Document Type : -
Authors
1
PhD candidate of cultural sociology, Department of Sociology, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2
Assistant Professor Department of Sociology, North Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.30465/ws.2023.43383.3717
Abstract
Introduction
Rap music is a new style of music that has become famous as popular music and in the last half century in the world, despite the feeling of danger and the opposition of a significant part of sociologists, it has made significant progress and achieved world fame. This music is known as the voice of opposition and protest, and concepts such as violence and misogyny are considered to be its characteristics, which has attracted the attention of the music industry in the process of its birth and growthand according to Adorno, it is standardized and incidentally added to its anti-feminist content.This music changes artistically the social norms and in conflict with the common culture of the societies, it creates an opposing discourse and encourages young people to speak and behave against the norms.Paying attention to the significant and important educational and cultural role that women have in human societies, on the one hand, the resistance of societies against the invasion of capitalist culture, and on the other hand, preserving the values and norms of local culture that has a history of thousands of years, sensitivity to the consequences of growth and It doubles the development of this type of music.It is simplistic to think that music industry just for more profitꓹhas put misogynist content on its headlines.Therefore, preserving the national and cultural identity of pluralistic global societies requires recognizing and providing an effective and timely solution to face it.One of the most famous Persian rap singers, whose songs have attracted many young people, is Tataloo. He has created a new discourse in the literature of her fans and the societywith his songs and words, which is not in line with the accepted norms of the society.Among them, we can mention Tataloo's anti-feminist discussion, and according to his own words, in 20 years, the text of his songs will be written in textbooks.It should be noted that in our society, there is nosingle conceptual definition of misogyny, and people belonging to various subcultures in all parts of the country, from one city to another, from one neighborhood to another, and even from one family to another family has its own definition of misogyny.For example, while cutting off a girl's head by the men of the family is condemned by many peopleꓹSome support it under the title of male zeal.Both views belong to the members of the same society and both groups have Iranian nationality.But the misogyny of the music industry is a concept more than existing misogynyand it has other goals, the result of which is the destruction of the value and reputation of women in the societyꓹher objectification as a consumer and consumer of the products of the capitalist systemꓹinstitutionalizing insult and disrespect to womenand it is to make them submit that is clearly seen in the content of the singer's music, her words and her lifestyle.The 13th of November 2017ꓹInstagram announced that it has blocked Amir Tataloo's user account. Because Tataloo had written insulting sentences against women in the days before that.Instagram wrote that the security of its users is the most important responsibility of this company.After this event, he continues his activity on Instagram with new user accounts and he is still in contact with his fans on various social networks.
Research background
Different researches have been done about rap music in Iran, and our intention here is not to express all the work done, but to present the backgrounds that are more in line with the topic of this article. Reza Samim and Hamed Taheri Kia (2017) in their article titled "Visualization of Persian rap in virtual space (Instagram case study)", have analyzed the images of rappers' and audience's Instagram pages that by using the process of posting andreposting images with the help of Instagram,Persian rap has become a subject for thinking and discussion by producing news along with information circulation.In another article entitled "Explaining the subjectivity process of Persian rap audience in virtual space", Reza Samim and Hamed Kia (2015) ꓹThey have interviewed 7rappers and a producer, using a qualitative approach and grounded theoryꓹfinally, Persian rap audience with features:They have identified an informed subject, a judging subject, a replicating subject, a legitimizing subject, and a constructive society. Masoud Taghiabadi and Hamid Taghiabadi (2021) in the article "Spreadinggender hatred online in social networks (Case study: misogyny of Iranian Twitter users) "ꓹby using the discourse analysis method, the tweets of Iranian users with the topic of misogyny and misogyny have been analyzed and they found that Twitter was unable to manage the space and the male/female duality, as another, has become more intense in it.An article titled "Study of Content Analysis of Attitudes towards Women in Persian Rap Music" by Halime Enayatand others (2013) was conducted by using the content analysis of several rappers' songsin which the majority of the songs have a misogynistic approach and some have an empowering and informative aspect and a critical view of women's issues. Kanani and others (2014) in an article titled "Gender Identity and Rap Music: Content Analysis of Femininity and Masculinity in Persian Rap Songs", identified three types of gender identity by analyzing the content of 80 songs.Also, in an article by Ronald Weitzer and Charis E. Kubrin (2009) entitled "Misogyny in Rap Music: A Content Analysis of Popularity and Meanings", using a content analysis of 403 songs by 31 singers, misogynistic themes: Derogatory naming and shaming Women have identified sexual objectification of women, mistrust of women, legitimization of violence against women, celebration of prostitution and degradation.Another article titled "Representation of social problems of society in Iranian social rap music (case study; text of Yas songs)" by Azam Rawdrad and Sahar Faeghi (2014) has been done by analyzing the content of 23 songs downloaded by Yas. The article "narratives of masculinity in rap music and the challenge of hegemonic masculinity" written by Masoud Kosari and Mohammad Mahdi Moulaii (2013) is also a narrative analysis and they have extracted 14 narratives of masculinity from Persian rap music.Abdullah Bichranlou and Sondos Mohammadi Nosudi (2021) in the article "From star to celebrity, the role of social media in the development of Tataloo's popularity and fandom"ꓹand the axes of realism, breaking taboos, two-way interaction with fans, promotion of a lifestyle and self-branding have been achieved.In another article, Ali Ragheb and Hassan Ighani (2022) analyzed the content of 10 songs under the title "Independent popular music and dominant culture, social subject in the themes of Amir Hossein Maqsoodlou's works in the 1990s".Also, Farid Azizi and Hamid Azizi (2022) in the article "Recording and analyzing the role of Iranian pop and rap music stars in the identification and socialization of Iranian teenage fans in the Instagram social network (case study: Amir Hossein Tataloo and Seyed Hossein Mousavi (nicknamed Tohi )",qualitative approach of virtual ethnography on the Instagram network and found that showing private life, addressing fans with the title "Tataliti", using ugly and unusual words and deviant actions; Tataloo's media tricks have been to attract fans.Psychological and emotional needs are one of the most important causes of rap music and young people's interest in rap style extends to the singer himself and leads to following the actions and words of the popular singer in the long run.As seen, the format of the conducted researches have analyzed the content of rap lyrics, among them, a handful of researches have focused on tataloo and some have reviewed this music on social networks, or had face-to-face or virtual interviews with some rappers, which does not include the interview with Tataloo. Such researches have addressed the views of rap music producers.Only the last article deals with the effect of Tataloo's poems on the fans (consumers), which was an interview with the fans in the virtual space but the current research has investigated the effect of Tataloo songs on the fans or consumers of this music directly by using in-depth face-to-face interviews with them. Research MethodologyThe research has been done using anti-positivism-qualitative approach and grounded theory techniqueꓹ data analysis was done by adopting Strauss and Corbin interpretive analysis method and open, axial and selective coding process (Mohammadpour, 2018).In grounded theory method, data analysis is done through various coding.In this method, three types of coding are used: open, axial and selective coding. The first step is open coding, which includes data analysis, comparison, and categorization.In axial coding, it is important to describe the relationships between categories and subcategories.In selective coding, the foundations of the construction of the grounded theory are obtained based on the relationship of multiple categories with the main and central category.In order to avoid errors and biases in data analysis, Gliser proposed three methods of continuous comparison, complete saturation and connection with the central category for contextual theorists (Rabbani, Abbaszadeh, 2018).The current research used non-probability and purposeful snowball samplingꓹ The way to select each sample was that first interview started with one of the informants who was also a Tataliti and then she would introduce the next tataliti that she knew to the researcher, and the sampling continued until theoretical saturation. The selected samples were Tataloo fan girls living in Tehran.After conducting 10 interviews, theoretical saturation was achieved. Triangulation was used to increase validity and reliability which includes: data triangulationꓹ investigator triangulationꓹ theoretical triangulation.The reliability of the findings was obtained by observing the principles of in-depth interviews, complete recording of narratives and word-for-word implementation of the interviews.
Discussion & conclusionsThe purpose of this research was to determine the reasons for the popularity of anti-feminist singer's songs among young girls.One of the findings of this research is the concept of local hegemonic masculinity from the causal conditions of this articleWhich is in line with the findings of Kubrin and Weitzer (2009) and Kosari and Molaii (2013) and is also true for Tataloo. Local hegemonic masculinity inspires rap music.In the causal conditions that exist local hegemonic masculinity in the society, the intensity and weakness of patriarchy in each city and neighborhood is different from other regions of the countryꓹmen have a higher status than womenꓹ in the workplaces, they receive more salary and income than women.Their physical strength is admired and women are generally portrayed as the second sex with gender stereotypes. Also, the lack of female rappers in the field findings wasproposed in support of Kubrin and Weitzer's (2009) theory.In the field where the singer turned to drugs and alcohol and he expresses his difficult lived experience from his own language and reflects it in his words and poemsꓹ Tataloo's fans have reached the phase of listening to his songs to the phase of imitating his beliefs, actions and words.In other words, the listening audience has become an imitative audience of his favorite singerꓹas a result of this imitation, girls also consider misogyny in the society as normal.Fans ignore the gay singer's wife on the pretext of drug and alcohol use.On the other hand, the role of the music industry in pressuring rappers to produce misogynistic lyrics cannot be ignoredꓹbecause the music industry rejects and marginalizes the singer who violates this principleꓹ also, the lack of training in the relationship with the opposite sex in the traditional society has fueled it as an intervening conditionꓹ by using anti-feminist lyrics and words, such as calling girls new-faced and using them as tools, Tataloo helps to reproduce the power and supremacy of men and the inferiority of women in societyand he fuels the trend of gender discrimination and misogyny in the society's culture.Although some fans have criticized the media coverage of New Faces in cyberspace,but in general, fans have accepted the singer's sexual abuse of girls by not forcing them to become new faces.depth interviews with the girls, shows that the acceptance of the girls was out of necessity and submissionbecause if it led to happiness, its consequence would not appear in the form of despair towards the future and tendency to nihilism.Nihilism, from the findings of this research, is in line with the findings of Kubrin (2005), Bichranlou, Mohammadi (2021), Azizi, Azizi (2022). Therefore, it is suggested that by revisiting the formation process of this phenomenon and applying calculated changes,the destructive factor turned despair into hope.Neglecting the unfulfilled needs of girls in the society has created a big vacuum that Tataloo has been able to fill the existing vacuum more effectively by using the powerful tool of art. Therefore, without taking into account the needs of girls and being flexible to their demands, it is not possible to prevent the occurrence of the acceptance of anti-feminist songs and avoid its harmful consequences.The researches reviewed about Tataloo have been mostly concerned with analyzing the theme of the poems and understanding the reader's views and none of them have paid attention to the misogynistic feature of the songs and have not investigated it as a problemwhile this research has dealt with the misogynist aspect of the songs.Also, unlike other researches, the researcher went to the listeners of the songs and narrated the views of Tataloo music fans directly from their own words.In other words, the understanding of the meanings, views, experiences and perceptions of the girls was obtained from their own point of view and using face-to-face interviews, and not from the point of view of the researcher or even the rapper.The theory of the research has been data-oriented, using in-depth study on Tataloo samples, in the natural environment and from the perspective of fans who listen to Tataloo music. Among the ways of distinguishing the method of this research from the researches that have been done, we can mention the following: live experience in real conditions, without disturbing the scene and collecting data in a non-interventional way, long contact with fan girls and continuous observation and review and data collection. He pointed out different temporal and spatial angles and discovered new categories.
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