura Bush: Putting Boy’s In The Spotlight.” NPR, October 29,

2006.(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4492617)


O’Brien, S. & Imre Szeman. 2004. Popular Culture. Thompson Nelson: Scarsborough,

Ont, Canada.


Pease, B. & Keith Pringle. 2001. A Man’s World?: Changing Men’s Practices in a

Globalized World. Zed Books: New York, NY.


Perry, I. 2004. Prophets Of The Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop. Duke University

Press: US.


Quinn, E. 2005. Nuthin’ But a “g” Thang: The Culture and Commerce of gangsta rap.

Columbia University Press: Chincester, West Sussex.


Ribeau, S, J. Balwin & M.Hecht. 2003. An Africian American communication

perspective. In L. Samovar & R. Porter (Eds.), Intercultural Communication: A

reader 8th ed., pp.147-153. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.


Ritzer. G. & Douglas J. Goodman. 2004. Modern Sociological Theory, 6th ed. McGraw

Hill Companies Inc: New York: NY.


Rivers, C. & Rosalind Chait Barnett. 2006. “The Myth Of The ‘Boy Crisis’” The

Washington Post, April 9:B01. Washington.


Robinson, S. (2000). “Putting The Stud Back Into Gender Studies.” The Higher Times

Education Supplement, December 15.


Rose, T. 1994. Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America.

Hanover, NH: Wesleyan University Press.


Sacks, G. J. 2005. “Boys Or Girls: Pick Your Victim.” Los Angeles Times, March 20: .

Los Angeles.


Sheppard, N. 2006. “Newsweek ‘Boy Crisis’ Update: SAT Scores Were Thoroughly

Ignored.” Noel Sheppard’s Blog, January 28, 2006.


Siegal, R. 2005. “Tipper Gore & Family Values.” NPR, January 11, 2005. Retrieved

October 10, 2006.

(http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4279560)


Sommers, C. H. 2000. The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming

Our Young Men. Simon & Schuster: New York, NY.


SourceWatch. 2006. “Clear Channel Worldwide” Mediawiki, September 19, 2006.

Retrieved October 30, 2006.

(http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clear_Channel_Worldwide)


Steuter, E. 2006. Lecture. Feminist Perspectives (SOCI 4031). October 6. Sackville:

Mount Allison University.


Thompson, A. 2004. Gender In Hip Hop: A Research Study. Senior Thesis, Dept of

Sociology. Humboldt State University.

(http://www.humboldt.edu/~soc/2004Thompson.pdf)


Thompson, M. 2006. Raising Cain: Boys In Focus.[videorecording] Oregon:

Powderhouse.


Tyre, P. 2006. “The Trouble With Boys: Their kinetic, maddening and failing at school.

Now educators are trying new ways to help them succeed.” Newsweek. Retrieved

October 12, 2006.

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id10965522/site/newsweek/page/4/)


U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for

Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002

Writing Assessment.


Watkins, S. C. 2005. Hip Hop Matters: Politics, Pop Culture, and the Struggle for the

Soul of a Movement. Beacon Press: Boston.


Way, N. & Judy Y. Chu. 2004. Adolescent Boys: Exploring Diverse Cultures of Boyhood.

New York University Press: New York, NY.


Wikipedia. 2006. “Video Game Controversy.” Retrieved September 20, 2006.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video­_game_censorship)


Wikipedia. 2006. “List of audiovisual entertainment affected by the September 11, 2001

attacks.” Retrieved October 27, 2006.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_audiovisual_entertainment_affected_by_the

_September_11_attacks).


Young, C. 2006. “The ‘Boy Crisis’” The Y Files, February 6. Retrieved September 13,

2006. (http://www.cathyyoung.blogspot.com/2006/02/boy-crisis.html)