This is a fair response to the question:
Women are objectified in music videos - discuss.
Women
are objectified in music videos, especially in hip hop and rap; from sexy
dressing, speaking in seductive tones to acting and dancing in a sexual manner.
The perfect portrayal of women as sex objects.
Why
women constantly need to be exposed or half-naked is beyond me. Is it to sell
records, or to further impose the idea of a woman as being the object of a
male’s pleasure?
Sometimes
in music videos, the woman’s face is not shown. Instead, her body becomes a
showpiece and is put on display. It depicts her as not having an identity or a
sense of individualism thus, reinforcing her role as a sex symbol.
“Women’s
bodies are often dismembered and treated as separate parts, perpetuating the
concept that a woman’s body is not connected to her mind and emotions,” states
the sociologist, Erving Goffman in his book, Gender Advertisements. For
example, certain body parts like the woman’s breast, her buttocks or her legs
would be emphasised. This relates to the notion of sexism with reference to
canting (to lean to one side, slant) which conveys submissiveness. According to
where the woman is placed, it may also convey male superiority.
Take
the canting for example, a woman has to bend over to “show her ass” and in the
words of rapper Lil Jon, “stop and wiggle with it”. I’ve seen Lil Jon’s “Get
Low” music video. Disgusting.
I will
be the first one to admit (with great shame) that when that song was first
released to the public, I was captivated by it. But I was a teenager and didn’t
think or care about the content of the music video. I was more interested in
the beat and the catchy tune of the lyrics “to the window, to the wall!”
Watching
the music video now, all I see is how men and women are portrayed as sex-starved
maniacs. The shots that appear as flashes try to distract the viewer from the
pornography-like images on the screen, blurring out the most visible body
parts, when in fact, this concept for the music video in question, is feeding
into the idea of raunchiness and clearly showing the ‘sex sells’ attitude of
the media and advertisers.
But to
be fair, Lil Jon is not an isolated case, there are many examples in the music
industry that fit this profile. The women in these music videos are portrayed
as females who would ‘bend over backwards’ literally and figuratively for their
man, and also the bending of body parts conveys submissiveness and appeasement
(to give the man what he wants). This links up to my earlier mention of
superiority. “Three common tactics used to establish superiority is size,
attention and positioning,” says Goffman. Indeed.
So in
these hip hop and rap music videos, women are always seen in supporting roles
beside, behind and below male counterparts. This is done in a subtle way of
course, but with close scrutiny you see how these women are never portrayed as
strong, independent, and career-driven instead, their focus is completely on
the man – on getting his attention and keeping it - by all means necessary.
The
presentation of the message has to change. Negative messages should be
reinforced with positive ones. As it stands now, the portrayal of women in
music videos is degrading. The perception created is that women have little
integrity, low self-image, her body nothing but an object. The music video as a
creative platform is abused to sexualise and objectify women.
This
needs to change. It’s as simple as that.
TASK:
Prepare your own opinion to this statement. you should :
set out the question that is being asked and why it is important.
present an argument for including concrete examples from you studies on videos.
present an argument against including concrete examples from your studies on videos.
include a context for this argument including : male representation in pop music, social context ( how are women portrayed in other media platforms? How are women perceived in society as a whole?)
Include a historical context ( has this always happened? can you compare videos from 70s , 90s and present day? Is this across all genres of video ?
present your opinion and why.
end by talking about the current situation, the impact this representation has, and what you think needs to change, if any thing, and why?
Remember to use as much media language as possible including dress codes, linguistic codes and gesture codes that may support or challenge this statement and the use of stereotypes.
Use slide share for possible examples, you may want to consider who is manipulating who? some people may argue that the artists are using sexuality for their own ends.
Look at artists that combine perhaps perceived feminine and masculine attributes such as Pink.
Look at the influence that pop culture has on its TA and in particular young girls
What role models does the music industry have?
Contrast male representation- look at Stormzy's admission of depression - was this expected? try looking at his interview on youtube, the reason he spoke out was to challenge the stereotypes of male strength.
