Gender Roles

He wants his audience to understand that the music video’s messaging is that the most important aspect of a woman is her

For centuries now, women have been bombarded with an infinite amount of conflicting and overwhelming messages about what it means to be a woman and which behaviors are considered appropriate, especially regarding sexual behavior. Traditionally, women have always been defined in relation to men. Men are seen as strong, while woman are seen as weak. Men are superior and women are their subordinates. This is exemplified by the fact that “masculine” traits such as strong, non-emotional, and competitive are considered socially desirable traits, while “feminine” traits such as docile, emotional, and passive are not. We evidently live in a society that is not only sexist, but also undoubtedly racist. The white woman typically appears as virtuous and pure, while the woman of color typically appears as unclean and tainted. If the woman of color also happens to be poor, she appears as being even more worthless. Therefore, in the United States, femininity as a concept is inextricably linked with concepts of race and class. In the present paper, I discuss the effect that this is having on women and their sexuality, the events that have paved the traveled path towards gender equality, and current issues plaguing women today, such as the attack on our reproductive rights and our value as women.

It is clear that hip-hop music and music videos objectify women; however, there have been feminist movements that have begun reducing this sexualization.

In 2014, the pop band, Maroon 5, released a video for their single “Animals”. In the video the lead singer, Adam Levine takes the role of a butcher who stalks one of the store’s female customers. Throughout, he goes to great lengths to obsessively observe the woman, even to the length of taking pictures of her sleep without her being knowledgeable of his presence. The video ends with a nude Adam Levine nakedly holding the woman while blood drops on them from above, followed by menacingly staring into the camera in the rain. Viewing this video one cannot help but see how it exemplifies how mainstream media promotes the objectification of women and sexual violence. This is especially apparent from around the marks of :21 and :26, where the video

This research paper will examine the difference in how women’s sexuality is portrayed in hip-hop music videos. Are women empowered, or are they objectified when they express their sexuality? The public image of how women move, speak, sound, look, dance, talk, dress, and act is controlled by corporate networks who present these societal-norms to people through many mediums. Dominating how women are portrayed in music videos, men are introducing audiences to certain tropes and ideals women are expected to live up to. This heteronormative, White male fantasy, is unrealistic for women and creates an unhealthy obsession and expectation that females of all sizes and races are supposed to embody. In Women in Popular Music Media Empowered or Exploited? (p.9), Jamie Glantz asks “Are women represented as the subjects of their own desires, or do they seem to be preforming as the objects of someone else’s?” Men and women alike intend for women to follow these societal rules. Audiences do not realize the messages they are being fed through hip-hop music videos. The popular, male vocalized, music video for the summer hit of 2013 “Blurred Lines,” which appeared to be a lighthearted video of Robin Thicke and Pharell dancing with women wearing swimsuits. The male performers make faces at the camera and one another, while the women wear clunky shoes and nothing else. The men attempt to grind on the ladies legs, but the models just look distracted by the lamb featured in the video or a

Some of the lyrics from the song make it seem obvious on what the whole concept of the video is. Some of them go “Somebody’s gotta make him get dressed up, give him a reason to wash that truck, somebody’s gotta teach him how to dance, so God made girls.” When you think about it in this case, it’s like the men are now being treated like puppets because RaeLynn makes it look like the women are now in control and have authority over men rather than it being

The role of women in today’s society has dramatically evolved from the views that society shared in previous decades. No longer is a woman valued for her etiquette, grace and virtues, instead we are constantly in competition with one another over being more provocative and sexually charged. A perfect example of this ironically acceptable behaviour is portrayed through the women we view on a daily basis in music videos. It is evident that the concept ‘sex sells’ is now being used in almost every advertisement and video that we watch on daily television and the indoctrination of this concept has spread wide and far throughout the entertainment

In today’s society, contemporary music videos are a measure of myth about sexuality and gender whereby sexual objectification is accompanied by media culture. Music videos depict images that captures minds, shapes a person’s attitude and tells a story. Throughout the 21st century, music videos have shaped perceptions of women and their role as sexual objects. In this case, the music video Man Down provides a potent example of black masculinity and sexual overtone. This blog entry will speak about how this music video bounds editions of knowledge that women are sexually available and men are sexually desirable.

For twelve weeks Blurred Lines was at the top of the Billboard 100 charts and could be heard thumping from speakers everywhere. Sung by Robin Thicke and featuring prominent rappers T.I. Harris and Pharrell, this track was proclaimed the anthem for summer 2013 . At the surface the song is seemingly harmless with a cheery rhythmic beat and catchy lyrics, but when examining the song and accompanying music video, Blurred Lines is anything but harmless. Dubbed “that rape song” by many discerning listeners, Blurred Lines is a song about the blurred lines of consent. With gems such as “You’re an animal, just let me liberate you” and “I’ll give you somethin’ big enough to tear yo ass in two” featured throughout the song it is astonishing how

Sex has always been used to sell products, from fruit to IT services, and music is no exception to this method. Although women, in all forms, are frequently sexualized and labeled throughout the media, there appears to be a form of “hyper-sexualization” that occurs in the music industry. Female music artists are regularly urged to wear more revealing clothing and are often held to higher beauty standards. As written by Jennifer Stevens Aubrey and Cynthia M. Frisby in their article, “Sexual Objectification in Music Videos: A Content Analysis Comparing Gender and Genre,” “compared to male artists, female artists were more sexually objectified, held to stricter appearance standards, and more likely to demonstrate sexually alluring behavior” (Aubrey and Frisby). It is well known that the way women are represented among the media is not the way women are like in real life, which are causing detrimental effects to young women growing up in this day and age. Some of these negative effects include issues in self-esteem, unobtainable beauty standards, and the promotion of premature

In the article “Sexual Objectification in Music Videos: A content Analysis Comparing Gender And Genre”, Aubrey and Frisby have created a coding system to calculate sexual objectification and where is it seen within Music Videos [Pop/R&B/Country/Hip-Hop]. Both authors have collected data starting from the golden age of the 80s to more recent examples of music videos, which show evidence of women being more sexually objectified than men in most of these music videos. Aubrey and Frisby do not focus solely on the music artists within the videos but on everyone who appears in them. By coding everyone within the video clip, there is a bigger window to look through and see how different genders are objectified. However, Aubrey and Frisby feel that there should be more attention focused on the artists themselves, as these are the people who are idolized by the public and whose appearance on screen has the most influence on adolescents to young adults.

This case is apparent within the music business. Male music videos and lyrics usually contain male-supremacy contents with women-objectification, usually referring women as a sexual object is not allowed to be emotionally attached to the main character of the song. In women’s music videos, they contain scenes which the artists appear undressed and performs awkward sexual gestures. Although they claim that they are protesting against the social expectations that set the requirement for women’s beauty, it is very hard to grasp that ‘deep meaning’ within the lyrics and video, for it has nothing to do with body appreciation: those product are mere entertainment without any deeper meanings. The artists do not “merely sell [products], [they are] sold,” as if they were the product itself (Atwood 465).

While in “Let’s Get Naked..” a speech by Sheila Kelley what spoke out to me as her thesis was simply through the use of negative connotations and overtones at an early age for females there comes a trapped part of everyone that can only be unleashed

The controversial lyrics suggest rape and degrade women while men take advantage of them. The degrading of women can be seen through Thicke’s diction in the pre-chorus

Nicki Minaj’s music video vanquishes the white patriarchal construction of society and endorses feminism in a modern context comprehensible for all women.