Seabury Stoneburner
Nina Perez
WST 3015
8 March 2010
“Gonna Beat My Wife”
People cannot go a day without hearing some sort of music, whether actually listening to the legit song or hearing it in the background of an ad. Media has used music for many years to influence people’s minds to all sorts of ideas. Some music can have great meaning behind them with great motivation; however, others are quite opposite. Unfortunately in our society today, there are songs that represent violence. Not just violence alone, but also strong violence against women.
It is unfortunate that our society listens to such music that contains these horrible ideas about violence against females. A prime example of these types of songs is Dead Milkmen’s “Gonna Beat My Wife”. The title alone is terribly offensive to all women. In the song’s defense, when one listens to it, it seems like it was written for more ironic humor than actually attempting to influence someone to abuse his wife. Although, it is probably very rare that someone would actually listen to this song today because it is not available on Itunes nor, to my knowledge, has it been used in any media. It is not much of a shocker that a song with these lyrics would not be very popular among the crowd.
If one were to just read the lyrics to “Gonna Beat My Wife”, their negative emotions would sky rocket in disgust and rage. The musician clearly defines that men have dominant control over their wives by stating over and over again how he is “gonna beat” his wife. The musician even goes into detail on different methods for his success, such as hitting her with a lead pipe, hitting her with a truck, or even chasing her down with a lawn mower. Another idea one might consider after reading these lyrics is that these violent actions seem to be a repetitive, similar to the Megan Seely’s “Intimate-Partner Violence Cycle”. This cycle goes through serious of stages, including the “Honeymoon”, “Denial”, “Tension Building”, and finally “Explosion of Violence” (190). The period of this song seems to be taken place somewhere in between the “Tension Building” and “Explosion of Violence” stages. His anger or tension is rising and he is plotting out his method of violence. The musician is spitting out ways to hurt her and even states; “It happens”. The woman seems to have absolutely no power in the relationship and possibly in denial that this all occurs, once again demonstrating the Megan Seely’s “Intimate-Partner Violence Cycle” (189).
Some of the lines throughout the song could have more of an under lying meaning if so interpreted. The lyrics throughout the song somewhat demonstrate that the man is going to home and beat his wife. Unfortunately not all homes are considered safe; “For many women and children, however, home is not a safe place but one where they experience emotional or physical violence” (Kirk 260). Sadly his wife is taking the path of least resistance and continuing to live in a negative living environment. One might insinuate that the song has some sort of sexual abuse toward the woman because the phrase “finger lickin”. Although no clearly define sexual activity is stated in the song, this could be a settle hint. Another line that may have some minor meaning to it may be “at the shelter”. This could mean that these two characters are citizens of the lower class, which may suggest that abusive behavior towards an intimate partner occurs more within that class.
This song could be used for feminist to prove their point about violence against women. Clearly many men are not aware of the importance of this topic. If there are men out there who are willing to create such structure advertising the violence, then obviously they do not see a real issue. This is a problem in our society because there are many relationships that actually do exist like the one demonstrated throughout the lyrics. Dead Milkmen may not have had the intention of promoting a lot of angry women; however, more than likely this gave a rise to most feminists who are deeply involved with fighting against violent aggression towards women.
Work Cited:
Dead Milkmen. "Gonna Beat My Wife." Rec. 1 Jan. 1988. Beelzebubba. Grooveshark. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.
Kirk, Gwyn and Okazawa-Rey, Margo. "Violence Against Women." Women's Lives Multicultural Perspectives. 5th Ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 257-271.
Seely, Megan. Fight Like a Girl: How to be a Fearless Feminist. New York and London: New York University Press, 2007.
I never knew that song existed like this until we started our blogs on these songs. This one is perhaps that most powerful song that I have heard. I really liked how you analyzed the song. I agree with you in stating that this song could easily promote violence against women with their lyrics that they selected. I'm glad that you mentioned that the artist states, "It happens." This let peole know, espeically men, that it is okay to punish your wife through these various tactics of physical and emotional pain. This is the key problem. There are many artists who are making it seem that "wife/women beating" is normal and that is isn't a problem. This is one of the reasons why feminist cannot simply sit behind as, as you mentioned, take the path of least resistence. Change will come when both men and women decide to, if not eliminate this music, at least inform ingnorant people what this music really is and how it really hurts women. Once again, I enjoyed your analysis of this song.
ReplyDeleteFor so long in history, religion, and law, wives were the property of their husbands. Beating them was just a good way to discipline their property. Although we don't generally believe that the definition of wife is one who submits to a husband, domestic violence is still real and people literally go home to beat their wives. I think this song and your analysis highlights the emotions behind a wife beater.
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