Are Girls Get Exposure?

In Stephanie Hanes’ article “Little Girls or Little Women? The Disney Princess Effect,” the author discusses how young girls have the desire to act older than their age and fulfill the narrowing looks created by the world surrounding them. Supporting this claim is the 2010 American Psychological Association (APA) report on the sexualization of girls. It describes that a girl’s value comes from mostly sex appeal that’s seen in magazines, marketers, music lyrics, and on television (Hanes). Hanes’ use of case studies, statistics, research, and storytelling provides the uprising issue to the reader and gives her opposition to this subject matter.

Charlotte Church speaks out about this issue saying “The culture of demeaning women in pop music is so ingrained as to become routine, from the way we are dealt with by management and labels, to the way we are presented the public” (Chase par. 9). This leads to questions, for example, must women be sexualized to gain greater earnings? Does sex truly sell? When we examine artists such as Julia Hotter, HAIM, or Polica, we perceive them as strong artists who are unrestricted in their art by their gender or sexuality. However, when comparing their success, sexualized women have dominated the music industry. Chase explains that women are allowed to fill three main roles in modern pop music: One of the Girls’ Girls, the Victim/ Torch Singer, and Unattainable Sexbot. Artists such as Beyoncé would be considered “One of the Girls’ Girls” who are for women power and are considered empowering. Adele is considered a “Victim/Torch Singer” even though she does not use sexuality to sell records, lyrically, she perceives the wronged women and creates a state of despair. An “Unattainable Sexbot” would be, without a doubt, Miley Cyrus, whose main goal is to be the most successful in the music industry by being hyper-sexualized and unrealistic. If an artist does not fit into one of these categories, they generally have a much harder time being one of the most successful in the music

This study works to examine the use of sexual objectification of women in music videos today. The primary purpose was to examine the differences between genres, specifically hip-hop and country. I tested the following; Women are more likely to be sexualized in hip-hop music videos than in country music videos.

In the American culture today, women are becoming more sexualized at a younger age due to the influences of the corporate media. Corporate media and society form the perfect idealistic body that women should have and is constantly being promoted making younger girls start to compare themselves to them at a young age. Certain shows and movies, such as Disney, influence young children and teenagers through their characters as to how a woman is supposed to be accepted. The way the corporate media and society make this body image they want women to have starts in a very early stage in a woman's life without them knowing. There are these childhood movies, such as Disney, Barbie and Ken dolls, programs such as Netflix, teen

(BBC network, 2014). It can also force people to change in character, which is a growing concern. Sexualisation in our society has become extremely prevalent within the younger female gender. Some may dismiss this issue as no more than yet another moral panic situation between sexuality and young girls, but some see this as a serious subject and some of these people are in fact the girls being targeted (Church, 2014). The music industry with their music

Now-a-days, you can’t find appropriate clothing for your children because all stores are selling short-shorts and crop tops for 12-year-olds. This issue is contradicting; girls are being sexualized by being told not to wear clothes that show their skin, yet the only clothes that are currently being sold are clothes that only sexualize girls even more by showing too much skin that doesn’t fit their age group. Orenstein also argues that, “ For today’s girls, sexy appearance has been firmly conflated with strong womanhood.” Meaning, instead of having a princess birthday party at the park, preschoolers are now having mani-pedi spa birthday parties; or how the Elementary school cheer dance routine is more provocative; or when 9-year-olds are taught “all the ticks of beauty.” In our defence, when society depicts young women as sexual objects, they make young girls think that their beauty is more important than their brains(hence the reason why you can easily mistake a 13-year-old for a

The media chooses to portray and sell sex, violence, drama and role models because it appeals to teenagers’ biological and evolutionary instincts. The excessive amounts of sex hormones being produced in teenagers boosts libido causing displays of eroticism to be very alluring. Scenes of action or violence release adrenaline and endorphins for emotional stimulation and teen idols like NSYNC and Edward Cullen portray the ideal mate for many girls. The music presented is mostly homogenous and simple to promote familiarity and emotional response. Had these businesses tried to sell celibacy, indifference and pariahs, their profits would have declined.

Within popular culture today, objectified female bodies can be represented everywhere from advertising images to magazine covers, television, music and many more. Through these media institutions, we allow them to construct social identities in ways that allow us to understand what it means to be black, white, Asian, male or female etc. Within many popular culture mediums such as music, stereotypical representations of racially marked female bodies are often formed. Thus, these representations also have the ability to create stories about a certain culture. In music videos, it does not go unnoticed that women are portrayed as objects whose objectives are to pleasure men. In this paper, I will argue how racially marked female bodies are represented. This paper will mainly focus on how these racially marked women are depicted in the hip hop culture. To demonstrate this, I will draw examples by using award winning music videos by Nicki Minaj, R.Kelly, 50 cent to exemplify representations of the female body and how they are objectified as sex objects. In conclusion, we will be able to see how the female bodies are used in mainstream hip hop videos to convey seductively.

The sexualization of women and girls surround Americans and is damaging to females as well as to American society. Females receive the sexualized messages regarding their appearance and how they should act via the media, retailers, and American society’s acceptance of these behaviors. As a mother, Girl Scout Leader, and school paraprofessional I cannot help but to question are these messages inflicting psychological damage on girls? Whom can I hold accountable for sexualizing female youth? What can I do to prevent sexualization from affecting all of the young girls in my life? The sexualization of girls is unacceptable because it is degrading to females, can cause serious life-long psychological damage and sexist attitudes, and may lead to violence against women and girls.

Rap music is filled with imagery that degrades women. Women are continually referred to inappropriately in many songs, while men refer to themselves and other as pimps or players. Women are not only referred to by derogatory names, they are frequently lowered to sex objects for entertainment. The common idea of a woman in a rap video is one who is half naked while dancing flirtatiously and seductively behind, or in front of the rapper. Many female rappers make public appearances dressed inappropriately, their clothing is always revealing and skin tight, they have unfortunately accepted and entertained this idea. Young girls see these women as role models. As female rappers conform and accept their roles as sex objects they are making it socially acceptable and the young girls who see them as role models and look up to them think

Women are seen through the eyes of the music industry as little more than sex objects; causing them to feel of no worth, leading to extremely dangerous long term mental illnesses and eating disorders. Music lyrics/video is a key source of messages that advocate and encourage drinking, smoking, drug abuse, sexuality, sex-role stereotyping, sex and violence. Exposure to music videos, has also been correlated with early uptake of sexual activity. (AMCA, 2014)

The sexualization of young girls and women in society is a prevalent theme in mass media. Presently, the sexualization of females is commonly seen in various consumer items like clothes, dolls, and even in Disney movies, according to “The Sexualization of Girls Is Harmful” article. The author says that sexualization occurs when “a person’s value comes only from his or her sexual appeal or behavior; a person is held to a standard that equates physical attractiveness with being sexy; a person is sexually objectified- made into a thing for others’ sexual use; and sexuality is inappropriately imposed upon a person (AboutKidsHealth).” Furthermore, the author provides statistics on how girls are being sexualized by the products they see and use

For almost 35 years, music videos have provided a visual and musical way in which young people learn about society, culture and behaviors (Sun & Lull, 1986). This notion of learning about the world around oneself affirms the belief of schema theory – the notion that during adolescence, the socially accepted definitions of male and female roles, or gender role schemas, is learned and adopted (terBogt et al., 2010). Due to its immense popularity and accessibility via cable stations like MTV and the Internet via sites like YouTube, music videos have the potential to influence adolescent’s attitudes, beliefs and values toward gender roles and stereotypes (Hansen & Hansen, 2000; Wallis, 2010). Researchers estimate that U.S. adolescents and young adults watch an average of between 30 minutes and three hours of music videos per day (Roberts & Christenson, 2001; Ward, Hansbrough, & Walker,

Assuming that I am a female between the ages of 10-14 in the 21 century, there are many concepts of gender that are being taught through music that I listen to. What young girls learn from the music that is presented to them, leads them to assume and think about what sex, gender, race and sexual orientation really mean. These assumptions young girls buy into and the music they listen to shapes their thinking and lifestyles (Cooper). The music industry has hundreds of artists who target various genres of popular music and age groups. It is not unusual for young girls to be targeted and manipulated by the music industry. Recently there have been huge elements in the "Tween" markets, children eleven years and older do not consider them self 's as kids any more so marketers treat them as teenagers (Marketing and Consumerism). However this causes issues for the growth development for young or youth in general because, they are at a stage in their life where their brains are developing but still are not fully developed leaving them vulnerable in being influenced by outside sources which can have a harmful, physical and metal effect on them (Webster). Some music artists have intelligent marketing tactics that lure their target audience into listening to their songs and buying their products. After researching and analyzing data, I have put together stages in how artists target their audience :

Society 's cliché  teenager is also constantly being bombarded with sexual lyrics from musicians, particularly those in  hip-hop who are  known for sexualizing and demeaning women. An inquiry about music and copulation showed that out of 700 freshman high school students examined at three large  high schools. These groups of kids were introduced   to over 10 hours each week of lyrics describing shameful sex. About one third of students had engaged in sexual activity. Contrast  to those with the least amount  exposure to lyrics describing degrading sex, those with the most exposure were more than twice as likely to have  had prior sexual intercourse . The relationship between being subjected to lyrics describing degrading sex and sexual experience were equal for both boys and  girls." (Elsevier Health Sciences, 2009).