Janelle Monae rants against sexism in music, religion and other institutions

The Grammy-nominated singer called out the role that entertainment, religion and other institutions play in upholding patriarchy

Matthew Allen

Jul 5, 2020

Singer Janelle Monae has long been an advocate of equal rights, and has never been shy on her stances against racism, sexism and discrimination toward the LGBTQ community.

Monae has always included social commentary in her work. As a singer, she promotes feminist ideals on albums like Electric Lady and Dirty Computer. Her TV show Homecoming and upcoming film Antebellum grapple with racism against Black Americans.

On Friday, the Grammy-nominated music artist took to social media to get some more things off her chest in terms of the misogyny in the music industry.

Monae posted several entries on her Twitter page to discuss her distaste for disrespectful rhetoric directed at women that some choose to use in hip-hop music and other genres.

“I really only ever wanna hear women rapping,” Monae wrote. “The amount of misogyny from most of men in rap and music is infuriating . We need to abolish that sh*t too .”

The tweet has received at least 5,000 retweets and 32,000 likes as of Sunday afternoon.

I really only ever wanna hear women rapping . The amount of misogyny from most of men in rap and music is infuriating . We need to abolish that shit too .

— Janelle Monáe👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) July 3, 2020

In her Twitter posts, Monae calls for men to “do the work” to destroy misogyny in both music lyrics and in the business, since men are the ones who “normalized” it.

“Y’all can’t wait to call women every b***h , hoe , discuss violent acts against women, etc for clout in rap, rock, and through out music history,” she posted.

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. 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 Monáe👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) July 3, 2020

Monae would go on to speak about how patriarchy has contributed to the oppression of women from many sources beyond just music.

“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 entertainer said.

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.

— Janelle Monáe👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) July 3, 2020

The “Make Me Feel” singer zeroed in on the way she thinks religion has played a part in patriarchy, especially.

“The way many RELIGIONS are used to oppress women and perpetuate misogynistic ideals to REMAIN IN POWER must be discussed WAY MORE and ABOLISHED,” she said.

The way many RELIGIONS are used to oppress women and prepetuate misogynistic ideals to REMAIN IN POWER must be discussed WAY MORE and ABOLISHED .

— Janelle Monáe👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) July 3, 2020

Monae was not above pointing the finger at herself, stating that “love and accountability go hand in hand.”

“A lot of my musical heroes and peers’ Work are problematic in many ways . And I just might be a problematic hero to someone,” she wrote.

A lot of my musical heroes and peers’ Work are problematic in many ways . And I just might be a problematic hero to someone.

— Janelle Monáe👽🚆🤖🚀🪐 (@JanelleMonae) July 3, 2020

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