Time for some good news. This week my colleague Sharon Haywood of Adios Barbie received news from MTV that it would not air Kanye West’s Monster video. Collective Shout and I had teamed up with Adios Barbie and other global women’s groups to try to stop release of the video and screening by MTV. I wrote a number of pieces against this ‘rape scenario set to a sound track’ (here, here and here), we launched a petition through Care2 and Change.org and momentum gathered, attracting international media coverage. Now MTV has responded. I’ll allow Sharon to take up the story, with a reprint of her blog post here.
By Sharon Haywood, Co-Editor
It’s official folks, and you heard it here first: MTV and VH1 will not air Kanye West’s “Monster” video. Jeannie Kedas of MTV Networks, which also controls VH1, has recently confirmed that neither channel “has plans to air the video.” Kedas cited MTV’s voluntary standards department as a guiding force in their choice, but you can bet that our collective online movement against the official release of “Monster” also had something to do with MTV’s principled decision.
When I first watched the leaked clips of “Monster” I was so infuriated and disturbed that I couldn’t just say, “That’s an incredibly offensive and misogynistic music video. Wow, artists are really pushing the limits, aren’t they?” and get on with my day. In the past, there have been countless media messages that have riled me up, but never have I been so affected than after watching those unofficial clips for the first time. My stomach literally turned as I took in images of nearly naked dead women hanging from chains, a contorted dead woman splayed on a couch wearing nothing but red stilettos, and two dead woman propped up in bed being maneuvered like playthings by Kanye himself. Oh yeah, don’t forget Kanye gripping the hair of a woman’s severed head. I couldn’t just sit by and tweet how P O’ed I was. I’m so glad I didn’t.
In January, I paired up with author and activist Melinda Tankard Reist to create a petition targeted at MTV and Universal Music Group (UMG) to prevent the mass release of these misogynistic images being touted as art. With the support of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Australia, Collective Shout, Amanda Kloer of Change.org, Samer Rabadi of the Petition Site by Care2.com, and my colleague, co-editor/founder of Adios Barbie Pia Guerrero, we circulated two petitions, where we were met with your overwhelming support of over 21,000 signatures. In late February, as the number of signatures continued to climb, I communicated with Kedas who informed me that the network “would not air the current version,” a success that we shared on our Facebook page. MTV followed up shortly thereafter to clear away rumors of a “Monster” ban. They posted this statement on their website:
“The video was submitted to MTV, but it wasn’t banned; rather, edits were requested based on the channel’s decency standards.
MTV has not banned Kanye West’s ‘Monster’ video,” the network said in a statement to MTV News. “We have been in constant communication with the label regarding this matter. However, we are still awaiting the edits we requested in order for the video to be suitable for broadcast.”
So, we waited and continued to speak out against the use of eroticized violence as mainstream viewing. On June 5th, the official release of the long-awaited version of “Monster” appeared online. The only thing that was strikingly different from the leaked clips was the disclaimer at the beginning of the video: “The following content is in no way to be interpreted as misogynistic or negative towards any groups of people. It is an art piece and shall be taken as such.” It might as well have read: “Warning: The following content may cause physical and emotional upset such as nausea and seething anger” because the final cut still contained the same sexually violent images that sparked our activism in the first place. It’s obvious that the inclusion of a disclaimer tells us that someone at Def Jam, UMG, or even West himself is paying attention to our protest. Note to artists and producers: A disclaimer does not erase nor excuse misogynistic content.
We want to publicly acknowledge and applaud MTV Networks for choosing not to air “Monster.” We congratulate MTV for reinforcing the fact that violence against women, even if couched in a horror-film format, should never be used as a way to engage and entertain viewers, many of who are under the age of 18. We need you to let others know that MTV is acting as a leader by recognizing that eroticized violence in no way, shape, or form, is entertainment. (Here’s their Facebook page. Like ‘em.)
And what about UMG, the other target of our petitions? Despite my many attempts to procure an official statement, UMG has nothing to say on the record. Some may argue that UMG shouldn’t be held accountable, as the company is not responsible for the creation of West’s content; the artist’s own record company Def Jam assumes that role. Instead, UMG focuses solely on distribution (as is indicated in the copyright at the end of “Monster”). Thanks to MTV, there aren’t many distribution options left for the video. (Here’s MTV’s Twitter handle. Thank them personally. I have.)
It’s high time that media big guns, like UMG follow MTV’s lead and recognize that profits can still be gained by taking a socially responsible stand—not in spite of doing so, but because of it. As your support has shown, there are a growing number of consumers who give more than a damn about what choices are offered to them as entertainment. Corporate bigwigs need to also realize that our work is not yet done. Far from it. Our petitions did not target the music industry as a whole but instead we focused on a single video as taking one step toward positive change. As Change.org says,
“We believe that building momentum for social change globally means empowering citizen activists locally — and that the influence of a local victory is always much larger than the change it immediately achieves.”
The sum of many small victories means notable social change. We know that the video’s lack of distribution will not eliminate the presence of misogyny in the music industry. But at least we know we’re moving in the right direction. We’ve been heard. And we’re fairly sure that the music industry will continue to listen.
Stay tuned.
* * *
Read the text of our petition that was distributed by The Petition Site and Change.org.
Check out Pia Guerrero’s “Deconstructing Kanye’s ‘Monster’” published a week after our petition went live.
Samer Rabadi of The Petition Site interviews Sharon Haywood shortly after the petition launch.
6 Responses
Thank you Melinda and Sharon for taking up this fight and your perseverance with these companies. How lovely it is to have a win occasionally! We are indebted to you both.
wow, no one on here can see the artistic aspect of this video. Everyone is so quick to judge and close their minds. All you people are fucking pussies, that take shit to serious, eeze up a bit.
I didn’t get the vibe that yall got. Congratulations on suppressing the art industry because of your personal biases.
Artistic freedom. Boy am I sick of hearing that one. Have a look at this, from the good old US of A, also home to the makers of this video.
Studies by the Surgeon General’s office reveal that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44, more common than automobile accidents, muggings, and cancer deaths combined. Other research has found that half of all women will experience some form of violence from their partners during marriage, and that more than one-third are battered repeatedly every year. Source: Journal of American Medical Association, 1990.
Yes, this is from 1990. But the stats haven’t changed. If anything they have got worse. The prevalence and severity of domestic violence is influenced heavily by whether or not the community condones it. (and my source for that last part is a recent book by a male professional who has worked with perpetrators for 15 years). Letting this video go unchallenged is condoning violence, specifically violence against women. Not only condoning, but glamourising it. That is not okay and I will continue to say so.
I could quote more statistics – there is unfortunately a wealth of them to be had. Try this one for size:
One in five female high school students reports being physically or sexually abused by a dating partner. Source: Massachusetts Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), August 2001.
But here’s the point: there are billions of ways to express yourself artisitically that don’t involved glorifying violence. That don’t rely on stereotypically sexually styled, brutalised women’s bodies for entertainment. Use some imagination in your art and don’t talk to me about artisitic freedom for rich singers and richer still companies while women in so-called civilised and free countries are NOT free from violence and death at the hands of their partners.
What if, now hear me out, he is calling “domestic violence” something monstrous and awful to do? The whole time he is calling himself a monster as he does all these things. Eh?
Maybe he is, John. But if he were serious about combatting this very real problem he would not be surrounding himself with stylised, sexed-up, voyeuristically-thrilling (not to me, but I assume they are to someone, or they wouldn’t have spent so much money on the styling and filiming) dead models (yes, I know they are not really dead). If he wanted to portray the monstrousness of violence against women, he could show real women living in fear. He could show real (or mocked up, it can’t be more expensive that what he normally does) shelters full of women with broken bones and scars and scared kids. He could show video of the men who meet their wives coming out of the courts where they have just obtained restraining orders with guns. He could show pictures of the women who appeared on Oprah last year (unfortunately I can’t remember her name) who was terrorised for years by her cop husband who never physically damaged her until she tried to leave – whereupon he doused her in petrol and set her alight.
While he is profitting from glamourised images of brutalised and murdered women, he is part of the problem. While he is doing that, I can only see his lyrics as hypocritcal. If he is serious and doesn’t get how hypocritical this video is, maybe he should have asked some women, or better still, some victims of violence, what they thought of glamourising it. Preferably before he made it, but since so many people have objected, he could still do it now. As far as I can see, he doesn’t seem to be though. Gee, I wonder why that is? Could it have anything to do with money?
If you want to make an artistic statement about domestic violence, or any kind of violence, there are millions of ways to do that which don’t contribute to the problem.