Nudity and the 21st Sextury
The very subject of nudity is instantly a known topic when involving many different subjects. It will grab someone’s attention even in the most difficult setting. When you are referring to nudity you are referring to not only power, but also vulnerability. It is especially known for its power in the music industry ever since the beginning of MTV. While MTV is now known for its reality TV shows, in its prime it brought attention to something truly unique which is the music video. In that time MTV set the stage for the evolution of music channels by allowing other genres to branch off.
In this paper I aim to explain the aspect of nudity and sexuality in relation to music videos and how nudity time has become a normal occurrence within music videos.. So these are some of the questions I have to ask. Is the saying “sex sells” really true in regards to nudity and music videos? Are Artists using the tool of nudity to alter or to emphasize the meaning of their songs by visual effect? In what way/ways is nudity perceived as a better choice when in regards to marketing and overall subjectivity?
Let’s start by setting our glance into the 1970’s. There were music videos that existed but they were isolated overseas mainly in Europe and so the United States really had no grasp of the music video. The normal at the time was staying up late to view the “Midnight Special” hosted by “The Wolf Man” which were mainly live performances by bands at the time. It wasn’t until 1981 that the first music video was rolled out in America. The clip was of the Buggles “Video Killed the Radio Star” and with the debut of the video also came the beginning of the media madness involved with music television.
It didn’t take long for...
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..., she would rely on videos themselves for her promotion. In most of the videos she is seen low-cut bottom clothing and sleeveless shirts flaunting her body. In some cases she went as far as being clad in revealing leather as a dominatrix, strutting her curves while covering the hap-hazard lyrics of the song. The response was quite positive, with women loving her display of female power and the males obviously loving her figure. Further investigation reveals that it wasn’t just country that nudity was claiming success, but across all other genres.
Most of the material thus far has been about the female aspect of the spectrum. It should then be taken into the direction of the male spectrum. This should give a glance into the other side and determine if nudity really is an overall general sex sells theme or if it is only relevant when involved with music of the female.
In conclusion, pornography is the perfect example of an unpopular form of speech. It is despised by many, but is nonetheless a necessary part of our society. Without the protection of unpopular speech, we cannot move forward as a society that fosters new ideas. If we do not protect the voice of the unpopular, then we cannot call ourselves free.
Thinking of media today that is aimed at men, we often see women being over sexualized. There are women in bikinis dancing around men drinking beer in order to get you to buy Budweiser, and women in skin tight outfits driving cars so you will
One of the most prominent and detrimental forms of sexual objectification is in pornography, where it defines a woman’s role as a sexual object for men to use freely (Insert Plato Citation). It was concluded that 88% of the scenes on porn contain acts of physical aggression, which can overexpose men into thinking that this sort of aggression is normal and raise their tolerance of violence (Insert PornStats Citation). It can further warp the minds of the watchers into thinking that this is what relationships and sex are truly like, when in reality many women are forced into the industry or are overly intoxicated to keep the entire experience feeling numb (Insert ThePinkCross Citation). Pornography also touches in on an even darker subject of pedophilia, or the paraphilia involving sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Pedophilia is mostly found in males, who are also the sex that is 543% more likely to watch pornography (Insert PornStats Citation). Television shows and movies exhibit men of all shapes, sizes, and ages married or dating women of one body type, which is usually young and slender. The combination of the media and pornography feeding into the desires for young, petite girls by exposing them in an explicit way leads to the statistic that one in five men are capable of being sexually aroused by children, to some degree, though they may never act on those feelings (Insert TheGuardian Citation). On the other hand, it is still likely to see people telling young girls to not dress in a revealing manner. In the way society uses this, it is almost an oxymoron. The media is telling girls to look a certain way and when they do they are shamed for it. It should be left at if a girl is too young to be wearing ‘that short of...
Avant Garde is unusual and experimental art, styles, ideas, etc… Picasso’s Cubism is a good example of this. The Italian Renaissance was probably the single most avant-garde time in the history of painting and sculpture. Nudity became acceptable and recognized as a noble type of art. Impressionism also played a large role in Avant Garde. Suddenly colors became unorthodoxed, for example, grass could be red, the sky could be brown, People could be blue, etc… In the early 20th century Fauvism, the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities
In this particular era, the nudity of a human was highly recognized and favored in different art pieces. In paintings, women were naked and covered certain parts of her body. Sculptures would lack the appearance of a woman, but would also show attributes of a female's body. Even though this topic was praised in earlier times, in today's society the topic of sex is looked upon in a negative manner. As time changes, I believe that the viewpoint and mindset of people are completely different from the 19th century point of view. Sex has become a dreadful topic because people are more attached to religious beliefs that doesn't put sex on the high level that it once “ sat” upon in the 19th century. If an artist decided to put some type of nudity or sexual visual ...
Today, pornography has different targeted audiences based on various categories of pornography. There are pornographies made that are targeted toward women in which are slow and focused more on the people’s language rather than solely genitally focused. Most pornographies, however, are made specifically for men. These videos contain a large focus on the genitals, the men are portrayed as dominant, and the women please the men taking any measures necessary. According to a study, pornography that was intended for men and women aroused the men who were being studied. Women on the other hand, activated negative affects after watching the pornography intended for men and positive after watching the pornography intended for women (Mosher, 1994). In general, men are the main target of pornographies and women as well as feminists believe that pornography should not characterize women as objects. Also when making this study, it was difficult to find pornography that was made by women, majority of the videos are made by men and produced for
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).
Sex is often considered to be taboo among families. Parents do not want to believe that their children are aware of it, and vice-versa. While the family is living in a state of denial, the media is embracing sexuality. It is almost impossible to go anywhere without being exposed to sexual media. Virtually all advertisements, regardless of form, use sexuality to sell their product. This ranges from beer commercials using scantily clad women to advertise their product to males, to magazines that draw our attention by writing the word “sex” in big, bold...
Stewart Homes, a British author and pro-pornography critic once said that “art is nothing more than sanctioned pornography.” I strongly disagree, because today’s modern pornography is vastly different from art. Not only does it degrade human minorities, but it prevents humanity from moving towards perfection. When we analyze pornography through the artistic definitions of Leo Tolstoy and John Dewey, we can come to understand that most porn is nothing more than entertainment that is designed to arouse physical sensation, and not emotion. Even when this is true (as it almost always is), pornography cannot be censored, because it will always have a potential to become aesthetical in nature.
In the early 1980’s, women were not supposed to be open-minded or even allowed to have such sexual thoughts that Madonna inspired. Women were expected to be traditional and keep their femininity behind closed doors. When Madonna first came into the entertainment business, it was a complete shock for everyone. No one could believe a woman was capable of being a sex symbol in public. It was not Madonna’s fault that she was simply a desirable creature to everyone (Allen 5). In today’s youth, people are used to watching television and music videos since a young age. We learn from the media and it helps us to comprehend the representations that it is giving of society. Madonna became the main subject of the media and society. Since, celebrities are always focused on by the media; they have the power to impact society by showing their perspective of thoughts and images. Accord...
The events that took place during the halftime show of the Super Bowl may have shocked and angered many parents for exposing such sexual behavior and nudity to their children, but there were also a great number of people who questioned why people were so upset over a few seconds of screen time that Janet Jackson’s left breast received. After all, it was simply part of the female anatomy. Many people argued that it wasn’t just nudity, that it was “softcore” pornography because of the sexual conduct that was behind the performance. It is understandable that Jackson and Timberlake’s routine was full of sexual innuendo, but the majority of young children usually don’t pick up on such behavior and thus a simple “wardrobe malfunction.”
Nudity: a controversial topic from the beginning of time. It has raised questions such as: Should girls have to cover their shoulders when in the classroom? What is the appropriate length for a pair of shorts? And one of the more famous campaigns should women be allowed to “free the nipple.” Recently nudity has been used by celebrities to show support for presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. This is a controversy because some people believe that a woman using her body as a sexual image promotes the idea that others also have the right to view and support the idea that women are sexualized objects. In this article “Katy Perry’s naked vote reveals more than she wanted” written by Barbra Ellen explores this controversial topic by using many rhetorical devices.
The sexualization of women in the 21st century has led many to wonder whether or not the feminist movement actually resulted in more harm than good. Although the progress and reform that came out of the feminist movement is indisputable, things such as equal rights under the law, equal status and equal pay, the reality is that the subjugation of female roles in society still exist, and the most surprising part about this is that now women are just as much as at fault for this as men are. Ariel Levy defines female chauvinist pigs as “women who make sex objects of other women and of ourselves” (Levy 11). This raunch culture is mistakenly assumed to be empowering and even liberating to women when it is in fact degrading and corrupting to the modern feminist movement and makes it more difficult for women to be taken seriously in society. The shift in the nature of the feminist movement is in Levy’s opinion attributed to by the massive industry now profiting off of the sexualization of women, the reverse mindset now adopted by post-feminists and women in power roles in our society, and ultimately the women who further their own objectification as sex objects and thus, so by association, deem themselves lesser than man.
I can recall a time when the media was influencing my life and actions. The week after I graduated high school, my girlfriends and I took a trip to Cancun, Mexico, where the MTV beach house was located that summer. As I look back on the week of drunken partying and sexy guys, I can only wonder how I made it home alive. How could any young woman find this behavior acceptable? Every young woman there was flaunting their bodies to the young men around them. They were proud to be sexual objects. Where did they learn such debauchery? This is the kind of woman that is portrayed throughout MTV and various other aspects of the media. They have even coined the term “midriff”—the highly sexual character pitched at teenage girls that increasingly populates today’s television shows—in order to hook the teen customer. Teenage women increasingly look to the media to provide them with a ready-made identity predicated on today’s version of what’s “cool.” The media is always telling us that we are not thin enough, we’re not pretty enough, we don’t have the right friends, or we have the wrong friends… we’re losers unless we’re cool. We must follow their example and show as much skin as possible. The type of imagery depicted by MTV-- as well as people like Howard Stern, the famous “Girls Gone Wild” videos, and various Hip Hop songs—glorifies sex and the provocative woman.
Porn according to the dictionary is defined as a printed or visual material containing the explicit description or display of sexual organs or activity intended to stimulate erotic rather than an emotional feeling. A word described as so is what has lead porn to becoming a money making business, that has come to grow over the years quite a bit. An empire that many were afraid to even talk about ,but now want to be apart of. Now porn or as they would call it now as the Adult Film business is seen every where, from DVD’s to magazines and late night television shows to the internet. It can be accessed from anywhere at anytime. Adult film wasn’t something that was new to society, but yet society is acting new towards it. Many are saying that this is something that has affected their lives, or that it should not be around at all.