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Abstract
A recurrent cultural trope in Western culture is that ‘real’ love hurts. Great love affairs are tempestuous: they can involve suffocating intensity, emotional and perhaps physical pain. The giddying see-saw of highs and lows can hollow out one or both partners, yet, it is believed, also makes them whole.
In 2015, the UK enacted legislation to criminalise ‘coercive control’. Drawing on the foundational work of Stark (2009), the term refers to the use of coercion, isolation, threats or similar behaviours to control an intimate partner or family member. There are wider societal shifts too in challenging both sexual harassment and abuse (#MeToo, Everyday Sexism Project) and constraining gender norms such as toxic masculinity (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005; Kupers, 2005) or indeed toxic femininity.
It is interesting then that dominance, submission and coercive control continue to be eroticised in the lyrics of contemporary pop music. This may on the one hand reflect the steadfastness of patriarchal thinking and practice (MacKinnon, 1989; Millett, 1970), or it may signal a social and cultural resonance in dominance and in submission, which does not equate simply with abuse or coercion. These varying accounts in part mirror the fault lines between current feminist narratives on the nature of empowerment and agency.
This chapter presents an analysis of five recent Top 20 UK tracks and draws on Ryle’s (1949) concept of a ‘category mistake’ to argue that coercive control and abuse are mis-labelled as ‘willing masochism’ or ‘female empowerment’. I argue that castigating the writers and performers of such music neglects how we are all subject to, and potentially co-creators of, the patriarchal practices which eroticise dominance and submission
In 2015, the UK enacted legislation to criminalise ‘coercive control’. Drawing on the foundational work of Stark (2009), the term refers to the use of coercion, isolation, threats or similar behaviours to control an intimate partner or family member. There are wider societal shifts too in challenging both sexual harassment and abuse (#MeToo, Everyday Sexism Project) and constraining gender norms such as toxic masculinity (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005; Kupers, 2005) or indeed toxic femininity.
It is interesting then that dominance, submission and coercive control continue to be eroticised in the lyrics of contemporary pop music. This may on the one hand reflect the steadfastness of patriarchal thinking and practice (MacKinnon, 1989; Millett, 1970), or it may signal a social and cultural resonance in dominance and in submission, which does not equate simply with abuse or coercion. These varying accounts in part mirror the fault lines between current feminist narratives on the nature of empowerment and agency.
This chapter presents an analysis of five recent Top 20 UK tracks and draws on Ryle’s (1949) concept of a ‘category mistake’ to argue that coercive control and abuse are mis-labelled as ‘willing masochism’ or ‘female empowerment’. I argue that castigating the writers and performers of such music neglects how we are all subject to, and potentially co-creators of, the patriarchal practices which eroticise dominance and submission
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Misogyny, toxic masculinity, and heteronormativity in post-2000 popular music |
| Editors | Glenn Fosbraey, Nicola Puckey |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| Chapter | 1 |
| Pages | 15-35 |
| Number of pages | 21 |
| Edition | 1 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 978-3-030-65189-3 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-3-030-65188-6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 22 Apr 2021 |
Publication series
| Name | Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan |
| ISSN (Print) | 2662-9364 |
| ISSN (Electronic) | 2662-9372 |
Research Groups and Themes
- SPS Centre for Gender and Violence Research
Keywords
- Coercive control
- Songs
- Popular music
- Dominance
- Eroticisation
- Submission
- Abuse
- Popular Culture
- Domestic abuse
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (author accepted manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Palgrave Macmillan at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65189-3_2. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
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Dive into the research topics of 'Should real love hurt? The eroticisation of dominance, submission and coercive control in contemporary pop music'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.Research output
- 1 Chapter in a book
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Seaside Ports, Coastal Cities and Tropical Islands: Songs of Sex Work and Inequality by the Sea
Mulvihill, N., 30 Dec 2022, Coastal Environments in Popular Song: Lost Horizons. Fosbraey, G. (ed.). 1 ed. New York: Routledge, p. 83-100 18 p. (Routledge Advances in the History of Bioethics).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter in a book
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