Union College Union | Digital Works Honors Theses Student Work 6-2012 Sexy Songs: A Study of Gender Construction in Contemporary Music Genres Lea Tessitore Union College - Schenectady, NY Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses Part of the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, and the Musicology Commons Recommended Citation Tessitore, Lea, "Sexy Songs: A Study of Gender Construction in Contemporary Music Genres" (2012). Honors Theses. 910. https://digitalworks.union.edu/theses/910 This Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Work at Union | Digital Works. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Union | Digital Works. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. i “Sexy” Songs: A Study of Gender Construction in Contemporary Music Genres By Lea M. Tessitore * * * * * * * * * * Senior Thesis Submitted to the Political Science Department in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation UNION COLLEGE March 2012 ii Acknowledgements I would like to extend a heartfelt Thank You To my Mom Your complete support made everything possible To all of my Professors at Union For helping me to grow intellectually and as a person To my Friends For being wonderful colleagues and for being true friends iii Table of Contents Preface……………………………………………………………………………………v Introduction………………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter I………………………………………………………………………………….5 Rap/Hip-Hop Music Chapter II….…………………………………………………………………………….33 Country Music Chapter III…………….…………………………………………………………………67 Punk Rock Music Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...99 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………..113 iv “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.” - Simone de Beauvoir “Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” - Victor Hugo v Preface This study focuses on gender construction in contemporary music genres, including Rap/Hip-hop, Country, and Punk Rock.