The music industry is one major effect on girls. In many music videos women are shown to have these crazy body figures that authentically many could not gain. Many puerile girls at home are optically watching these music videos, and examining the women shown, while thinking, oh my gosh those are the only body types that men like. No, that is not a thing. The lyrics in many music videos, not just rap, but all music nowadays are horrible examples to women. “Nearly all of us have heard the term “weaker sex” used to refer to women” (Vest). The lyrics genuinely sexualize women and dehumanizes them in every way. When girls already have all these other insecurities, and all these other struggles, they are obligated to aurally perceiving that emanates from lyrics in popular musical compositions. The lyrics in these …show more content…
Women have feelings and should not feel as if they must be “slim thick” or being called a “b****” by males. Women should not be authoritatively mandated what to look akin to, should not be an object to men, should not be coerced into a visual examination, and should not be something they are not. Not only music videos affect this image on girls, but Pornography does as well. Porn is so degrading to all women in the nation. Many males watch Porn, which puts this conception in their heads that that is how a woman should be homogeneous to, and how a woman should act while having sexual intercourse with a man, or just in general. The women in porn have bodies that make other women feel as if they must look homogeneous to that unclad, and if they do not than they are just absurd. Guys watch porn and optically discern these authentically skinny models and then go back to their girlfriends and do not optically discern that. The boyfriend will eventually get bored of the girlfriend and customarily breaks up with them. The girl will feel insecure and thinks she is doing something
It is clear that based on the clips provided, women in the media are either praised or scrutinized by how they look. Hillary Clinton, a well known politician was attacked by the media just because she looked tired. Another clip that was shown was a scene from "A Devil Wears Prada." In the movie, Anne Hathaway's character was called fat by her boss, when in reality Anne has a very slim figure. If she was called fat, what will the girls growing up today will think about their bodies? Another example would be the repeated clips of attractive women characters. These character are what girls want to become; tall, blonde, and a body figure to die
Within the booming business that has become the rap world, certain musical themes and issues are more prevalent than most. In addition to such topics as drugs, alcohol and police brutality, a dominant theme within rap music is the denigration and derision of women. Indeed, as the above lyrics to Akinyele's song “Put It in your Mouth” illustrate, many male rappers use violent and misogynistic lyrics to create an image of women that is both degrading and disgusting. The graphic and shocking nature of this particular type of rap causes it to be widely publicized, and thus it serves as a definition of rap for a majority of people today. However, there are a number of female artists within the rap music genre spreading messages of female empowerment and respect, not denigration. These female artists, often ignored due to the hype surrounding their male counterparts, use their lyrics to create raps which focus on life as women; dealing with issues of love, power, and discrimination. The face of women in rap culture is both multi-faceted and contradictory.
Despite its increasing popularity, hip-hop music often implements misogynistic ideals by portraying women as sexual objects or as helpless beings in need of savior.
Most generations have been influenced by a trend of music that inspires them to dress, behave, and talk in a certain way. There are people who have the special talent of making others relate to their emotions, thoughts, or ideas by creating music. In current society most artists decide to create videos to make their lyrics visual for their listeners and to earn more profit. The negative thing about the creation of music videos is the way in which females are stereotyped. In a lot of music videos, especially hip-hop/rap, females are portrayed in a negative way, which causes a harmful influence on the people who view them.
Since the explosion of music videos in 1981, a large portion of their popularity has been due to the objectification of women and their sexuality. “Early content analyses showed that anywhere from 40% to 75% of music videos contained sexual imagery”(Arnett, 2002). Hip-hop music videos especially have a reputation of degrading women. In these videos “women are often depicted in positions of submission to men” (Sommers-Flanagan, 1993).On the flip-side Country music videos are “known for [their] socially conservative themes”(Frisby & Aubrey, 2012).
“She ain’t nuttin but a hoochie mama…Smackin’ on your lips, put your hands on your hips…She ain’t nuttin but a hoochie mama…Oh I love those big brown eyes and the way you shake your thighs, acting like you’re so damn cute...” Rap music with lyrics like this play on the radio and in home stereos every day. Rap music pounds messages of sex and violence into the minds of young adults leaving behind their sexist and repetitive influential messages. Music has a very powerful influence on our emotions, moods, and behavior. Rap music influences teenagers negatively by increasing violent attitudes and promoting sexual aggression against women.
Hip-hop and rap music are commonly criticized for its anti-feminist lyrics and degrading exploitation of women in music and music videos. (Sharpley-Whiting ) Many feminists have taken action against the music industry, which produces these messages in the music they release. However, in the hip-hop genre there are plenty of successful female rappers promoting feminist views, artist such as Queen Latifah and Mary J. Blige have made the choice to condemn the derogatory culture towards women. (Oliver, 382–384)
For example, when the documentary showed the band members and how they were symbolizing women. The band members had the woman against the wall with either no clothes or just undergarments on and throwing slices of meat at her. A lot of films and music portray this message that women are just a piece of meat and that they are only good for sexual experiences. Another example was Snoop Dog’s lyrics in his film, Diary of a Pimp, “you gotta break these hoes for Snoop” learning the lifestyle of a rapper and a pimp illustrating prostitution of women. Dreamworlds documentary also mentioned this when talking about the lives of women when a man is not present in their life. It illustrated scenes of sadness and loneliness. Women are not creatures who desire sex all the time and the purpose of the film was to teach us that how women are presented in music videos is not right. Women are more than just their bodies and do not need to continue to be objectified. Every media production should follow the Bechdel Test in communication of women and their actions. Women in music and films should not always be talking about men or living their life under the control of a man. Media acts as if women can’t be independent. If media continues to show women getting treating as objects and knowing that media influences society, then in society people will continue to think as if treating a woman as such is acceptable. Treating women as objects is not acceptable at all. However, what we see from media shows
Women have consistently been perceived as second-class citizens. Even now, in times when a social conscience is present in most individuals, in an era where an atmosphere of gender equality 'supposedly' exists, it is blatantly apparent that the objectification and marginalization of women is still a major social issue. In reality, progression in terms of reducing female exploitation has been stagnant at best. Not only is the degradation of women a major problem that to date has not been eradicated, but it is actually being endorsed by some music celebrities. There are a growing number of people who purchase rap albums that support the fallacy that women are mere objects and should be treated as such. As the popularity of rap continues to climb at unprecedented rates, so too does its influence on the perception of women. In the vast majority of hip-hop songs, the depiction of women as sexual objects, the extreme violence directed towards them and the overall negative influence these lyrics have on the average adolescent's perception of women make rap the absolute epitome of female exploitation.
Misogyny and degradation of women is present in almost every genre of music, yet the one genre that completely revolves around demeaning women is rap. Over the years rap and rap music videos have continually become more sexual and degrading towards women. Rap has been criticized numerous times for this reason, and that is because rap is one of the most popular genres of music for the younger generations. It is more than a genre of music, it is a complete industry filled with clothing and other merchandise. The reason this constant demeaning of women exists is because rap as a genre that rewards the objectification of women. The excuses used to justify the misogyny in rap are incomplete and lack accurate support. The most effective way for this continuous cycle ends, is if the fight and protest comes from the women themselves. Men are the problem in the objectification of women but in order for it to stop, women need to step up and take control of the situation.
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
One of the most noteworthy features of modern music videos is the portrayal of gender according to the worldviews, experiences, and expectations of the music artistes, or in line with gender stereotypes associated with specific music genres (Conrad, Dixon, & Zhang, 2009). In this regard, this paper attempts a critical interrogation of gender representations in music videos, specifically in terms of how women and men are represented in music videos of artistes in the Hip Hop genre. In doing so, this paper seeks to determine the stereotypes that underpin gender portrayal in hip hop music videos, contextualize the factors that may be responsible for the propagation of such stereotypes in music videos, and explore the implications for audiences – particularly teenagers and young adults who constitute much of the fan-base for the hip hop music genre.
There is a direct relationship between what is portrayed in music and the effect it has on its audience. Generally speaking, in modern music, woman have been placed in a certain mold. The molds portrayed in music have caused women to have negative self-perception. Through the lyrics presented in the songs and the images portrayed in the music videos, certain hip-hop songs may cause women to view themselves in the same light portrayed in the songs. The tone, lyrics, and images presented in the songs effect the intended audiences immensely. Hip hop music that objectifies black women negatively affects their self-perception because they view themselves as commodities.
By pushing an ideal body type that is uncommon and untrue to life, girls strive, and struggle to obtain this image. When the mass media only shows one type of body as desirable, they are alienating every girl who does not fit into that category. Pushing these ideal bodies onto teenage girls at an important developmental time in their lives can be detrimental to their bodies and their self-worth. By showing what a girl should look like, the mass media is damaging the body image of young girls, and unless awareness is raised, could become more and more adverse on young women today and tomorrow.
In today’s society, dancehall music is one of the most popular forms of music, however, the themes and lyrics of many songs that fall in this genre tend to be vulgar, offensive, violent and sexist. Sexism in dancehall music is one of the main topics of this paper and is apparent through the negative portrayal of women found in both the lyrics and music videos of such songs. This is an important issue because since dancehall music is so popularized today these negative representation of women, are being popularized to a huge majority of people, potentially giving them the idea that it is acceptable to treat women in such demeaning ways.