The local hip hop community has been in the spotlight this week following the backlash against Bliss N Eso after a series of offensive instagram photos by MC Eso.
As the chorus grew louder against the reprehensible and misogyntic comments made by MC Eso on domestic violence and women in general, a number of Aussie hip hop musicians also threw their hands up in the air condemning the photos and the comments that went along with them.
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Now Sydney MC Chance Waters has joined that chorus, urging for the conversation to turn away from witch hunt to a focus on the very real issue of domestic violence and why jokes at the expense of those suffering are in no way funny.
In an open letter posted on Chance Waters Facebook page, the MC said that he considers Eso a friend and is a fan of his music and doesn’t think there was intended malice in what he did, or that he felt he was condoning domestic violence. “But none of that has an impact on the important parts of this whole situation,” Waters writes.
“It took me a long time and a lot of mistakes to realise intentions don’t matter when it comes to our impact in these situations. Being a man, particularly being a white man, means constantly having to evaluate your decisions in regards to a social system which is massively skewed against every other social group to your benefit.”
“Being a man, particularly being a white man, means constantly having to evaluate your decisions in regards to a social system which is massively skewed against every other social group to your benefit.”“This applies especially to those of us in the public sphere because all of our actions are amplified, without getting into what I believe is a systemic issue with misogyny in the hip hop scene in Australia I think this situation and how many people were fine with it is reflective of a glaring, systemic social problem. ”
“The privilege that comes with being a male makes it exceptionally easy to display insensitivity to a whole host of social injustices and to treat them as something which can be joked about or glazed over; primarily because you are used to being allowed to take whatever social position you want without chagrin.”
“Our privilege is ingrained to the extent we get casually offended and feel our rights are being trod on when we’re told we can’t take a social issue that impacts a group of people and use it for our amusement. It doesn’t matter what you intend in situations where you upset or marginalize other people, what matters is those victims or survivors experience of your actions and the potential implications on their rights. “
“Somewhere in your suburb right now there are women who are being physically abused by male members of their household.”“My mum worked in a woman’s shelter for an extended period of time so I’ve seen the impact of domestic violence in Australia first hand, somewhere in your suburb right now there are women who are being physically abused by male members of their household. The great majority of violence in Australia is perpetrated by men, with much of that towards women.”
“One woman a week dies from domestic violence in Australia and it doesn’t take much reasoning to figure out most domestic assaults are non fatal and that this is only the smallest sliver of a massive, barely talked about iceberg. One in three women in Australia will be physically assaulted by a man, for many people that means one of the women within your own household will at some point experience inter gender violence. “
“So basically what I am trying to say is that it is easy to dismiss peoples upset in these situations as political correctness and to write the catalyst off as ‘just a joke’ (which clearly it was intended to be) but it doesn’t matter what the intentions were of an action like this when the stakes are so high.”
“The impact of making these jokes in a massively public medium is twofold; for one it operates as a silent nod to those committing or who may commit domestic assault (because they see their crimes as something to be joked about) and secondly because it marginalises and makes light of the situation of victims, many of whom already struggle to speak out about their situation for a host of reasons.”
“This could be a tipping point in male attitudes towards women within the hip hop scene in Australia.”“I think Eso has done the right thing by apologizing and acknowledging the insensitivity of his posts, in my opinion there’s little to be gained from witch hunting him as a few sites are encouraging; there are simply much bigger fish to fry.”
“The real problem is not just the jokes he made but how readily accepted they were by the majority of people who read them and what this says about our cultural awareness of this situation. When a generally progressive and well liked artist who himself would never engage in violence against women feels comfortable engaging in obvious misogyny there is evidence of a much bigger problem – I feel this probably goes for all of us. “
“The opportunity here is to use this rare dialogue about domestic violence in Australia to try and educate people on why those jokes were offensive, why it didn’t matter that they were infact jokes and the fact the subject is a massive problem right now and not a specter of the past. It should also be an opportunity for all male artists (myself definitely included) to learn from this situation, check our privilege and attempt to do more good than harm with our actions.”
“Rather than be a two day witch hunt which divides people further this could be a tipping point in male attitudes towards women within the hip hop scene in Australia and the dialogue around it, something that I believe is drastically needed.”
MC Eso has since deleted the offensive photos and commentary, and apologised to fans. “Violence against women has no place in our society and I am sincerely sorry for the offence(sic) that my previous Instragram posts have caused. The photos were not intended to promote violence and were shot in a comedic manner, which upon reflection I realise was in bad taste and unacceptable”
