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Emo Music

Gender Bias

Sam De Boise furthers the argument about masculinity in emo music by asserting that the genre is often grounded in overt chauvinism in which male vocalists assert their moral superiority, often rendering themselves as the victim of the “cruel girl”, who is demeaned and ridiculed for having sex with more than one partner (whoever the lyricist is). Women are ultimately criticized for an alleged emotional distance in their sexual encounters, more interested in casual sex than the man singing the song. The man, then, becomes victimized by female sexuality.

Though Emily Ryalls argues that emo music can often challenge masculine identities--with emo men taking on normatively feminine characteristics like emotional earnesty--she goes on to argue that emo music ultimately masks an assertion of hegemonic masculinity where a presentation of gender fluidity functions to create a heteronormative result. Sam De Boise’s argument, too, states that emo music has created an agenda of “beta male misogyny,” in which male lyricists superficially resist hegemonic forms of masculine behavior in order to forge the same desired means of possession, asserting their own moral supremacy over other men, ultimately portraying the ethos of heteronormative competition, a driving cornerstone of hegemonic masculinity. Emo songs often assert that the female needs to be redirected in order to rescue her from making a poor romantic decision. This, of course, disregards female agency and autonomy and ultimately suggests that male emo vocalists are better able to guide, direct, and ultimately possess. In his conclusion, De Boise argues that “lyrically the focus [of emo music] needs to move from narcissistic ideas of personal pain toward awareness of systemic privilege.”

Gender Bias in Music Videos

The Starting Line: "The Best of Me"

Emo music videos are a place where the genre’s gender bias is perpetuated visually. Cara Wallis argues about the impact of gender representation on youth, asserting that “the ubiquity of stereotypical and highly sexualized gender images in the media, including music videos, can have negative consequences for the mental, emotional, and sexual health of youth, especially adolescent girls and young women.” The Starting Line’s music video for “The Best of Me” (2003), for example, presents a myriad of gendered images that support Sam De Boise’s argument that the emo genre perpetuates a sort of beta male misogyny while also presenting other forms of gender-stereotyping.

The video begins by introducing the two major characters: the dejected, recently-broken-up-with male who is holding a boombox outside of his ex girlfriend’s window, and his ex girlfriend, also dejected, wearing revealing pajama pants in bed. The male protagonist is then greeted by a series of strangers, explaining to them that he is in love with a woman he has lost, and these strangers deliver advice. At 1:32, for example, the stranger says: "Women let me tell ya," and then proceeds to hand the male protagonist a necklace, saying: "Try giving her this. Chicks like presents." At 4:13, the protagonist is greeted with a Spanish-speaking man who advises him to give the girl flowers. The man, then, is ultimately portrayed as the emotionally earnest, motivated lover, and his goal is presented as a conquest: to regain possession of a lost love. The woman, meanwhile, is seen lying in bed, looking at photographs of her ex-partner, with her shots culminated by a highly sexualized frame of her body from 3:56-3:58. In short, the video portrays the man as the sensitive, emotionally earnest conqueror of lost love, and the woman as a sexualized object of his desire. The video plays into gendered stereotypes—like men being able to regain a woman's admiration through gift giving—while also portraying him as an emotional young person of deep feeling who the audience ought to root for.