Mainstream Hip Hop & the "Crooked Room"
The "crooked room" is a theory that states “when they confront race and gender stereotypes, black women are standing in a crooked room, and they have to figure out which way is up. Bombarded with warped images of their humanity, some black women tilt and bend themselves to fit the distortion” (Harris 29).
Mainstream hip hop is filled with warped images targeted at Black women through both the music and its visual counterpart. Unfortunately Perry believes the flood of the degrading music and videos is part of the reason why some, though not all, Black women give in to negative stereotypes and adhere to the negative images projected onto Black women in America, such as being the video vixen in rap videos that degrade women.
As for those who don't give in to the warped images, there can come a cognitive dissonance that can come with being a Black female hip hop fan. Richardson explains that these Black women rationalize the often degrading lyrical and visual content of rap by separating their identity from that of the women being degraded. They attempt to listen to music objectively with a sense of detachment often making the assumption or excuse that the rapper is only referring to women of low class, but in regards to women of class, the tone would likely change to that of something more respectful (Richardson 797). Almost as trying to find justification in the degradig nature of the music & lyrics rather than taking a stand against the negativity of the imagery. It’s this detached way of thinking that leads to this issue of the corruption of the image of Black women being overlooked. Hip hop is a powerful tool and just as it’s important not to dismiss the positivity in its history, it is equally important to not only be aware of, but to address its major role as a contributor to the sexualization and corruption of the image of Black women in the media, as hip hop’s strong influence doesn’t stop with the Black community, but has expanded to the mainstream.