Rapper Says Megan’s Treatment Reveals a Broader Pattern of Misogynoir, Victim-Blaming and Unequal Standards in Music
Vic Mensa is pushing back against the years of scrutiny, ridicule and victim-blaming Megan Thee Stallion has faced since being shot, arguing that the public response to her experience reveals something much larger about how Black women are treated.
The Chicago rapper addressed the issue in an Instagram reel posted Thursday, using Megan’s case as a starting point for a broader conversation about misogynoir, gender and the different standards applied to men and women in hip-hop.
“I feel like Megan Thee Stallion is a good barometer for what you think about Black women,” Mensa said.
His comments come years after Megan was shot in the foot in July 2020. Tory Lanez was later convicted on three felony charges connected to the shooting, a case that drew intense public debate and became a broader flashpoint over the treatment of Black women who report violence.
Even before the verdict, the criticism directed at Megan had raised wider questions about misogynoir and victim-blaming. The Associated Press reported during the 2022 trial that experts viewed the public reaction as part of a specific form of misogyny experienced by Black women. PBS NewsHour also examined how the case exposed broader patterns of misogyny aimed at Black women.
Mensa Mocks the Logic Used to Blame Megan
In the video, Mensa ridiculed the idea that Megan should somehow bear responsibility for being shot. Imitating the kind of reasoning he believes gets applied to victims like her, he said, “How could you do this to me? You ran your body directly into my bullets.”
The sarcasm underscored Mensa’s larger argument: that even when a woman survives violence, the public often searches for a reason to make her responsible for what happened.
He then pointed to what he sees as a glaring gender divide within music and popular culture. Male rappers who commit violent acts, survive shootings or build reputations around violence can see those experiences strengthen their credibility. Women, Mensa argued, can survive the same violence and still be treated with suspicion.
Megan’s case has long sat at the center of that debate. After publicly identifying Lanez as the person who shot her, she endured years of online mockery, conspiracy theories and accusations that she was lying.
Mensa’s argument was not simply that Megan had been criticized. It was that the nature of the criticism reflected a deeper unwillingness to extend Black women the same presumption of humanity routinely afforded to others.
‘Relationships You’ve Had Are Used as Justification for You to Die’
Mensa extended the critique beyond violence and into the way men and women are judged for their relationships and sexual histories.
He argued that men are often celebrated for promiscuity, particularly in hip-hop, while women can have their romantic past weaponized against them.
“For a woman, relationships you’ve had are used as justification for you to die,” Mensa said.
That argument echoes much of the public debate surrounding Megan after the shooting. Her relationships, friendships and sexual history repeatedly became part of online discussions about whether she should be believed, despite the central issue being that she had been shot.
The National Women’s Law Center previously described the backlash against Megan as an example of misogynoir, pointing to the intersection of racism and sexism in attacks aimed specifically at Black women.
From Yung Miami to America’s Founding Fathers
Mensa also brought Yung Miami’s song “Spend Dat” into the conversation, calling it “a very American record” despite its subject matter. He joked that the country’s founding fathers could have created something similar, pointing to the United States’ history of broken treaties.
The comparison added a wider cultural and historical dimension to his argument. Mensa suggested that behavior condemned when expressed by women in music can resemble conduct long embedded in American history and power structures.
The point, as he framed it, was not simply whether listeners approved of a song’s subject matter. It was whether the outrage directed at women is applied consistently elsewhere.
Janet Jackson’s Career Fallout Becomes Another Example
Mensa then reached back to one of the most notorious moments in modern entertainment history: Janet Jackson’s 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.
Jackson faced years of career consequences after Justin Timberlake exposed her breast during the nationally televised performance. The fallout became a lasting example of what critics have described as a dramatic imbalance in how responsibility was assigned after the incident.
Mensa summarized the comparison bluntly. “Her titty get pulled out, she get canceled. Meg get shot, it’s her fault.”
By placing Jackson and Megan side by side, Mensa argued that the incidents may be different but the pattern remains recognizable: a Black woman becomes the center of controversy, and public punishment falls disproportionately on her.
Vic Mensa Expands Argument in Essay on Misogynoir
Mensa developed the argument further in a Substack essay titled “Megan Thee Stallion and the Anatomy of Misogynoir”.
In the essay, he examines why people continue searching for reasons to doubt, blame or discredit Megan even after the criminal case produced a conviction.
His broader critique centers on the way misogynoir can turn a Black woman’s trauma into public entertainment, reduce violence to gossip and force victims to repeatedly prove they deserved neither the harm nor the aftermath.
The term “misogynoir” describes the intersection of anti-Black racism and misogyny directed at Black women. Scholars and advocates have repeatedly used Megan’s experience as a case study in how those forces can shape media coverage, online harassment and public perceptions of Black women who report violence.
For Mensa, the Instagram video was ultimately about more than reopening arguments surrounding one celebrity case.
It was about identifying a pattern he believes keeps repeating whenever a woman in music becomes the story: her behavior is examined, her relationships are placed on trial, her credibility is questioned and even violence against her can become a reason to attack her.
Megan Thee Stallion may be the “barometer” in Mensa’s argument, but his larger question is aimed at the culture watching her — and why, years after she was shot, so many people still appear more interested in judging the woman who survived than confronting what happened to her.
