Gender conflict and domestic violence in country western music

Résumé du document

A woman is abused by her domestic partner every nine seconds in the United States, according to the Family Violence Prevention Fund1. Even though domestic abuse is thus extremely common and frequent, it is rarely alluded to in music, with the notable exception of the country western genre. Country seems more prone to addressing topics such as love, distress in relationships, and violence between domestic partners, than other musical genres. Additionally, women in country music are habitually presented as more wholesome and less sexualized than women in other modern musical genres such as rock or R'n'B/hip hop. If women in country music seem to be more respected, why does violence towards them still pervade country more than any other musical genre?

I will argue that the very nature of country music, and the audience it caters to, make it one of the genres that most reflect the mores of its era. The treatment of domestic violence within country music thus parallels the evolution of society, which partly explains the commonness of domestic violence-related themes in popular country music. Indeed, Martha Mockus writes that "country music functions as a particularly rich set of genres for examining women's participation in popular music and their struggles against the social and sexual constraints of American society".

Extraits

[...] For instance, the commercial success of Martina McBride's “Independence allowed it to reach a broad audience and become a hit due to the popularity of its performer within the country audience. This popularity is a useful tool in educating the public about issues such as domestic violence Johnny Cash in “Delia's I hadn't have shot poor Delia I'd have had her for my wife”. 4 Page The treatment of women in American society has always seemed to parallel their treatment in country western. In its earlier stages, in the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, country music mainly reported a male perspective. [...]

[...] Women lost both their legal and concrete independence the moment they would get married. As a belonging of the man, the woman was subject to all sorts of mistreatments (ranging from verbal insults and humiliation to beating and ultimately killing one's spouse) against which she could not reasonably argue, as her husband more or less owned her. The status of women has come a long way, both in mores and in the law, and this sad state of affairs is no longer existent in the United States. [...]

[...] Women thus started talking about domestic violence, while still remaining trapped in traditional gender roles, as previously mentioned. They still did not seem to expect an improvement in their condition or a decrease in the commonness of domestic violence. This was due, at least in the 1960s, to a continued lack of resources for abused women. This lag between the awareness and condemnation of domestic abuse on the one hand, and the lack of responses available to women on the other hand, persisted until the 1980s. [...]

[...] Simultaneously, female victims of domestic abuse started seeking revenge upon their male abusers, an evolution that has been exemplified in country music5. Society began to provide mistreated women with legal resources and options to protect themselves from their husbands and partners' violent behavior. Meanwhile, country music evolved in a parallel fashion, giving more importance and a stronger, louder voice to female performers: women moved into a more equal position in law and society, they started to become successful in country music. [...]

[...] What, then, makes violence such an omnipresent theme in country music? Comparing it with other musical genres could provide answers. In rap or R'n'B, violence towards women is more a general declaration of intent than actual domestic violence, with rap singers insulting women or alluding to abusing women as a means to prove their masculinity and establish themselves as powerful and manly in relation to other rap artists. This same phenomenon accounts for the current popularity of the phrase homo” in male rap song lyrics. [...]