Warning: Explicit Content I think there is a general issue with criticism of music, in which female artists face significantly more scrutiny than their male counter-parts, specifically in regards to their lyrics. A recent example would be the song WAP (an acronym for 'Wet Ass Pussy') by Cardi B featuring Megan Thee Stallion. The song, in explicit terms, describes the ways in which the two women wish to be pleasured by men. A departure from lyrics that in R&B traditionally focus on winning a man's affection/love, the song instead places emphasis on female pleasure and sexual empowerment. Whilst the song was successful commercially and critically, there was still a rather noticeable backlash surrounding the explicit nature of the lyrics. A lot of the criticism did unsurprisingly come from conservatives such as Ben Shapiro **[1]** and Republican James P Bradley **[2]**. This was always going to be the case from people with such conservative views, and yet what was more surprising (or perhaps not) was the reaction from seemingly more liberal people. Snoop Dogg, a rapper whose lyrics include "*I'm here to put this dick on you / I'm stuck on pussy and yours is right*" **[3]**, criticised the song, saying '*Let's have some privacy, some intimacy*", and suggested '*that should be a possession that no one gets to know about until they know about it*" **[4]**. The hypocrisy here is clear, and points to a larger issue of men still feeling they get the final say in what women can and can't sing about, and the double standards at play when dealing with sexuality. Comedian Russell Brand also came under fire, when he suggested that the song was an attempt to emulate a template of loud sexuality that had been created by men, rather than genuine female sexual expression **[5]**. The idea that singing about sex is reserved solely for men just serves to reinforce gender expectations, and is again a man telling women how they should express their sexuality. This double standard is further highlighted when you consider how little male rap lyrics make it into the mainstream news cycle. Rap has constantly been criticised as being misogynistic, with its over use of terms such as 'bitch' and 'hoe', yet the explicitness of rap lyrics seems to be accepted. One such example is the song Mood Swings by Pop Smoke, which hit number 5 in the UK Singles Chart, and number 17 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In other words, the song was absolutely in the mainstream consciousness. Mood Swings details having unprotected sex with women, featuring the lyrics "*Start rubbin' on your butt, start massagin' your breasts / I ain't wanna give you a baby just yet, so I backed out and nutted on your breasts*" **[6]**. The song is equally as graphic as WAP, and yet there is little conversation over whether the lyrics are disgusting or not. In fact, upon typing WAP into Google News (on 21/01/2021), the first article that comes up is Don McLean (singer of American Pie) calling the song disgusting **[7]**. In comparison, typing Mood Swings into Google News simply returns articles detailing it's success **[8]**. If nothing else, WAP served to highlight the issue that society has when it comes to women expressing their sexuality. There shouldn't be a conversation about whether it is disgusting, when rap lyrics sung by men have been sexualising women for decades to little discourse. The fact that the conversation only comes to the forefront when it is women singing about sex shows an inherent sexism in the way that music is criticised. REFERENCES **[1]** https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/cardi-b-ben-shapiro-wap-lyrics-feminism-megan-thee-stallion-a9664231.html **[2]** https://twitter.com/JamesBradleyCA/status/1291735105774522368?s=20 **[3]** https://genius.com/Akon-i-wanna-fuck-you-lyrics **[4]** https://www.revolt.tv/news/2020/12/12/22171581/snoop-dogg-criticizes-cardi-b-song-wap **[5]** https://twitter.com/rustyrockets/status/1294359385741950976?s=20 **[6]** https://genius.com/Pop-smoke-mood-swings-lyrics **[7]** https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=wap&sxsrf=ALeKk02EZ7dQLYyRwMYJNkGWrWxjYYtuhg:1611259726787&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiclZ-d6q3uAhWrSxUIHQamBfAQ_AUoA3oECBIQBQ&biw=1366&bih=625 **[8]** https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=mood+swings+pop+smoke&sxsrf=ALeKk02FPkzpAGhP0O3XQhkDOxKmdY75Wg:1611259756193&source=lnms&tbm=nws&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiqiaKr6q3uAhVKQRUIHZTbBkwQ_AUoA3oECBAQBQ&biw=1366&bih=625

**TL;DR: Criticism of music based on the main demographic of an artists listenership is sexist** As Thomas previously argued, female artists definitely get more criticism for explicit lyrics than male artists, where sexually explicit lyrics are normalised and accepted. However, I want to talk about the other side of music criticism. Why is it that artists that have a wider female audience are not taken as seriously as artists with a primarily male listenership? For example, pop music is often stereotyped as 'teenage girl' music. Bands such as One Direction, 5 Seconds of Summer, and The Wanted have a primarily female listenership. Personal preferences aside, you don't have to like this music to acknowledge that there are sexist notions behind the criticisms of these bands. As [Brodie Lancaster] (https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/881-pop-music-teenage-girls-and-the-legitimacy-of-fandom/) argues, 'there is no greater cultural crime a young girl can commit than loving pop music without apology ... when fame is girdled by a swelling teenage, female fanbase immediately, that celebrity becomes false, temporary and unearned'. This comes down to the accepted cultural idea that teenage girls are incapable of critically thinking about music in the way that their male counterparts are. Therefore, this is why often, the bands that are seen as 'good' and therefore 'cool' by media and in social circles have large male listenerships and 'cringe-worthy' and therefore 'bad' music have female fanbases.