Workplace music that is degrading toward women may constitute sexual harassment, according to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court ruling was in response to a lawsuit against a clothing manufacturer in which plaintiffs complained that the misogynistic music “blasted” throughout the manufacturer’s warehouse was offensive. The ruling raises questions about what music is appropriate for the workplace.
The suit alleges that S&S Activewear permitted its managers and employees to routinely play “sexually graphic, violently misogynistic” music throughout its 700,000-square-foot warehouse in Reno, Nevada. The eight plaintiffs were offended by songs that used offensive terms like “hos” and “bitches” and contained themes that denigrated women. The complaint mentions Eminem’s “Stan”, which they allege, “described extreme violence against women, detailing a pregnant woman being stuffed into a car trunk and driven into water to be drowned.” The plaintiffs also mentioned music by rapper Too $hort. Despite their frequent complaints regarding the music, the plaintiffs claim that warehouse management maintained that the songs were “motivational.”
The judge initially dismissed the case in a federal district court. However, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco overturned that decision this month, citing other cases which found “the use of sexually degrading, gender-specific epithets, such as ‘slut,’ ‘cunt,’ ‘whore,’ and ‘bitch,’ has been consistently held to constitute harassment based upon sex.”
“Although we have not before addressed the specific issue of music-as-harassment, this court and our sister circuits have recognized Title VII redress for other auditory offenses in the workplace and for derogatory conduct to which all employees are exposed,” the court wrote in their decision.
With the court’s pronouncement, the question of music’s potential to constitute harassment enters uncharted legal territory. If lyrics can be deemed harassing, musical choices from several genres may face greater scrutiny at work.
Charis Kubrin, a rap music expert and professor at the University of California, Irvine, studied misogyny in rap music. Although her findings show that in the late 1990s, about one in five rap songs had misogynistic lyrics, she says that misogyny is not limited to rap music. “Country music, rock lyrics, all of the different genres of music have quite misogynistic themes,” she explains.
Nonetheless, words like “ho” and “bitch” which were explicitly mentioned in the S&S lawsuit, are more prevalent in rap music than in some other genres. Popular music streaming services allow users to filter explicit content, eliminating many of these derogatory names for women. However, there is no option to filter misogynistic themes.
Based on her research, Kubrin pinpointed several rap music themes that portray women in a derogatory manner, including the sexual objectification of women. “Women are essentially there to be sexual pleasure for men,” Kubrin explains. This theme is problematic for the workplace because we see women as less intelligent when objectified. Other rap themes included violence against women and distrust of women—also not desirable messages for women trying to advance at work.
Again, Kubrin emphasizes that these themes are not exclusive to rap and points to The Rolling Stones’ “Under My Thumb” as an example. Mick Jagger sings of gaining control over a pushy woman and compares the process to training a “pet,” a “Siamese cat” and a “squirming dog.” Similarly, Robin Thicke’s number-one pop single, “Blurred Lines,” received criticism for reinforcing rape myths and trivializing sexual violence.
In fact, more than one-third of pop songs degrade or demean women by portraying them as submissive or sexually objectified, according to one study of lyrics from more than 400 top Billboard songs released between 2006 and 2016. Another analysis of rock videos found that the majority depicted women as passive, dependent on men, or accenting their physical appearance. And a study of country music songs from the 1980s through the 2010s found that depictions of men shifted over time from the typical breadwinner role to providing women alcohol and places to hook up. In other words, the misogyny problem is pervasive.
As for playing Eminem or other artists at work, the courts will have to decide what types of music, if any, constitute sexual harassment. If lyrics can be deemed to violate Title VII, it may be tough to find playlists that portray women as men’s equals.
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