Source: thesocietypages.org

You know sometimes I think that black men get the short end of the patriarchal stick.

In particular, the black rappers. It is true that many of today’s Hip Hop artists have been notoriously guilty of conveying both sexist images in their music messages. Since the day that 2 Live Crew first belted out “Me So Horny,” there have been no shortage of rappers, ready to declare women to be nothing more than beyotches, whores and gold diggers.

Rappers are probably the least subtle about their ambivalence to women but don’t get it twisted misogyny is everywhere: it’s in academia where some of the greatest minds still have problem with their female colleagues; it’s in our political movements, where a woman’s appearance is much more important than her actual policy position; and it’s in our justice system.  Sexism, like many other –isms, is fully mainstream. Yet it seems that today, rappers, particularly black rappers, have become the sole offenders of female objectifications and misogynous content.

Earlier today, I was reading a writer friend’s blog about a new marketing campaign by European Commission (EC) to inspire girls into fields related to science. To kick-off the campaign the EC released a commercial, called Science It’s A Girl’s Thing, which is both absolutely ridiculous and borders on sexism. In the commercial a bevy of young women, playfully danced, giggled and pranced around in mini-skirts while images of lipstick, foundation and high heels are intercut with Petri dishes and glass beakers.  All the while some man, who looked way too old to be in the vicinity of these girls (paging Chris Hansen) ogles at them through a microscope. Somewhere in this clusterfuck of chauvinism is the message that science is for girls too.

You know, because girls like, should totally do science because, you know, like they can like, make makeup and like, create the perfect formula for hair spray and like, make high heels and stuff that won’t hurt your feet and stuff. You know, the girl stuff.  Twirls hairs and cracks gum. Never mind finding the cure for breast cancer or HPV or some other more pressing womanly concern, which is more likely beneficial to having more women scientists.

Please don’t consider this as disrespect to any lady scientists, who do develop cosmetics for a living. Heck that sounds like an awesome career. Nor do I want to beat up on the European Commission too badly as I do understand the goal behind the campaign, which is to convince young women that science can be cool as well as a rewarding career choice.  As explained by the European Commission’s own website:  “Almost two years in the works, the campaign knows women make up more than half the student population in the European Union and 45 percent of all doctorates, but only one-third of career researchers are women. Women with PhDs are also a minority in engineering and manufacturing. “The campaign will challenge stereotypes of science and show young girls and women that science is fun and can provide great opportunities. It will challenge outdated views of science careers and show how contemporary research practices are connected with societal needs.”