Sexism in the Media
Throughout her career, Beyoncé has been no stranger to controversy. From covertly sexual lyrics to blatantly sexual music videos, she always seems to make headlines; perhaps none bigger than those surrounding the recent release of the music video for her song “Formation.” The themes presented in “Formation” were similar to those displayed in another music video, “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar. Despite the similarities, the videos were received differently by their audiences. “Alright” received widely positive reviews from media outlets such as MTV and The Verge while “Formation” was perceived more negatively . The outrage surrounding Beyoncé’s “Formation” video, and lack thereof for “Alright” by Kendrick Lamar, exhibits the prevalence of sexism in the media today.
The similarities between “Formation” and “Alright” reach far beyond just their imagery and popularity; they are both a call to action targeted towards black people in America. Though both videos inspire and communicate to black people as a whole, “Alright” and “Formation” are more specifically speaking to black men and black women respectively. This becomes evident when analyzing the videos and their accompanying lyrics individually. Beyoncé rallies black women to “get in formation” while also glorifying many aspects of black culture itself. With lyrics such as “I got hot sauce in my bag, swag,” “I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils,” and “I like my baby hair with baby hair and afros,”
Her clothes accentuate her cleavage or have a sexual shock factor, such as wearing “sequined pasties…[that] coordinate with the rest of her attire”. The vulgar, sexual nature of her raps makes it impossible for her to not receive attention from the media. Another artist, Eve, dresses sexually to accentuate her body and appears in videos with music video models but raps about social issues like domestic violence. By comparing the nature of these artists and their music, Perry tries to show that young girls have very few role models in hip hop that promote positive feminists values and body images. But, she neglects to discuss other feminist artists she mentions in the essay such as Destiny’s Child and Mary J. Blige and how their lyrics and actions in the media allow young black girls to have positive role models that show a woman can be independent, strong, and beautiful in their own way. Perry’s focus on the more sexualized female artists in hip hop and how their shocking appearance and lyrics allow them to be as successful as their male counterparts took away from the development of her argument about conservative artists and their success. By leading the reader to believe that artists are either overly-sexual or conservative, Perry limits how the reader forms an opinion on why or why not young girls’ body image may be threatened by the media and the hip hop
Beyoncé Knowles’s Lemonade video album brings the words of Beyoncé into a visual media and shows the viewer a deeper meaning behind the album. After this video came out many articles came forward analyzing Lemonade. One article, in particular, that was intriguing is Bell Hooks “Moving Beyond Pain.” Hooks starts her article saying that the Lemonade video was created as a money-making, business strategy, but as the text continues the reader can conclude that “Moving Beyond Pain” is actually about African American women, and women in general, standing up for themselves.
Beyoncé Knowles, a well-known singer, songwriter uses two of her songs: “Freedom” and “Formation” to tell the story of herself. “Freedom” is the beginning of her story where she is searching for freedom and equality showing that there is still much inequality and injustice for African Americans in America today. The song slowly transitions to a more positive tone when she seems to have made something beneficial out of her difficult situation. “Formation,” however, has a completely different tone. While she does address negative situations from the past at the beginning of the song, she quickly transitions to a more positive tone full of pride in where she came from, who she has become, and what she has overcome. Together, the two songs
Everyday kids are growing up to believe that one gender is better than the other. We live in a world where males are supposedly better than women. This day in age, the media is one of the biggest factors that go into shaping our societies views on gender. Which is why the influence caused from the media on our society is creating a negative effect on the views of gender.
Beyoncé recently released her music video on Saturday February 6, 2016. Beyoncé 's "Formation" video forms messages in text and visuals that fits today 's social issues. They call attention to the audience mainly for women and Black America. This piece of rhetoric creates meaning in society by giving us events and visuals to help the
Person, and Chris Riotta. ""Formation" Lyrics: Meaning Behind Beyoncé's New Black Power Anthem." Mic. N.p., 07 Feb. 2016. Web. 03 May 2016.
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
Beyoncé’s choice of lyrics in the song “Formation” reflect a cultural reclamation and celebration of being multiple things: an African-American of any sex, a woman of any race, and specifically a black woman. These multiple messages are allowed for by lyrical content that ultimately asks members of all these marginalized groups to “get into formation” in singing an anthem for empowerment. “Formation” begins with a few words from Messy Mya, a YouTube personality who was murdered in 2010 and was known for his overt satire regarding violence against the black community in New Orleans. This sets the stage for the political message the following lyrics portray. “The intersection between hip-hop and politics has empowered a generation of youth to believe that they not only have rights but maybe even an obligation to make a difference in their world” (Alalman, p. 42, 2011). Expressing self-feelings, thoughts or views through music can make a change in the world, which is what Beyoncé does through her music. The actions in the song is further reinforced in the music video, through African American women fighting for respect on the streets, creating a sense of devotion in the audience. Moreover, the artist openly addresses the culture of open social hate towards black features “I like my baby hair with baby hair afro, I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils”, to which she responds by accepting them as special traits to be cherished and not ashamed of. By embracing all these pejorative
“People learn more from media than any other single source of information” (Missrepresentation). This quote exemplifies how society learns and creates their standards about people, places, and things. All sources and mediums of media impact billions of lives every day. The media holds this power over society and it’s time to change that; especially when it comes to the media’s view of women. Women are constantly being misrepresented. This misrepresentation of women in the media is negatively impacting America by corrupting both the youth and adults. This is occurring because of the hyper-sexualization of women, wrongly portraying women in leadership positions, and creating stereotypes of women in movies and television.
Miss Representation conveys that media is derogative to the most powerful women in the United States. People learn more from the media than any other source because it is the message and messenger. Americans devote about 10 hours and 39 minutes daily to consuming media (Howard). The media’s misrepresentation of women in movies, television shows, and advertisements negatively shapes politics, our national discourse, children’s inquisitive minds, and ultimately society. The danger behind these stereotyped images of women is that their effect is subconscious, meaning we slowly become accustomed to a sexist portrayal of women without even immediately realizing it. To cease our unrealistic, prejudiced expectations of women, a culture change is necessary.
On February 6, 2016 ‘Formation’ was released. Besides the controversy surrounding ‘XO’ ‘Formation has to be the most controversial song and music video she has ever released. Featuring lyrics like “I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils // When he f*** me good I take his a** to Red Lobster cause I slay.” Her music video featured her sitting on top of a New Orleans Police Department patrol car surrounded by a flood, a sign that says “Stop Shooting Us” and audio of Big Freedia What caused the true backlash of ‘Formation’ happened the next day on February 7. On, Super Bowl Sunday during halftime Beyonce performed ‘Formation’ live on national television. Beyonce and her backup dancers were dressed in Black Panther-esque costumes. Leading critics to say that her performance was racist and promoting anti-police sediment and has lead to police attempting protests the Super Bowl performance. Beyonce, herself has spoken out about the controversy. “I’m an artist and I think the most powerful art is usually misunderstood,” she said. “But anyone who perceives my message as anti-police is completely mistaken. I have so much admiration and respect for officers and the families of the officers who sacrifice themselves to keeps us safe. But let’s be clear: I am against police brutality and injustice. Those are two separate
In some context, it’s perceived as appropriate and logical that a pop superstar that possesses the attention and to a powerful caliber takes heed to the current events of the nation to bring a light of understanding and awareness of the mistreatment of minorities in poverty struck communities that Beyoncé illustrates in her “Formation” song and music video. However, personally, being born into a poverty, low income “black” neighborhood, find it rather pretentious that someone in the position Bey is in, to take advantage of the tragedies that may or may not have had little to no effect on herself personally, but was detrimental to others struck by the mistreatment and vicious neglect of the united states’
The majority of the “Formation” video is a compilation of Beyoncé’s basic beginnings in New Orleans. She shows the damage done after Katrina and shows the graffiti on worn down buildings. These images are meant to convey the message to young black women that they may have simple beginnings, but any and all of their aspirations are in fact achievable. She shows several events and locations that are important to her childhood, including shots of her church and Mardi Gras parades. The display of the simplicity of her former home, a small house, drowning in the flood, juxtaposed with her current home, a massive
One thousand years go by and an abundant amount of people still view women in a stereotypical type of way. On the opposing view, if women did not overstretch the slightest of things, this wouldn’t be such an enormous issue. Women may be overreacting to what the media has to say about them. It is not affecting everybody but a vast majority of successful women from continuing to moving forward said Marianne Schnall. Important to realize, women are capable of doing jobs men can do. Such jobs as being an engineer, physician, mechanic, lawyer and even top notch business women! Up to the present time there is an ongoing public debate on women suffering from double standards. If it makes a female feel threatened or belittled than it may be
Gender inequality is the idea or situation that men and women are not equal, and is a problem in countries around the world. I will be focusing my research on this type of inequality in Canada. It is an issue for both men and women that they are exposed to at birth, is fed by the media as a teen, and continues in their everyday life as an adult. My approach to this issue is examining three topics that are related to my assignment: childhood, everyday life, and the media. Acts of gender inequality can be found within these broad points that negatively or positively affect males and females. For childhood, there will be toys, clothing, and child advertising. In everyday life, I will cover the workplace, travel, and costs. Media will include celebrities, television/movies, and social media. My thesis statement is: gender inequality is evident in many stages of human development through childhood, teenage years, and adulthood. Gender inequality is a real thing and it is proven in childhood, as a teenager, and adult.