Janelle Monáe at Pier 17
photo by Sachyn Mital

Janelle Monae blasts misogyny in music: "I really only ever wanna hear women rapping"

In a series of tweets on Friday night (7/3), Janelle Monae blasted the misogyny she sees from “most men in rap and music.” “I really only ever wanna hear women rapping,” she writes. “The amount of misogyny from most of men in rap and music is infuriating . We need to abolish that shit too .”

“Women (black women inparticular) have been betrayed by the majority of men for far too long,” she continues. “The systems that enable Patriarchy and abusers of power are burning . Either bring gasoline or burn with them .”

“Y’all can’t wait to call women every bitch , hoe , discuss violent acts against women, etc for clout in rap, rock, and through out music history,” she writes. “Misogny has NEVER been okay yet it has become normalized. Women didn’t create misogny, y’all did. SO YOU DO THE WORK to ABOLISH IT.”

Janelle went beyond music in her Tweets too, writing, “Misogyny in entertainment, boardrooms, the WH, households, corporate spaces, army, church, let’s us all know ya’ll do not care about women on a human to human level and you never have. If you did it would have been ABOLISHED centuries ago. You had time. The way many RELIGIONS are used to oppress women and prepetuate misogynistic ideals to REMAIN IN POWER must be discussed WAY MORE and ABOLISHED .”

“Yes,” she continues, “white people need to do the work to dismantle systemic racism, white supremacy, etc. And yes men (& those who benefit from the systems) need 2 do the work 2 dismantle patriarchy, sexism & misogyny. You must call in those w/ toxic behaviors even if it’s YOU. EVERY DAY. You can love someone and STILL hold them accountable. Love is not exempt of accountability. They can go hand and hand. We are in the reckoning. Some folks won’t retweet anything about sexism and mysogyny and abuse against women for fear they may be called out. Reformation is possible tho. If you do the work now you don’t have to live in fear. Free yourself. But most importantly FREE WOMEN. A lot of my musical heroes and peers’ Work are problematic in many ways . And I just might be a problematic hero to someone.”

“The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down the misogyny,” she continues. “The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down white supremacy . The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down sexism . The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down homophobia . The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down transphobia . The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down systemic racism . The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down islamophobia . The only gas lighting I accept is the gas we lighting to burn down ableism .”