“Crazy B****”: Discriminatory Language, Radio Censorship, Regulation, and Enforcement Policies in Canada by Rebecca Irene Marie Foley A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE YORK UNIVERSITY TORONTO, ONTARIO April 2016 Rebecca Irene Marie Foley, 2016 Abstract This thesis focuses on the censorship, or lack thereof, of discriminatory language on Canadian radio stations. In addition to purely discriminatory based language, this project also investigated the ways in which race, gender, sexuality, and ability were employed in popular music. Two data sets were analysed qualitatively and quantitatively to find that private and public radio stations in Canada are more likely to censor discriminatory or explicit content than their community station counterparts. Further, discriminatory language based on gender, is not only more likely to be contained in popular music, but it is also less likely to be censored in comparison to language based on racial or sexual orientation based discrimination. The first data set included 485 songs from the Billboard Hot 100 charts between 1985 and 2015. The second data set included 2818 songs from a six-month period (May-October 2015) of the top twenty charts from 27 different radio stations in Canada, including private, public, and community stations. Keywords: radio; broadcast policy; discrimination; popular music; Canada; ii Acknowledgements I wish to thank everyone who had a hand in helping me shape this thesis. From deep class discussions to small conversations outside of an academic environment, each interaction I had talking about my research helped me to refine, explain, and get my thoughts on paper in a relatively coherent way. First of all, I need to thank my friends for dealing with my moments of panic, frustration, and feeling lost during this whole process. However, special thanks go to Elizabeth Edwards, Shelby Croft, Kate Moore, Milena Stanoeva, and Grace Lao for helping me through the worst days and helping me to prove to myself that getting through the revision process in particular was not ‘going to end me’ as I commonly over exaggerated. Ganaele Langlois and Allyson Lunny thank you for your kind words during my defense and your thought provoking questions and comments about my work. To my committee, Steve Bailey and Stéphanie Walsh Matthews, your contributions to my research at the outset and through the revision process are invaluable and I cannot thank you enough for taking on me and my research even though this is not either of your specific areas of study. Anne MacLennan, I do not think I will ever be able put into words how much your support, not just during the thesis writing process, but throughout the whole MA program has helped me to grow and develop as an academic, and a person. You helped me to learn that I am capable of doing and being so much more than I ever thought possible. Your encouragement to leave my comfort zone encouraged me to apply for funding, conferences, and volunteer experiences that I might have not otherwise experienced. Thank you for taking a chance on me and giving me room to grow. Your support throughout scholarship and PhD applications is undoubtedly a large part of the reason why I have managed to be successful. This project was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Finally, I have to thank my parents. Thank you for letting your ‘little girl’ move more than halfway across the country to pursue her dreams. Knowing that I always had people to lean on during the tough times means more to me than I can express. I couldn’t have done this without your love and support. iii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ................................................................................................................ vii List of Acronyms ............................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 4 Research Outcomes ........................................................................................................ 5 Organization of Thesis..................................................................................................... 6 Chapter 2 Tracing Canadian Radio Broadcasting Policies ....................................... 8 Chapter 3 Literature ................................................................................................... 19 Language and Race ...................................................................................................... 20 Language and Gender .................................................................................................. 23 Language and Sexuality ................................................................................................ 33 Language and Ability ..................................................................................................... 39 Intersections of Marginalized Groups and Language ..................................................... 43 Content of Popular Culture ............................................................................................ 49 Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 56 Chapter 4 Methods ..................................................................................................... 58 Sampling ....................................................................................................................... 58 Methodological Approach .............................................................................................. 60 Data Collection, Qualitative Coding, and Analysis ......................................................... 61 Quantitative coding and analysis ................................................................................... 64 Acknowledging Bias ...................................................................................................... 67 Looking at Race in Music .............................................................................................. 68 Research Limitations ..................................................................................................... 69 The Final Data Sets ....................................................................................................... 71 Historical Data (1985-2015) .................................................................................. 71 May through October 2015 data ........................................................................... 71 Chapter 5 Quantitative Results ................................................................................. 74 Statistics for data from 1985-2015 ................................................................................. 74 Genre and Censorship .......................................................................................... 74 Censorship and Year ............................................................................................ 75 Genre and Discriminated Group ........................................................................... 75 Statistics for data from May through October 2015 ........................................................ 76 Genre and Region ................................................................................................ 76 iv Genre and Censorship .......................................................................................... 77 Genre and Type of Explicit/Discriminatory Language ............................................ 77 Censorship and Type of Explicit/Discriminatory Language .................................... 78 Type of Station and Censorship ............................................................................ 79 Chapter 6 Qualitative Results .................................................................................... 80 She Drives Me Crazy – ableism and power dynamics ................................................... 81 Let’s [not] Talk About Sex .............................................................................................. 86 What’s Love Got to do With It? ...................................................................................... 93 There’s a Fine, Fine Line (Between Love and Obsession) ............................................. 98 ‘Oh you wanted it bad’ – Depictions of Rape ............................................................... 101 Breaking Up Is Hard to Do ........................................................................................... 105 You Don’t Own Me – Subject-Object relationships between Men and Women ...........