Hip Hop VS. Rape Culture

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Hi I’m Heidi Barton Stink,
I’m a transgender activist and HipHop artist based out of Minneapolis. I use she and her pronouns and I’d like to talk about practicing good consent. All my best writing is in song form and It took more than a year to get a version that I felt comfortable with. I had rosier ideas about community accountability processes when I started writing it, but I think anymore revisions would have put it dead in the water. But if this song helps expand on a dialogue about consent anywhere, then it was worth the time I put into it. This is called Consent Song and it’s on my new album A Charming Gut…

I usually don’t like posting my lyrics, but I thought I’d make an exception, Read along with me won’t you?

-we ain’t the legal system with the burden of proof
placed upon the same person who survived the abuse
we trust in survivors even if they do sexwork
and spousal situation don’t allow for extra pressure
-coercion makes any yes irrelevant
if you can’t do it right / then you best remain celibate
for the hell of of it, i’m gonna  give you advice
on good consent and testament of why to think twice
-if they can’t say no, then a yes means nothing
sexual encounters or just plain touching
you have to ask, if your partner says something
that’s anything but yes with enthusiasm bubbling
-back off, in a way that’s not intense
no pressure situation’s the only way to gain consent
and always go slow cept prior agreement
with the use of safe-words as a way to stay decent

-keep checking in as the situation changes,
one yes doesn’t mean you take it to different stages
STI contagious, latex is the safest way to play this
with open honest conversations
- base this in the fact that no one is entitled
to another’s person’s body or you just made a rival
with me, accountability is more than just a vital
form of justice, its a trusted means just for survival
-Yeah, thats a threat so respect it
blocked off the exits, survivors requested
you live in fear of this don’t let appearances deceive you
a little street justice ain’t really hard to see through
you can’t punish it away
this is rape culture here,  and it’s deeply ingrained
so we need a new standard hold ourselves to the same
as we would a perpetrator in the light of the day

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