OPINION: Grammy’s representation of women’s rights
Adam Kelly, Assistant Editor
The views and opinions expressed on in this article are soley those of the original author. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of The Vision NGU or North Greenville University.
Courtesy of unsplash.com
At the beginning of every year, award shows are held to honor celebrities for their work in the entertainment industry. From film to music, awards in the most obscure categories are given to people you’ve never heard of.
In recent years, political advances have made their way into several of these shows and continue to dominate discussion rather than the celebration of the winners. Currently, the issue of women’s rights has continued to grow as celebrities show their support to fight against discrimination in the workplace.
On Jan. 28, 2018, the 60th Annual Grammy Awards were broadcast live at Madison Square Gardens in New York City. And in the midst of the #MeToo, Times Up movements and the Larry Nassar scandal, there would definitely be discussion over women’s rights.
Earlier this year, during the Golden Globe Awards, men and women wore black to support the Times Up movement, which was announced at the beginning of 2018. The movement was created in response to the #MeToo movement during the Weinstein allegations.
At the Grammy’s, celebrities wore all-white and donned white roses on their outfits to peacefully protest against harassment and discrimination in the workplace. During the Grammy’s, two of the biggest moments that stood for women’s rights were Kesha’s performance of her song “Praying” and Janelle Monae’s speech on the Times Up movement, which introduced the act.
Singer and actor, Janelle Monae, gave a few short but authoritative words before Kesha took the stage.
“Artists, writers, assistants, publicists, CEOs, producers, engineers and women from all sectors of the business. We are also daughters, wives, mothers, sisters and human beings. We come in peace, but we mean business. And to those who would dare try and silence us, we offer you two words: Time’s up.”
Afterwards, several women including Cyndi Lauper, Andra Day, Julia Michaels, Camila Cabello and the Resistance Revival Chorus joined Kesha onstage for the performance. The powerful ballad represented Kesha’s legal battle with her producer, which went on for several years before she left the record label and began to make music on her own.
Overall, this year’s Grammy’s were about unification and solidarity and I support that. I am glad celebrities are speaking out against sexual harassment and discrimination, but there is a fine line that tends to be crossed over and over when it comes to gender equality.
Several issues come up such as false accusations made by ‘victims’ and the cry for greater equality even in the midst of these movements. Since celebrities have come forward with sexual harassment allegations in the past year, there have been many cases where stories were misconstrued or details were left out, which can result in the end of someone’s career.
Saying that, if someone has sexually harassed someone, they deserve punishment, but some accusations made have missing details the public will never know or find out about. People are too quick to jump to conclusions, and in turn, someone’s life is over because of a lie. To me, this isn’t fair to the accused and is disrespectful to actual victims of sexual harassment.
The crowd at the Grammy’s even had issues when Ed Sheeran won ‘Best Solo Performance’ for his song “Shape of You.” Boos were heard from the crowd, and people took to social media to complain about women not being represented in the music industry because there were very few female winners.
For me, Sheeran created a fantastic album in 2017 and he shouldn’t be discredited because he’s a man. This contrasts people’s complaints over Alessia Cara for winning ‘Best New Artist’ when other nominees should have won, even though she’s a woman.
I think if there are any issues with the Grammy’s voting system, it’s the people eligible to nominate and vote on winners. Regardless of gender, I believe the people voting receive compensation for certain choices. There is so much hidden behind the scenes, it’s hard to judge whether it’s an issue of gender or artists win because the system was rigged.
My main concern over the entire women’s rights movement is how much help victims of the general public are receiving rather than the celebrities. At the end of the day, celebrities, regardless of their gender, have more money and power and can play the game to their advantage when issues arise. If these celebrities truly believe in gender equality, they will help give victims of the general public the justice they deserve.
