The EconomistJune 1st 2019 United States 37W
ithitsliltingbanjo,cowboytheme
andlyricslike“Ridin’ona tractor”
and“Wrangleronmybooty”,notto
mentionanextremelycatchyrefrain,Lil
NasX’s“OldTownRoad”shouldbea
country-musichit.Yetit waskickedoff
theBillboardcountry-musicchartfornot
embracing“enoughelementsoftoday’s
countrymusic”.Billboardlatertold
RollingStonemagazinethatitsdecision
totakethesongoffthechart“hadnoth-
ingtodowiththeraceoftheartist”.Lil
NasX,the20-year-oldAfrican-American
whoblendedhip-hop,rockandcountry
inhisearwormofa song,doesnotlook
likethetypicalcountrystar.Thosetend
tobewhite,andmostaremale.
Oneofcountrymusic’sgreatest
strengthsisitsabilitytocelebratework-
ingfolkinAmerica.Butthathasalso
“beenitsgreatestliability”,saysCharles
Hughes,a historianandauthorof“Coun-
trySoul:MakingMusicandMakingRace
intheAmericanSouth”.A recentpaperin
RuralSociology, anacademicjournal,
examinedhowmentalkaboutthem-
selvesinmainstreamcountrymusic.Itsauthor,BradenLeapofMississippiState
University,analysedthelyricsofthetop
songsontheweeklyBillboardcountry-
musicchartsfromthe1980suntilthe
2010sandfoundthatthenear-routine
depictionofmenasbreadwinnersand
stand-upguyshaschanged.
Overthepastdecade,moresongs
objectifywomenandareabouthooking
up.MrLeap’sexaminationoflyricsalso
foundthatmasculinityandwhiteness
hadbecomemorecloselylinked.Refer-
encestoblueeyesandblondhair,for
example,werealmostcompletelyabsent
inthe1980s.Inthe2000s,theyfeatured
in15%ofthechart-toppingsongs.
Countryradioisthegenre’spowerful
gatekeeper.Countrystationshavenot
playedLilNasX muchuntilrecently.Nor
aretheyplayingasmanywomenas
before.JadaWatson,oftheUniversityof
Ottawa,recentlyfoundthatin 2000 a
thirdofcountrysongsoncountryradio
weresungbywomen.In 2018 theshare
wasonly11%.Eventhetopfemalestars
getfewerspins.CarrieUnderwoodhad
3mplaysbetween 2000 and2018;Kenny
Chesneyreceivedtwiceasmany.A report
fromtheAnnenbergInclusionInitiative
foundthat16%ofallartistswerefemale
across 500 ofthetopcountrysongsfrom
2014 to2018.
A fewblackartists,suchasCharley
Pride,DariusRuckerandKaneBrown,
havebeensuccessful.Somepopular
whiteartistshaverappedoncountry
ditties.Yeta youngblackmanusing
similarimageryandsoundstothosethat
dominatecountryradiostationsgets
littleplay.LilNasX’s“OldTownRoad”
remix,whichfeaturesBillyRayCyrusof
“AchyBreakyHeart”fame,hastopped
Billboard’sHot 100 foreightweeks.Mr
Hughes,thehistorian,saysthefactthat
LilNasX “hashadtoforcehiswayinisa
realcommentaryoncountrymusic’s
long-termracialpolitics,whichhas
alwayshada veryuneasyrelationship
withblackness.”Lonesomewhistle
CountrymusicNEWYORK
Sociologistsdiscovera richdatasetCan’tnobodytellhimnothingM
aryum saifeewas in a college an-
thropology seminar when she real-
ised she had been a victim of female genital
mutilation (fgm). As a classmate described
the practice, a flood of memories came
rushing back. She had been seven and liv-
ing with family in India for the summer
while her parents stayed at home in Texas.
Her aunt, a doctor, led her to a downstairs
clinic, cut her clitoris without anaesthetic,
and gave her a chocolate bar as a reward. “It
was by far the most traumatic thing I’ve
ever experienced,” says Ms Saifee, but like
most survivors she never talked about it.
She broke her silence only recently when
she grew impatient at how few Americans
seemed to know about the issue, or that it
affected well-off, educated citizens like
herself. “Everyone thinks this is happening
somewhere far away, but it touches com-
munities you wouldn’t expect.”
The Centres for Disease Control and
Prevention estimates that 513,000 women
and girls in America have either endured or
are likely to suffer the procedure, which in-
volves the medically unnecessary removal
of some or all of the external genitalia. But
this figure was cobbled together from im-
migration rates and data collected from
abroad, and few believe it accurately mea-
sures the phenomenon. It is hard to moni-
tor a secret act performed mainly in close-
knit immigrant communities. Many wom-
en are too ashamed to come forward. Those
who do are often shunned or accused of
stoking Islamophobia.
Although Congress banned fgmover 20
years ago, the subterranean nature of the
practice has made it hard to crack down on
offenders. This seemed to change when
prosecutors brought the first federal fgm
case to trial. The Justice Department
charged Jumana Nagarwala, a doctor, with
cutting the genitals of nine girls, all of
them members of the Dawoodi Bohra sect
of Indian Shia Muslims, in a clinic in Mich-
igan. But in November last year the judge
dismissed the case, ruling that the federal
ban is unconstitutional because Congress
lacks authority over criminal law. Federal
lawmakers had prohibited fgm as an inter-
state commerce under the Commerce
Clause, which struck the judge as inapt.
Anti-fgm advocates have argued back,
pointing out that parents of girls in states
where fgmis illegal specifically travelled
to Dr Nagarwala for the procedure because
Michigan lacked a ban. The governmenthas declined to pursue an appeal.
Despite its failure, the case has helped
to raise awareness of fgmand has pushed
states to get laws on the books. Michigan
rushed to ban the practice after Dr Nagar-
wala was arrested in 2017, and other states
quickly followed suit. That is despite the
fact that this issue, which pits people who
are anxious to be friendly to Muslim immi-
grants against feminists, splits the Demo-cratic coalition down the middle. Of the 33
states that have criminalised fgm, nine ei-
ther passed, enacted or amended their laws
this year and a further nine states are con-
sidering legislation. Because the Michigan
case showed that people are willing to
cross state lines to avoid arrest, lawmakers
now see the need for bans in presumed
low-risk states, says Ghada Khan of the us
End fgm/cNetwork, an advocacy group. 7NEW YORK
Six states have criminalised FGM this
year. Another nine may do soFemale genital mutilationThe first cut