Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Ke$ha, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga are just a few women who have shaped what the music industry is today. These artists have also been among the many women in the music industry who have been abused by men, scrutinized for their looks, and criticized for the music they write. Even more, women are often the first to be criticized, especially in the media. Plenty of men in the music industry have allegations of physical and verbal abuse, so why are talented, hardworking, business-savvy women labeled as serial daters, manipulators, cult leaders, or insane?
One place where we see this is that women do not get the same treatment as men, particularly in songwriting. People will often complain when women make songs about their breakups, saying they are dramatic, attention-seeking, or just milking a situation. Why are we concerned with female music artists writing songs about relationships when there are plenty of men writing songs with racial and homophobic slurs, and songs about abusing women?
One prime example is Grammy Award Winner Tyler, the Creator, who has 47.8 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Especially in his early years in music, he wrote songs that gained a lot of attention for their lyrics. One example is the song “Tron Cat” from 2011. In the song, he sings, “I f*** b***s with no permission,” which is concerning since that is considered rape. One could argue he was only 20, but he is still an adult. There are plenty of other songs that Tyler, the Creator has written that also reference women, like the songs “Fish,” “VCR,” and “Sarah.” One could argue that artists should be able to sing about whatever they want, no matter how sensitive the topic is, but when you are singing about yourself abusing another person, it feels like you are making fun of the topic and encouraging this abuse.
Another notable aspect is that his fanbase demographics are 85% male, so it’s concerning that a popular music artist with the influence that he has is singing about abusing women when around 99% of sexual violence is done by men, a statistic from Cal Poly Humboldt. So why are we so flustered about women writing songs about their breakups when Tyler, the Creator, is writing about abusing women and is still a mainstream artist?
Not only are women subjected to discrimination for their songwriting, but there is also a safety factor. A survey done by the Help Musicians organization in 2024, which had 6,000 responders from the UK, of which 2,526 responders were women, shows that 33% of female musicians have been sexually harassed, with 25% having witnessed sexual harassment done to female music artists. Not only is being harassed, especially sexually, a huge risk for women, but all female music artists also face abuse.
Rihanna was one of the biggest artists in the 2000s and 2010s, and she has dealt with abuse, which no person should ever have to face. On February 8th, 2009, she was attacked by Chris Brown on their way home from a Grammy party. Later, Chris Brown was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats. He was sentenced to 5 years of probation and domestic-violence counseling. But this is not the first time this has happened, as Brown has been accused of assaulting several other women and other crimes. You would think this would end his career, but instead, people have apparently chosen to ignore this. Earlier this year, he was arrested for alleged assault in 2023, but was bailed out and continued with his tour like he hadn’t caused someone lifelong trauma. Not only was he able to go back on tour, but he has 60 million monthly listeners on Spotify. By ignoring what he has done, we are enabling abuse and letting him continue his horrific acts.
Misogyny in the music industry doesn’t just affect women in the spotlight, but it affects women who are 60 and girls who are 10. If we as a society get used to defending male behavior, abusers will never be held accountable, and women of all ages will never get the justice they deserve. If we continue to hold these expectations—to not speak out against abuse because they will be called liars, or to not call men out for their bad behavior because you will be called dramatic and a liar—we will never have a safe environment for women.
