The music industry has taken a wrong turn, and it affects our new generation; music videos becoming more like pornographic trailers causing men and women to objectify each other as a sex object. According to Camille Paglia (lecturer, educator, and feminist) in “Lady Gaga and The Death of Sex,” “Hollywood discovered that sex was great box office” (2). Because sex sells, it is a market technique used by record companies to sell more record. So does sex usage really empower women? In Paglia’s article, “Madonna I: Animality and Artifice,” she claims that dominatrix (used by Madonna) empowers women, and it should be praised by all female musicians (89). I agree to Paglia’s claim that sexuality sometimes empower rather than exploit women to act sluttish; however, in music, I believe the line between a woman using sexuality and promoting herself as an object is unnoticed because it changes depend on who dominate. When male musicians dominate a certain type of genre (hip-hop), many new musicians (women included) degrade women to jumpstart their career because sex sell.
For instance, before Nicki Minaj gets famous, she started her career by degrading women in her mix tape, “Sucka Free,” cover picture because most people think hip-hop is only male profession, and it has little respect for women because mostly men listen to hip-hop. And so for female rappers to get the attention from those men, she has to jumpstart her career by using her sex appeal image. In addition to her degrading cover pose, that might caused young women in our society to accept it as a norm, she was criticized by many because that posture was not only inappropriate, but it was copied from Lil’ Kim. In fact, it was the same pose Lil' Kim uses on one of her older cover...
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...a blame Gaga for killing sex.
Personally, I think Paglia argument that blames Gaga for not being sexy did not explain enough about Gaga who know how to play piano, write music, sing great live, dance, and make fashion (Needham 2). It mostly comparison to her “long-term crush” (Needham 2) Madonna who is, as Paglia stated, “the future of feminism” (“Madonna I: Animality and Artifice” 90) now seems “marooned in the past” (Needham 2). Overall Gaga is empowering everyone respect each other and love themselves, unlike Rihanna who exploiting women to be a slave for men. I believe Rihanna not only degrading women but also exploiting kids by sing to them inappropriate song for their age. Regardless if number of musicians like Rihanna increase, I think Gaga will accomplish far more success than musicians who choose to follow rather than lead.
... it brought in sultry rhythms and made some adults worried about over-sexualizing music. However, today it is very common to hear something sexual in a song or verse. In today’s music industry, many women are just as successful as the men.
Today, the media plays an essential role in the Western civilization. Considering this, entertainment, social media, and the news are all intrinsically valuable media literacy devices. In addition, the media “helps to maintain a status quo in which certain groups in our society routinely have access to power and privilege while others do not” (Mulvaney 2016). For instance, both in the music and pornographic industry the female body is perceived as a sexual object. In Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Sex & Power in Music Video, Sut Jhally mentions that “examining the stories that music videos tell us about both male and female sexuality, about what is considered normal, allows us to do more than just understand one aspect of our culture” (Jhally 2007).
Leonard, Marion. Gender in the Music Industry: Rock, Discourse, and Girl Power. Aldershot, Hampshire, England: Ashgate, 2007. Print.
According to Andrew Ross “Protopolitical in popular culture, particularly in those media that have been derogatorily designated as "mass culture" or the "culture industry" by left- and right-wing intellectuals alike” Many in the conservative and liberal communities try to infer that Madonna is a largely a contributor of mass musical media as a commodity. That her ideas and controversial acts are just a way to make more money and she doesn’t really mean what she says. As far as many are concerned, Madonna challenges American female culture by being genuinely unique and always asserting a position that she, nor her music, are meant to be acceptable. Her performances are meant to offend and challenge the female role that has been held to for so long. Is Madonna’s music really just commodity that is mean to make money? All professional artist in the business to make money. However, Madonna always challenges the current political time and culture when she performs and
This study works to examine the use of sexual objectification of women in music videos today. The primary purpose was to examine the differences between genres, specifically hip-hop and country. I tested the following; Women are more likely to be sexualized in hip-hop music videos than in country music videos.
Music is an inspirational outlet that can be used to convey a message to other people who relate to that message. Music can become even stronger when the person who is performing it is an inspirational source as well. For the past 30 years Madonna has become a well-known artist, actress, and role model to the people who support her. All artists know that they are only number one until someone else comes along and replaces them with more intriguing work to offer. Lady Gaga has been said to be the new Madonna of our generation and is quite often compared to her in many ways by her musical and styling choices. They both share similarities such as their musical genre, style, feminine empowerment, and their support towards the gay community. Their differences can also be seen in those same fields as well.
Madonna is a controversial legend whose attitudes and opinions on sexuality have forced the public to take notice and change the image of females in society. Madonna believed women’s sexuality was a natural aspect of life; therefore, she dared to challenge the rules and definitions of femininity and sought to expand the meaning of it. In a male dominated world, she wanted to focus on the importance of women and let them have a voice of their own. Madonna shattered all the myths on traditional beauty standards and made her statement on sexuality and feminism, which changed how society viewed the standards of beauty. She impacted female power by encouraging sex- positivity into her music and her style. It is mainly because of Madonna that ordinary women, and women in modern entertainment have more choices and freedom which continues to influence further generations.
In chapter seven of The Diva’s Mouth: Body, Voice, and Prima Donna Politics author Susan Leonardi focuses on Madonna’s freedom of expression. Madonna is a prime example the fluidity the diva holds, which is derived from the performance aspect. She is seen as an icon for challenging gender norms and specifically pushing boundaries for sexuality. Leonardi describes that while her content is mostly heteronormative, “her primary interest passion is the female body” (Leonardi 210). She holds complete control over her body and verbalization of female sexuality – which has been historically taken away from women. This can be related back to the hysteric and the oppressive misconception of female sensuality. She strives for exaggeration to make the audience uncomfortable. Specifically, “‘The Blond Ambition tour abandoned the carefully constructed ‘womanist’ promotion of women strong enough to cope with men, and it unleashed the queen of gender disorder and racial deconstruction who is so disturbing to white feminists and white heterosexual men” (219). Madonna unapologetically takes up space and demands to be heard. Because of certain privileged identities she holds, Madonna is described as a “chameleon” (213). She exploits stereotypes and appropriates culture through her status as a diva. For example, voguing is credited to Madonna when in reality it originated in queer communities of color. Throughout her
Nicki’s apparent feminist agenda through her music and identity is being distributed to her wide audience, which covers a massive array of hip-hop and pop music fans. Her wide reach and continual influence has the potential to lastingly correct the anti-feminist, misogynistic tone of the male-dominated genre and culture. Despite her hyper sexualized image and defamatory lyrics, she is arguably a positive, albeit controversial, feminist role model, which is evident in her motivation for success, lyrical discourse, and use of and meanings behind her alter egos.
The phrase sex sales is used a lot in America, our society doesn't think women can sale things strictly on their talent alone. So they over sexualize them while they are promoting or preforming. The ascribed identity here is that women aren't as talented as men and have to work on more provocative marketing measures to sell their records. While as a woman I think they ascribed identify is obtuse however, living up to it has one big perk. That is when a woman dresses how society thinks she needs to she tends to sell more tickets than she normally would. While if a man decided to do that it would back fire. Let's give some examples of men and women in both industries living up to the identities the media place on them.
Madonna also presents Eve’s figure in a dual presentation: the angel-like virgin and the seductive sinner, in 1984, when Madonna promote her album Like a Virgin, she dressed as a bride with white silk wedding dress, push up bra, fish net stockings and a belt that said “boy toy” on it, which she argues that she’s not labeling herself as “boy toy”, but instead she have the ability to own a “boy toy”. In 1986, Madonna’s video for Open Your Heart she wore a pointy-tasseled bra with short platinum hair and dark eyebrows, the outfit resembles the darker aspect of Eve, which is the femme fatale, “a description usually associated with women who use sex to exert power” (1159). Madonna brought tight bustiers, revealing corsets and the era of the underwear as outwear at The Blonde Ambition period of the 1990s, which the archetype of Eve transform to “the woman who inappropriately dares to reveal her unmentionables, what Nathan Joseph calls the final buffer between the public layers of clothing and the privacy of the nude” (1158). Even after ten years later, Madonna still presents the femme fatale in her performances, “The female fatale is perhaps the most enduring of all images used by Madonna”
Female artists in today’s music industry are often depicted in a sexualizing manner, because their managers know that sex sells. However, in the video for her song, “Hard Out Here”, it would seem that Lilly Allen is free to sing about whatever she wants, and dress however she pleases (Allen 2013). This song, allegedly a “feminist anthem” (O’Hagan 2013: 1), was meant to ridicule, and fight against, the blatant sexism against women in the music industry, a sexism that is made obvious through the sexualization of women. Allen had the opportunity to truly take a stance against the portrayal of women as sexual objects in this male-dominated industry. Instead, the music video shows degrading images of women dancing half-naked, which are
Madonna broke into the music industry in the 80’s, when it was dominated by males. She used her music and the power that came from her life as a celebrity to fight for equality for women. Madonna pushed boundaries and opened new territories in order to promote womens sexuality. She released controversial songs and music videos, which identified and discussed issues women could relate to about their sexuality and desires. The issues Madonna talked about had never been discussed in the media. Before Madonna women had been left on their own to figure them out. Madonna fought against societal norms in order to change the way women were allowed to express their sexuality. Women were not supposed to talk about their sexual desires, they were expected to be pure and to always act and dress feminine.
Young, impressionable males do not understand what the subliminal messages in popular music videos are. Subconsciously, boys think that they understand what rock and rap videos are saying. The children do not understand that producers, directors and the artists, work as a team to strategically use camera angles, positioning, poses and sexual innuendoes to make their point. In fact, according to Kathleen Turkel, an assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of Massachusetts, “The fantasy world of rock videos is not innocent or accidental, but it is a carefully designed advertising technique used to sell CD’s, tapes and videos to a target audience of 14 to 34 year-old consumers.” (Rhodes) The final result of all of these messages is a very skewed image of who and what women are. Young girls viewing these videos is actually quite disturbing because what they watch on television is what they will grow up wanting to become. With all of these graphic images allowed on television, is it any wonder why we have horrible rape cases and other sexual assault crimes?
In the beginning, Madonna ultimately sacrificed sexual purity. Her daring exploitation of sex from a feminine point of view was definitely a breakthrough in 1980’s American society. Often, she dressed like a man and grabbed herself in “sacred” and “unseen” places. Actions like these, as Fiske points out, presented a threat but “not the traditional and easily contained one of woman as a whore but the more radical one of woman as independent of masculinity (Fiske 284).” Young girls regarded her actions not as “tarty” or “seductive” but as completely “acceptable.” Eventually, they embraced her image and strived to follow her example of the independent and sexually licentious woman (Fiske 283).