Hypersexualization of Female Rappers

People love a female rapper, but what about the ones who don’t rap about sex? Yes, those artists do exist.

By Izzy Teitelbaum

Women reclaiming their sexuality has been a rising phenomenon for the past decade. Clothing, music, and speech all play central roles in outwardly expressing ourselves. Proclaiming your sexuality to the world is exhilarating, yet exhausting.  

Women have been oversexualized in rap since the first tough guy picked up a mic. The male rap starter kit consists of a gold chain, stacks of money, and women being used as background props. A “flex” in the rap sphere is often defined by unlimited access to wealth and women. Success in the genre has been a recent development for women, and it looks different for female rappers. As the desire to be an independent and strong woman rose, it seems that the success of female rappers did too.

It’s become more common for women to experiment with the dominant role—in life, in the bedroom, and in the music industry. Instead of being an afterthought in a song, female rappers have brought women’s pleasure to the forefront of their music. Female sexual pleasure has become a form of expression that was suppressed for centuries. Outward expressions of sexuality are now being celebrated instead of berated. A sexual woman is no longer a slut—now she’s empowered. 

Women in other music genres talk about sex but do not receive the same backlash as female rappers. This may be because rap is so much more “in your face.” Instead of using veiled metaphors and harmonies, sex is often discussed openly and explicitly in rap music. The sexuality displayed in popular rap is rarely linked with emotional ties but instead depicts pure, unabashed pleasure. It comes down to being more assertive, which people still aren’t comfortable with from women. The style of rap is essentially everything women were taught not to be.

Women in rap face more scrutiny than other areas of entertainment and music. 

The responses to Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s song “WAP” made several male rappers upset. A few congresspeople joined in with their disapproval as well. But of course it would cause people to be upset—it’s an overdue role reversal. The song release was widely celebrated by women. It feels good to have women in the public eye constantly pushing the boundaries. As women, we’re taught to keep our sex drive a secret and not put it right in people’s faces, literally or figuratively.

However, it’s not as if women have nothing else to rap about. Almost all of the songs charted on Billboard’s top 100 with female rappers were explicitly sexual. The rise of sexuality isn’t bad, it’s the lack of everything else in female rap that is worrisome. This has been tricky for other female rappers to navigate. The sexualization of female rap has become so strong, it’s hard for others to break into the charts with their rap if it doesn’t obtain enough sex references.  According to Cardi B, people don’t support her music unless she’s “rapping about [her] p*ssy.”  This lack of complexity within the genre is because of a lack of support. The charts reflect the listeners.  

One reason why female artists may not gain traction from songs about love is that women are already characterized as loving or emotional people, so rappers have to work extra hard to combat that stereotype. They might feel as if lyrics about more emotional topics make them vulnerable. 

It’s not a coincidence that women started to become more successful in rap during the rise of “girl power” movement. Women in rap are women with strength. Their lyrics are not exclusively about showcasing their sexual side. The rap genre for women feels like a double-edged sword. You rap about sex and you’re successful, but people call you a slut. You don’t rap about sex and it’s hard to gain traction in the music industry.

Besides sex, male rappers have a plethora of songs about love, pain, poverty, wealth, hustle, police brutality, and racism. There are female rappers with songs addressing messages with these complex themes. They do exist. The difference is they don’t receive the same support. Songs about sex are played more often at parties, shared more with friends, and they become an inspiration for trends. 

Noname, a female rapper from Chicago, is a perfect example. In her album “Room 25,” she explores finding herself in her rap. The album delves into her thoughts on race, identity, sex, and politics. She has worked hard to achieve being an independent artist, but her name is nowhere near as popular as someone like Nicki Minaj who is known for her sexual lyrics. 

Women are successful yet condemned for hypersexualized rap. But why are hypersexual rap songs the only ones that seem to top the charts? Women have more in-depth thoughts and struggles than those centered around their sex lives. I am thrilled about the celebration of a woman’s sex drive, but I want to see more than this one-dimensional depiction of female rap.  Songs with depth exist, but our culture has been so focused on the purely sexual side of women. It’s important to allow them to be more than one thing. Rap is a platform for people’s pain,  struggles, and even celebration—all the things that make someone a complex human. But we only celebrate a female rapper’s work when she’s saying what we want to hear.