Music & Gender

 In my experience with music and gender, I personally agree that gender does have an impact on music and how musicians are treated on a day-to-day basis. When I was younger, I didn’t really notice much of a difference in the type of music I listen to vs the type of music other people listened to. A good song was just that, a good song. Nothing more nothing less. As I am older now, I have come to realize that when it comes to men vs women artists, the expectations and standards differ tremendously in regards to the perspective of the media. 

I listen to a pretty broad range of music, and some artists I’ve noticed in particular that have gotten conflicting treatment from the media are Megan Thee Stallion, and Lil Nas X. Starting with Megan Thee Stallion, the media tends to have controversial opinions on her music and lyrics. I, personally,  enjoy some songs of hers and think she’s a wonderful artist. The media, however, tends to go after her lyrics and the messages she's “portraying”. While I do agree that her music isn’t suitable for a younger audience (like under 15), I don’t see a problem with its content in comparison with other artists. Megan’s songs are constantly labeled “too vulgar” or “distasteful”, while a man, such as NBA youngboy, can get away with far worse songs and is praised for it. I see this a lot specifically in the rap genre, the standards for the genders are just not the same. 

Megan Thee Stallion - Savage

As for Lil Nas X, a man that has dominated pop and rap charts in the past, the opinion of the media is unsure, you either love or despise him. Although Nas has a large fan base and rose to fame very quickly, he receives a great deal of backlash. Being an openly gay man, Nas deals with a lot of people hating on his music videos and lyrics because he doesn’t conceal that part of himself and instead expresses it in parts of his craft. Due to this, some people don’t think his music is a “positive influence” on the youth and deter from his songs and/or harass him on social media. A couple of other rappers have also targeted Lil Nas and publicly shamed him for his music and even went as far as to insult him as a person. However, if a woman produced the same type of content it'd be received much differently. 

Overall, I think over time these differing standards will (hopefully) become less prevalent in society. Ideally, people will be able to just make music, and not worry about how it will be received based on their gender. Unfortunately, for now, it is what it is.