Bitches and hoes

To be a victim it is necessary only to see yourself as one. “Victims” differ from the rest of humanity in perception alone. They are exposed to the same events, and to the same effects, in equal measure to the rest of our race. They just interpret them differently. Thus, their victim-hood is a self-fulfilling prophecy; their belief becomes interpretation and their interpretation manufactures their reality.

Here’s another self-fulfilling prophecy: the presence of “bitches and hoes” in the life of hip-hop and rap musicians. This is how it works.

The rapper believes the average women is unworthy of trust, interested only in pleasure and in alpha-status signals—wealth, respect, strength, power, ruthlessness, audacity.
The rapper raps about this belief. He infuses his music with derogatory terms and anecdotes that communicate the replace-ability, unremarkableness and low status of females. Occasionally, lyrics can be an ode to the female, but only if said female is of extraordinary physical form OR if she possesses “alpha-traits” that the rapper himself values: wealth, power, etc.
Most women find such beliefs repugnant and offensive, and absent themselves from any interaction with the rapper.
Thus, the women left surrounding and seeking interaction with the rapper are those who are interested only in pleasure and the “alpha-traits” that the rapper signals.

This creates a dilemma. Because all self-fulfilling prophecies—not just those lived out by rappers—begin with belief and are perpetuated by a positive feedback loop, they are hard to shatter. In fact, they can be broken only when the original belief is made redundant. And that is hard. Try telling a victim that they’re not a victim. Try telling a rapper that women are just as worthy as men. Try telling a Christian that God doesn’t exist. Try telling a scientist that more knowledge isn’t necessarily a good.

Belief doesn’t weaken in the face of resistance, it hardens. The more you try to pull it out, the deeper it embeds itself in the fertile soil of the self.