Essay Plan...

Is contemporary reggae music being used by black males as a form of personal expression to promote homophobic attitudes, resulting in the objection towards homosexuality becoming a dominant ideology within society? With reference to the reggae sub genre, Dancehall.

[The main structure or viewpoint of my argument is that YES, contemporary reggae music is being used by black males as a form of personal expression to promote homophobic values as a dominant ideology.

Firstly, I will introduce the topic and argument, giving a few brief examples of songs and artists that have been caught up in this issue, I will also make clear the importance of ideology and the briefly touch on the way homophobia as a dominant way of living could effect society, looking at audience reception theory, hegemony etc.

I will then consider why this seems to be such a major problem in the black community, giving me a chance to call upon, Nandy, colonialism, the 'Other', Stuart Hall research into the black clown, queer theory and also the so called crisis in masculinity.

In addition I will go on to look at contemporary reggae music, Dancehall and its immense popularity, in more depth and really starting to analyse the problem, introducing their counterparts such as gay rights group Outrage! and their protests.

I will then compare contemporary dancehall music to the original form of reggae music that was more politically and historically aware and inspiring, looking at Bob Marley, the roots movement and the domination of the rastafari, but whilst doing this comparison I will take into consideration the wider contexts of the time in which contemporary reggae music was made and the historical reggae music was made...Considering social, historical, economical and political influences at each respective times. Whilst looking at original reggae texts in the 70s I will then look to the late 80s and early 90s when things changed and when doing this will talk about the 'coming out' phenomenon giving a brief background on homosexuality and its worldwide growth. It will also give me a chance to slightly talk about post-feminism and the empowerment of women after the 2nd wave of feminism in the 70s and the effect that might of had on the way men thought of women.

The comparison in effect providing an understanding as to musically WHY the attitude has changed

However it is important that while I consider various theories etc, I must link them to its effect on the black community as that will provide essential evidence in proving that many black males have grown to be homophobic and are now pumping those values through their music.

After this I will then offer an opposing argument to the question...mentioning the rastafari beliefs that it is their right and duty to talk about things that oppose rastafari or Jah, I will also talk about the extreme popularity of Dancehall music within mainly white European countries that are much more accepting of homosexuality which surely rubbishes the suggestions provoked by the question also talking about the rising phenomenon of 'gay ragga dances' implying that dancehall music is simply a form of entertainment and is having no alternative effect on audiences worldwide.

I will finish the essay by concluding the argument by picking the key points of my evidence that has already been displayed in the essay to say the homophobic attitudes of the majority of young black males artists combined with their 'availability' to spread their own thoughts through music to a passive audiences (reception theory, hegemony) is resulting in a campaign to promote the objection of homosexuality as a dominant ideology in society.]

Books:

Bradley, Lloyd: Reggae: The Story Of Jamaican Music. London: BBC.

Wilton, Tamsin: Sexual (Dis) Orientation: Gender, Sex, Desire and Self fashioning. Palgrave Macmillan.

Archer, John and Lloyd, Barbara: Sex and Gender. Cambridge University Press

Connel, R.W.: Gender and Power. Blackwell Publishers

Lancaster, Roger and di Leonardo, Michaela: The Gender and Sexuality Reader. Routledge

Clark, Vivienne and Baker, James and Lewis, Eileen: Key Concepts and Skills for Media Studies. Hodder and Stoughton

MacKinnon, Kenneth: Representing men: Maleness and Masculinity in the Media. London. Arnold Publishers

Hall, Stuart: "Cultural Studies: two paradigms" in Media, Culture and Society 2, London.

Hall, Stuart: Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, London.

Websites:

http://media.guardian.co.uk/race/0,11027,584215,00.html

http://www.queertheory.com

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/sections/display.php?subcat=Queer+Theory&cat=Gender%2C+Ethnicity

http://theoryhead.com/gender/

http://www.uiowa.edu/~commstud/resources/GenderMedia/index.html

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/sections/go.php?url=

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/ota9902.zip&f=1

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Students/mtw9402.html

http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/

http://archive.salon.com/news/col/crouch/2000/04/19/images/index.html?CP=SAL&DN=110