Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T10:32:08.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

7 - From Bros to Gentlemen

The Problem of Consent in Contemporary Country Music

from Part II - Codes of Conduct

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2023

Paula J. Bishop
Affiliation:
Bridgewater State University
Jada E. Watson
Affiliation:
University of Ottawa
Get access

Summary

Themes of contemporary country music during the 2010s moved from “bro-country” songs promoting alcohol consumption, partying, and hook-up culture, toward tracks outlining consensual, presumed heterosexual, romantic relationships. Close listening to these “gentlemanly” songs reveals a specter of coercion, raising questions about the nature of consent. Using music by Sam Hunt and Thomas Rhett as case studies, this chapter investigates how male country artists represent romantic relationships as an idealized goal where consent is implied rather than expressly indicated. Case studies unravel how silent partners are pressurized and narrators hear or assume “yes” where no consent is offered. Investigations of songs by chart-dominating male country artists allow us to notice how and when in these songs women’s voices may be heard, silenced, or made irrelevant. Applicable beyond just country music, this chapter offers a means for understanding how the idea of consent manifests within popular musics more broadly.

Type
Chapter
Information
Whose Country Music?
Genre, Identity, and Belonging in Twenty-First-Century Country Music Culture
, pp. 102 - 115
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×