Take Back Labor Day

The event I attended was the Take Back Labor Day concert sponsored by the Service Employees International Union (and Miller as it appeared) on Harriet Island on Sept. 1st (which also happened to be my birthday). The concert also coincided with the RNC making it not only an artistic event but also an activist one. The concert wasn't directly related to feminist issues, but because of its emphasis on Labor Day and because of its anti-RNC attitude, I feel like it was an event that addressed important issues for women, even if not directly.
I showed up to the event slightly late due to ridiculous amounts of bike traffic in downtown and the hordes of riot police directing people in all directions. I attended the event with my male roommate and one of the first things that happened was that my roommate was told that he wasn't allowed to bring in his messenger bag. No one had anything to say about my over-sized "purse" which I found interesting. I guess it was just one of those things that made me notice the gender roles that are kind of just forced on us without much thought.
The performers I saw at the concert were all what I (as a non hiphop listener) would call hiphop, specifically Mos Def, Atmosphere and Pharcyde. Between the sets video clips were shown, most of which were fairly explicitly against the RNC and Republican politics. Issues were addressed such as equal rights for all workers and the importance of unions.
For the most part, I found that the performers treated women fairly, which for me as someone who primarily hears hiphop in the Top40 radio sense, the lack of mention of "bitches" and "hos" was rather refreshing. The last group, though, performed in front of a montage of their videos and footage of them that seemed to be from the 90s. These videos showed images of the women generally referred to as "bitches" and "hos" and displayed them in a way that I found "negative". So, despite the fact that the bitches and hos were not directly referenced in the music, the fact that they were still displayed in the traditional woman as object to be viewed manner made me uncomfortable. I remember thinking to myself at the concert that I was uncomfortable with these images. I didn't feel comfortable, however, with my group of male friends, objecting to the images. My reaction I think says something about I guess the state of our society. The fact that we see things we object to, but do not confront the discomfort for fear of being seen as "a crazy feminist" or just "hysterical" saddens me. Also interesting to me in retrospect, is the fact that none of the males in my group seemed to even notice the images...or at least it didn't stop them from bobbing along to the music.