You Are Beautiful....No Matter What You Listen To

You Are What You Are (Beautiful) - Christina Aguilera

You are what you are. You are beautiful... No matter what they say. Words can't bring you down.

The 10th anniversary remix of the hit song Beautiful by Christina Aguilera describes an issue that's been bothering me. This issue is about musical tastes and stereotypes.

We're almost nearing year 2010 and equality and stereotypes should be long gone. However, from what I've noticed about many things stereotypes still exist; whether it be if blondes always have more fun/are clumsy or men always run the house. Sometimes stereotypes are unavoidable. What I mean to say is, yes, blondes aren't the only peoples that are clumsy, or Indian people don't all smell like curry and have accents, but sometimes seeing those notions on TV, or sometimes even in person just build it into our mind that sometimes when we say things based on a stereotype, it is accidental. There is one stereotype, however, that IS unavoidable and is sometimes made for non valid reasons. The stereotype I'm talking about is the stereotype of musical genre.

I don't come from a very musical background in my family history (well at least not that I know of), but I do appreciate music in all of its forms. My iTunes library consists of various genres including Pop, Hip-Hop/Rap, Country, Rock, Alternative/Punk, R&B, World and more. This leads to me having a love for many artists; Hilary Duff, Lady GaGa, Eminem, Akon, Billy Talent, Good Charlotte, Green Day, Spice Girls, Alexisonfire, Usher, Massari, Destiny's Child, Jennifer Lopez, Bollywood and more. Something that bothers is me when people generalize music in 2 categories: Guy and Girl

These two categories have existed for a long time. In elementary school I remember girls would giggle or joke if they learned a boy listened to Britney Spears. In the same way, the boys would make fun of that kid or avoid him because of this. In high school when people learned of more adult words and concepts, that same boy (now a teen) would be called gay. Such a big accusation (yes, accuse is a very strong word) simply because of this boy's choice in music.

My question is, why is music categorized in what guys SHOULD like and what girls SHOULD like? Why can't guys enjoy the likes of pop music or to that extent, female artists, without being either made fun of or looked upon as strange? Are the other people that make fun of such people so insecure with themselves that they have to pick a part others' choice in music? This brings me to another question/scenario. Are some men so threathened with their masculinity that they can't listen to female sungs? Having gone through many friends, I've met some guys who won't even listen to a song sung by a girl because they feel those songs are "chick songs." Please. There's a difference between not listening to a song because you don't like it and because its sung by a female. To accentuate my point even more, this person DID like a few songs from that female singer before and then suddenly didn't want to hear them simply because they were sung by a girl.
Why has it come to this?

I'm not going to ramble on about this issue (I could write pages), but I am going to say that a guy isn't any less masculine or gay simply because he listens to diverse music or music sung by a female(s). A genre doesn't haven't to be stereotyped to be listened to only buy a guy or girl. I've always been open to my diverse musical tastes as described above. Throughout the years (yes, a cliche line used in the opening of many essays/papers) I've gone through people making fun of me because of my musical tastes. If not always serious, I've had people joke around that I should listen to "more manly music" or that I'm "gay" simply because of my musical choice. What is "manly music"? The stereotypes would say music that is sung by guys and then would further state real men listen to either rock or rap. Listening to music such as Backstreet Boys or N'Sync (not my favourite artists but just an example), although sung by guys isn't manly because its "too boyband". These stereotypes exist for those people who aren't comfortable with themselves that they pick on others for petty things as such. However, because this has been going on so long, just like other stereotypes, the musical stereotype has also become one that is sometimes passed by people without thinking why they are making that stereotype.

Music has been made to enjoy. It has been made for enterntainment. It has been made as a drug to help people find an out when in difficult or stressful situations. It has been made for people to relate to or relate with. Consequently, like many other things, music should not become stereotyped into categories for guys or girls. It should not be stereotyped AT ALL. (Other stereotypes of music that I didn't bring up include racial stereotypes -- African/Jamaican people listen to Rap, Caucasians listen to Rock etc.) Music should be listened to for its purpose and that's for enjoyment, enternatinment or as a remedy, as a drug, or something to relate with. Thus, no stereotypes should be made.

I no longer let people's judgement based on my music affect me. I'm comfortable enough with myself and with who I am that I don't need people's stereotypes to build my lifestyle. In that sense, I've also picked apart who my real friends are. If anyone reading can relate to this blog, my strongest recommendation is to not let people's stereotypes affect you and question to yourself (or if you're blunt enough to them) why they are making such judgements. It's not you, it's them (trust me). If you are reading and are one of the guilty ones, I hope this blog gets through to you. Lastly, if you are reading simply because you follow this blog, or because I sent you here to read, thank you for reading my rambling.

Like Christina Aguilera says, You Are What You Are. You Are Beautiful...no matter what you listen to.