Sugarland: Relationships And Exploiting Women

Director Sut Jhally, in his documentary film, “Dreamworlds 3: Desire, sex, and power in music videos”, analyzes the issue of how women are portrayed in the music world. Jhally, in his film argues how music and media has become a proud industry when it comes to advertising women, all for the benefit of popularity and record sales. Jhally believes these videos both inform and misinform our culture about our dominant attitudes regarding femininity masculinity, sexuality and race. He uses an empathetic tone in order to appeal to pathos, the feelings and experiences in women when he presents video clips that are somewhat offensive to watch as proof that women have become a common necessity shown in music videos. Often presented as being sexually aggressive and submissive, being objectified by men. He also intentionally wants to try to stir up emotions as he introduces song lyrics of women being called inappropriate names and images of women being fondled by men throughout the film. Sometimes, aggressively without consent.

College age women are the most likely demographic to be sexually assaulted so it is really upsetting to me that women sing and dance along to a song that promotes rape. The song “Molly Cyrus” does not show women in a positive light and promotes sexual violence. After listening closely to the lyrics I will ask people to turn off this vulgar song next time I hear someone play it because this song will only negatively impact my

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

Robin Thicke’s music video to his song “Blurred Lines” avidly contributes to the patriarchy, while portraying sexism, gender standards, and beauty standards. His music video can be analyzed from a feminist theory approach, as it’s evident that his song and video contribute to a patriarchal society and its inherently sexist and sexualized ideologies. The ideology behind the song and music video is purely sexual and about male dominance. The lyrics to the song and actions in the video exhibit extreme over sexualization and objectification of the women. Analyzing this piece of popular culture through a feminist approach opens up a provoking conversation about how popular culture functions in a patriarchal culture. Analyzing pop culture though a feminist theory can allow for a larger variety and more in-depth analysis about the social aspects and political agenda within popular culture.

In 1997, Shania Twain released the song “Man I feel like a woman!”. The catchy melody immediately made this song a huge hit, but it’s the meaning of the lyrics that made it the feminist anthem that is still loved after so many years. The music video itself is empowering as it shows a confident Shania in the spotlight surrounded by her male musicians. However, the lyrics are what this analysis is more focused on. Twain sings about being her true self and letting loose. The song is an example of feminism, because it challenges gender stereotypes, the pressure put on girls to look a certain way and gender norms. The argument will be structured in three paragraphs, each developing on one of the ideas found in the thesis.

In her article “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto: Negotiating Spaces for Women,” Imani Perry argues that the objectification of women in the music industry is normalized in our society. Her purpose is to persuade us that most feminists who fight against the objectification and exploitation of women are ultimately colonized by the sexual fantasies of men. As a law professor at Rutgers Law School, Perry structures her text in a very effective manner. Using a general-to-specific organization scheme, she begins by outlining the recurring image of sexualized women in music videos, then presenting various cases of prominent feminist figures in the music industry.

Rap music in general has failed miserably in portraying the true worth of a woman. Women have a character that men cannot replace in any other way. “Behind every great man, there is a great woman,” and I strongly believe this because it is very applicable in my life as well. I can say that my mother plays an important role in my life, and she stood behind my success till now. Being an international student in this country takes a lot of courage, but the support and encouragement from my mother has helped me every step of the way. She is able to do things that a man cannot do; to be the nurturing, caring, patient, loving, and protective woman she can be to her children and her family.

The video is able to show the different phases individuals may go through when dealing with this relationship, such as the honeymoon phase or the abusive phase. However, the song and music video has faced much backlash due to it glorifying domestic violence disputes.  It is out question that we as human begins can be influenced by outside factors other than ourselves and the music industry is a perfect example of such.  The music industry and artist are known to display messages or even symbols that can be quite questionable , so I am not suprised that this video is doing the same thing.  Music tends to reflect the culture and activies of its time. For example, Christina Aguileria created the song Beautiful when numbers of bullying started to increase and when individuals felt like outcast.  However, what about domestic violence issues; there isn't much songs that support women or even men in this type of relationships but we do see videos where the women or men end up going back to the abuser, exactly what does that do.  Not to mention, women in music videos are more seen as objects the actual huan beings. For instance, in rap videos women are seen either following the man around or twerking to gain his attention.  The music industy tolerates and also contributes to domesti violence , the only way that can change is if the music industry changes

The World Peace Movement protested war, weapons and violence (PBS.org) and wanted safety for all, like the way the Women’s Music Movement wanted a safe place in music for women. Also, Holly Near came from that movement to the Women’s Music Movement after struggling to find songs to perform during peaceful protests that “felt right coming out of her mouth”, which she did not find with songs that were written by men (Mosbacher, 2002). The Labour Movement fought for fair pay, sensible hours and proper work conditions (History.com), something else feminists strived for. The Civil Rights Movement challenged racial equality and freedom (History.com), something also being challenged by women—especially black feminists—like Sweet Honey and the Rock (Mosbacher, 2002). These existing movements already faced struggles similar to those faced by Second Wave Feminists fighting for gender equality and equal rights for lesbians. These movements produce passionate emotional responses that can be expressed musically such as how lesbian women made desperate pleas for equality in their songs. For example, in Mary Watkins’ song “No Hiding Place” she softly croons “There’s no one else to judge when love is really love” (Mosbacher, 2002).

The most prevalent issue observed in the lyrics and music videos was gender and sexuality. This was in issue that was present and reoccurring in all of the top songs but occurred in different ways. This was no surprise though because we live “In a culture where sex and gender are centrally important” (2015; 73). The issue arises in the genre of music because of the way gender and sexuality is presented. In the top song “Die a Happy Man’ by Thomas Rhett, objectification was presented in both the lyrics and the music video. In the lyrics he says “Baby that red dress brings me to my knees, Oh but black dress makes it hard to break” and goes on to say “You’re a saint, you’re a Goddess, the cutest, the hottest, a master piece” (lyrics). It seems that his goal is to complement her, but he is objectifying her by judging her femininity (2015; 203). He also does this in the music video by having the girl in a bikini the whole time. Not only was the women objectified, but Thomas exposed a stereotypical relationship consequence. In modern society men tend to make a stereotype that they have to give up everything to be with a woman. Thomas did this in his lyrics when he talks about how he could “never get to see the Northern lights” or “never get to build my mansion in Georgia or drive a sports car up the coast of California” (lyrics). The second song was “Strip It Down” by Luke Bryan. In this song Luke definitely introduces gender roles in both the lyrics and the video. The song

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

I will be using Bell Hook’s book Feminism is for Everybody which is about the movement to end sexism to help understand why men feel the need to degraded women in their music. Hook’s talks about patriarchal power which is general structure in which men have power over women (male domination). “Males as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy, from the assumption that they are superior to females and should rule over us. But those benefits have come with a price. In return for all the goodies men receive from patriarchy, they are required to dominate women, to exploit and oppress us, using violence if they must to keep patriarchy intact.”(Hooks xi). Males today are still part of this patriarchal culture, Many rap and hip hop songs are about men using women and having control over them.

A topic that is poorly betrayed is the depiction of women. Throughout almost every video (even the ones by female artists) women are depicted as hyper sexualized. Women are something to be used to make a kid according to Notorious BIG and every other artist says women are to be used for sex and

For my field work assignment, I chose to analyze the messages about gender in Hip-Hop and R&B music. I came across a few challenges in choosing songs for this genre before the 1990's. Hip-Hop is a newer style of music and it was difficult to find top ten songs from the 1980's, but after some digging, I came up with a set of songs that I think illustrates the themes that were present in each of the decades music.

The 1980’s consisted of several historical events and societal changes that have been relived though the lyrics of many young hip-hop artists. Of the numerous genres of songs, hip-hop has been labeled as of the most relatable genres. During this 1980’s, many of the songs that were written by male hip-hop artist tend to focus on the relationship aspect of male and female interactions. This finding is similar to what was stated in Frith’s article (1986) that most successful pop songs were about being “happy in love” and “frustrated in love” as well as having a sex interest (p. 78). Instead of using derogatory terms to describe women, men felt the need to use more delicate and gentle terms. Through their music, artists portrayed women as individuals who provide love, support, happiness and fulfillment to a man’s life. Furthermore, male artists portrayed themselves as men who weren’t afraid to express their emotions, admit their dependency on women, and their willingness to do what it takes to keep a woman. There were no signs of hypermasculinity or dominance in the first few songs