10 - The Master’s Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master’s House: Hip-Hop, Young M.A., and Gender Norms

Summary

Zoey Smith-Holladay and Catherine Smith consider Young M.A.’s 2018 song, “Pettywap,” and her general gender-bending image in order to evaluate rapid social change on gender and sex orientation in light of continuing misogyny. As a self-identified, same-gender-loving Black female hip-hopper, Young M.A. offers authentic, playful, rhythmic taunts often combined with a sexually charged energy and boastful lyrics. The United States Supreme Court recently decided a trio of cases that hinge on employers’ arguments that they are justified in firing LGBT people for their failure to meet an employer’s gender expectations. As such, will analyze how one of hip-hop music’s most intriguing and up-and-coming artists pushes – and reinforces – pervasive cultural gender and sexual stereotypes, and, how courts respond to our rapidly changing gender norms.