1
Karin O’Rourke
Aaron Pellerin
English 1020
6, June 2011
Killing Women: A Pop Music Tradition focuses on how modern day norms can conform
to the idea of abuse and still manage to try and make it seem better. John Hamerlinck is a
freelance writer from Minnesota who was last known for getting together information for a
book on Women’s history in sports and public policy. Reading the article and just looking at the
title it is simple to see that women and the media are his primary audience. It’s up to your
interpretation to see where Hamerlinck is going with this; personally I think with his spiteful
tone that his goal is to give realization and facts in a time where abuse is becoming normal. In
Killing Women: A Pop Music Tradition author John Hamerlinck pursues his audience with
emotional appeals towards women, large amount of logical facts that are easy to see, and his
vast knowledge he has with pop culture, to say that humans know are avoiding the true facts of
abuse in today’s time.
Credibility John Hamerlinck does not necessarily establish his own ethos in the article, it
is a sort of end note found on the website and upon searching his name you will find the
information that you’re looking for. However the way he brings up his information is truthful
and shows he researched what he was writing about. He’s a well known freelance writer from
Minnesota. He’s writing a book about women, so he must have some knowledge on the basics
2
of woman history. He goes on also in the first paragraph to state “According to the Family
Violence Prevention Fund, an act of domestic violence occurs every nine seconds in the United
States” (Hamerlinck). The Family Violence Prevention Fund is now known as Futures Without
Violence since this article appeared in 1995. They now say that “Women are 84 percent of
spouse abuse victims and 86 percent of victims of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or
girlfriend and about three-fourths of the persons who commit family violence are male.” ( U.S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics).
The tone changes in key parts of his essay; at the beginning as you read it he seems
condescending, saying how we’ve developed a tolerance for the violence that has been around
for forever but we are just now going to acknowledge it like it’s appeared out of nowhere. It
turns informative during the body of his essay where he talks about the music. And at the end
goes for a little dark humor about how women’s only protection today is a restraining order. An
example of this dark humor is found near the end of the paper “In real life, however, the
victims are overwhelmingly women, and their primary form of defense usually consists of a
mere piece of paper called a restraining order” (Hamerlinck). The structure and style is that of
an informative essay, easily written so that it could be used in other instances for an example.
Which upon searching, many individuals have used this essay as an example.
John Hamerlinck does a wonderful job with his pathos; his intended audience and actual
audience are one in the same and he did not miss out at all on what his goal with this paper
was. The intended audience is clearly women, that are in a relationship or not and the abused,
and the media. They are the ones that the whole paper speaks out to the most and continually
3
grabs the attention of. The actual audience which Hamerlinck did well of expressing was
women of abused and not, as well as the media. He also might have gained the attention of
judges by his jab at them about how the only protection against abuse is merely a piece of
signed paper.
Hamerlinck actually titled it “Killing Women” firstly to attract the eyes of women
because it will appeal to them more so emotionally because it has to deal with them as
humans. Also in the title is “Pop Music Tradition” many individuals are interested in the pop
culture and what it does to tie into modern life. When the article was written some married
women would have been interested in: Guns N’ Roses, 2 Live Crew, The Beatles, Johnny Cash,
The Police, Jimi Hendrix, Lonnie Johnson, etc. Hamerlinck also goes on to mention MTV which
was the popular music television channel back in ‘95.
Hamerlinck knew well to have logos in his paper because without it he would really have
no foundation of an argument. As seen in the article he has obviously mentioned more than a
few song titles or artists to prove his point alone; “…Robert Nighthawk's "Murderin' Blues"
suggests a deliberate values judgment in the premeditation: the song says that prison chains
are better than having a woman cheat and lie to you” (Hamerlinck). He also goes and gathers
information from the Family Violence Protection Fund that I had stated earlier in the paper.
Hamerlinck claims that the United States has a more diluted version of domestic abuse
to the point where humans will rationalize and justify why it would happen and in doing so it
makes it okay. He states the violence against women has been popular in pop culture for a long
time going back to an old southern folk genre generously named “murder ballads” which was
4
probably the most prominent form of violence in music. “It should quickly be pointed out,
however, that these songs do not cause violence. Their singers are not wicked, evil people”
(Hamerlinck). It just goes to show how much we’re okay with abuse by the fact that we listen to
it anyways no matter how gruesome it may be. Hamerlinck also states that such songs that go
about saying loving someone so much you have to kill are not about love – but in reality are
about power and control over the being. “ But if the beat is good and the chorus has a catchy
hook, we don't need to concern ourselves with things like meaning, right?” (Hamerlinck).
Hamerlinck goes into showing how people rationalize violence is by using the example about
how metal detectors and X-ray machines have become just another part of going to the airport,
it bears not much of meaning anymore, that people have become accustomed to it.
With an article like this I could see arguments arising, and he goes into explaining his
thoughts in a deeper sense in some parts. Hamerlinck understands that it is not only women
that are abused in every case, he shows this by stating that, “And sometimes the gender tables
are turned: for example, Nancy Sinatra covered "Run for Your Life" shortly after the Beatles
recorded it, changing the prey from "little girl" to "little boy" (Hamerlinck). He writes that not
all violence is directed toward women but they are the primary victim of such cases of violence.
I could not find an actual argument against this article and since I agree I could not exactly think
of any other arguments.
The way that this essay has been a success is by the fact that he is a well known
freelance writer; his essay has been circling around for over 10 years and is still a popular essay
5
amongst students and teachers alike. He knew how to appeal to the target audience which
happened to be females and the media and he did it distinctly so that there was no mistake
about it. With the age group he was aiming for he picked thing in pop culture that would relate
which is important in any essay or speech, you need to know the “so what?”He uses facts from
a well known organization (Futures Without Violence) and picks out a few specific song lyrics to
bring out his main point.
All in all, John Hamerlinck knew how to use the information and his useful skills in
writing about pop culture to convince his readers of how and what he believes is happening in
modern day. By targeting this at women and especially those who’ve been abused he makes it
look like everything is put in perspective of someone who has been abused. Although some
people may argue that some of his points are not correct, in such, he has made a larger impact
on the feelings of those around him. He relied heavily on the emotional appeal to gain the
views and respect that this paper really got. And he makes a valid point, how accustomed are
we to violence in this modern day and age that pop culture can get away with spilling
horrendous lyrics and for us to just turn the other cheek?