Gender Biases In Music

Rap has changed the faces of women in the community from a more positive image to a more negative one. It is focused more on women’s bodies and not their intellect. Rap music portrays women by creating impossible beauty standards, dehumanizing women and making women look inferior in the male’s eye.

The video material that I chose to view for this assignment were music videos, which was an unsurprisingly easy decision to make for writing about gender stereotypes. Music videos are watched by millions every day, and many of these provide misogynistic visual media that has been regulated and accepted by society. These negative connotations for women showing them in highly gendered roles mainly doing medial things such as dancing around in lingerie or fawning over a rich, famous, and/or successful man are dangerous towards equality for genders. Young girls and boys seeing this kind of harmful content could lead them to grow up believing they have to conform to these stereotypes and gender roles instead of living how they would prefer.

The 19th century was an era of change. There were lots of progression in technology, science, and philosophy that gradually turned European society away from the past centuries. Women’s status in the 19th century Europe also changed. Many of the 19th century women were able to have a profession as they received higher and wider education, and also allowed to have more participation in society. In the musical life of 19th century Europe, numbers of women were able to perform and compose as good and men.

The sound of stereotypes An Analysis of Gender and Religious Stereotypes The Sound of Music is set in Austria based in a time of the Nazi’s rise to power and the simultaneous fall of the place of the woman in society. This film tells the story of not just any woman, but a nun, a double threat in the eyes of American cinema. Maria leaves the nunnery to become a nanny for the wealthy Von Trapp family of 7, however her religious ideals and attempt at caring for the children is barricaded by both the dominant Mr. Von Trapp and the heightening political pressure surrounding Mr. Von Trapp as an officer in the army. This film presents Maria as a stereotypical desirable woman who innocently and unknowingly causes Mr. Von Trapp to fall in love with her.

There are many important women who significantly contributed to Jazz and left a legacy of women artists. In the early years of Jazz, it was considered a male professional and women who tried to be part of Jazz faced obstacles. This was from male musicians, critics, record producers, club-owners, concerts and also racism. Despite the obstacles, women forced their way to be part of Jazz and pushed for equality and visibility (“Gender Discrimination, 2014).

"The world of classical music - particularly in its European home - was until very recently the persevere of white men" (Gladwel 248). The idea that a woman was not capable of performing the same job designated for men is simply discrimination. Instead, it was a fact in defending the reasons for which a woman could not perform this task, that men produced better music than a woman. In the society, that we live each person has something different; when we see a strange we develop an impression of the personality, abilities, and skills of this person relying solely on past experiences we have. Gladwel says, "music is music" and "the only true way to listen is with your ears and your heart" (251). The ability of a woman when playing a musical instrument is the same as a man, without making a difference in the physical appearance. Not understand how much of that prejudice is clouding our approach is a mistake, that we have to understand and take responsibility. In order to, not repeat the same injustices committed in the past.

Gender roles that conform to age old stereotypes are often present within the musical genre. These age-old gender roles are much of the time characterized by the women playing the role of the housewife who takes care of home affairs and looks after the children, while having no control over money or her own decisions, while the man is the only working figure in the picture, and the sole provider for the family; in short, the female is the obedient follower of the dominant male.

An issue many have with Hip Hop music is it over-sexualisation of black women. Within hip hop music videos and the lyrics used to define women, are often portrayed in ways that calls for them to sexually satisfy men. Hunter and Soto (2009), highlighted that women in hip hop music are often characterised as sex workers. Their study coincides with Miller-young (2008), who argued Hip-Hop music has an obsession with portraying women as strippers in their song. She pointed out that Hip-Hop music is extremely misogynistic with males being shown as pimps whilst females are shown involved in sexual acts. This shows that within Hip-Hop music males are shown to be the dominating sex. This can impact on women negatively due to the fact hip-hop has become

All over history, music has been a critical commitment to people’s lives. Various kinds of music have been created after some time and impact people in unique ways. Of the numerous kinds that have come to frame, hip-hop has turned out to be more prominent inside today's standard pop culture. Alongside the formation of music recordings, hip-hop's popularity has taken off and changed from various perspectives. Inside the music videos of most hip-hop artists, men and women are portrayed in unmistakable and clear ways that may subconsciously influence our perspectives of the standards of today’s society. Hip-hop music videos are so present among the people that these depictions of sexual orientation parts frequently go unrecognized. The complicated

For thousands of years, established gender roles have been a part of our society. Women are commonly known as sensitive, emotional, or passive. On the contrary, men are described as rational, competitive, independent, or aggressive. Believing women are more emotional than men is stereotyping. However, the stereotype is not entirely untrue. Development of gender roles is often conditioned more by environmental or cultural factors than by hereditary or biological factors. The development of gender roles between men and women involves the inference of peer community of each gender, the communication style of male and female and the intimacy or connection level of men and women.

The tolerance of women who engaged in music is written by Amnon Shiloah as “singing-girls often participated with other women who, according to Farmer, “enjoyed almost as much liberty as men” in the performance of music with instruments at family festivities..” (Shiloah, Music and Religion in Islam, 147) While these singing-girls were allowed to perform freely it is important to note where: family festivities. These girls were openly allowed to engage in music if it was controlled by the dominant role of men in families. This argument can further be seen in Shiloah's piece when he transcribes a section from a hadith that states “but if you must engage in it (music), keep the women and children away from it, for singing is the instigator of fornication.” (Shiloah, Music and Religion in Islam, 148) Women still had a highly sexual role in music and their role was moreso illustrated under a negative light of music. The illustration of women is further discussed by Shiloah when he writes about the “four upon whom Allah will not look on the day of resurrection” (Shiloah, Music and Religion in Islam, 148) and these are “the sorceress, the wailing-woman, the singing woman and the woman who is unfaithful to her husband.” (Shiloah, Music and Religion in Islam, 148) This skepticism of women’s sexuality is again reinscribed in the music of

Women played a seemingly small role in music up to the Renaissance Era where they began to rise as scholars, skillful musicians, and composers. More female composers appeared during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries than in any previous centuries. Up until then women could get educations but were mostly limited to performing music rather than learning the theory behind it because they weren’t necessarily opened to the opportunities men had. During the Humanist movement, men were still favored in society and women generally seemed to be restricted to their own realm of music separate from that of men because they weren’t considered to be as skillful or expressive as men. They would compose music that fit the era, however they didn’t

Gender has played a pivotal role in musical performances through the decades. Viola Smith was born in 1912, and is considered to be one of the first female drummers in the United States. She and her sisters were constantly practicing their instruments. Early on, Viola took lessons from various drummers, then later on in her career, she studied under Billy Gladstone. She was often referred to as “The Female Gene Krupa”. Viola also attended Julliard on a scholarship, where she attended school for one summer, and played the Timpani drums. Viola and her family traveled together as a family orchestra, but they eventually stopped travelling because her sisters started marrying. Many big bands had lost their musicians, which were male, and were reduced to small groups. Female bands did not start up until all the men were going overseas. Viola wrote an article that told the men not to forget about the women musicians. Women began filling the empty slots because there were no men to fill them, and they were available. The women were happy to be playing with the big names in music, instead of just a regular orchestra. Viola received many calls for band leaders thanking her for reminding them about the female musicians. Gender equality for women has improved dramatically, but it still has a long way to go. There are many musicians in the world who are women; way more than there ever have been. Women earn considerably less than

With over 4 billion people having access to the internet worldwide, everyday people are exposed to different types of pop culture media, one of those being the music industry. The music industry has become one of the most popular pop culture entertainment due to its variety in music and complex audience. Everyone regardless of race, age, gender, religion, and sexuality have access to a multitude of different music varieties that they can listen to. However, with the music industry growing rapidly, its audience grows along with it. With new and exciting sounds and beats, rising artists, and catchy lyrics it is important that these songs encourage healthy ethical messages to society due to the fact that almost everyone is exposed to music these days. Often times, especially in Hip-Hop music we see how the portrayal of women is usually a negative one. I’m sure that you’ve seen at least one song where women appear subject to men and appear as sex tools. Many hip hop artists, through their music (whether meant to or not), emphasize how women should be seen as tools for pleasure and they lack to show more positive attributes of women. With the music industry objectifying and sexualizing women through derogatory language, it continues to contribute to the present ideology that women are less that and should be inferior to men.

For example, Lady Catherine emphasized the importance of practicing and being proficient in the piano (117). Music was used by women to compete with other women to see who was more suited to marry. “When that business was over, he applied to Miss Bingley and Elizabeth for the indulgence of some music. Miss Bingley moved with alacrity to the piano-forte, and after a polite request that Elizabeth would lead the way, which the other as politely and more earnestly negatived, she seated herself”