Since the beginning of history, men and women both had predetermined gender roles. They acted in certain ways that they thought were right. They also behaved in certain ways because of their race. Back then, you wouldn’t dare catch a Black man dating a White woman. Today, interracial dating doesn’t bother most people. In the old days, men were the breadwinners for their families, while the women sat back and stayed home with the children. Now, more women are out in the workforce and sometimes, the roles are switched, having the husband being the homebody. This paper examines the differences between the different ways young women view themselves and their race through music versus the way males are stereotypically viewed by others because of their race.…
Music is much like the ocean. The ocean waves transport products across continents; and, for many, it is a source of relaxation and comfort. Music spreads ideas across populations and is an outlet for strong emotions. Although the ocean and music have positive effects on society, both the ocean with its tsunamis and hurricanes and music with controversial, dark messages can be destructive to small towns and young people. Music influences us in our daily lives. Our actions, thoughts, and emotions can all be affected by the music we listen to, therefore one should be mindful of their exposure to potentially corrupting music. In their song “The Middle,” Jimmy Eat World encourages positive thinking about a person’s self image and actions,…
(3 McLune). Powell’s article seems to reveal the fact that poverty is the reason for sexism and it should be excused because of it. Knowing that wealthy white boys can execute the same hateful lyrics as poor black boys, gives Jennifer the idea that his reasons are just ridiculous. The faculties of the record labels are not the only ones to blame in this situation. As artist and role models to our society they should take more responsibility in their music as well as their actions and what they represent. Many artists appear to only care about their own mainstream acceptance…
“I Enjoy Being a Girl” (music videos and women’s capitalist role as primary consumers and sexualized objects)-…
American culture has learned to become sexist and misogyny with the influence of the sexual exploitation of women in the music, media, advertising and entertainment industries. For instance, today music videos are the latest expression of sexuality and gender stereotypes; however these music videos are often condemned for its exploitation of women. In the documentary Dreamworlds 3: Desire, Power & Sex, Director Sut Jhally analyzes how music videos both inform and are informed by our culture’s dominant attitudes regarding femininity, masculinity, sexuality and race. Sut Jhally begins to illustrate a unique and powerful understanding to the continuing influence of music videos and its storytelling, in terms of its cultural behaviors and attitudes. With the help of Sut Jhally in addition to analyzing the interrelated social problems we are able to investigate the social constructs of music videos and examine how they are drawn and shaped within our culture.…
“The music industry is a vicious business. It chews women up and spits them out.”, says singer/songwriter Tori Amos. Much like the world of advertisements and fashion, female performers are hypersexualized and objectified. The music industry, being run by mostly men (producers, directors, etc.) make it very unlikely for a woman to succeed based on their talent, but more so because of the way they express their sexuality and flaunt their looks.…
One shocking example of the prejudice we found in this children’s show was an African American cartoon character depicted as uneducated and easily manipulated, while the Caucasian cartoon character was represented as superior and intellectual in comparison. Prohibiting the ability to use prejudice as a humorous technique is a major change that could reduce problems involving racial prejudice in society. If media stops portraying prejudice outlooks as amusing, individuals and especially children can take these problems more seriously. Furthermore, to reduce prejudice in society their needs to be a change in the music transmitted through the radio. Today’s famous music producers write lyrics expressing their prejudice beliefs against specific genders, races, politicians, government employee’s excreta and everyone listening to the radio is exposed to this. Prejudice lyrics have become socially acceptable and customary; potentially promoting prejudice beliefs while also desensitizes people to prejudice language. When lyrics containing prejudice content are promoted constantly, people become less sensitive to the problem and begin viewing it as…
For example, rather than degrading women, this song is elaborating on how society and the media have brainwashed women to believe that their looks and weight are more important than their knowledge. With that said, in the beginning of the video, one will see a little girl watching television. When the little girl turns on the T.V. she sees two beautiful women putting on makeup. Then, as the little girl is still watching television, we see a beautiful, skinny woman, who is obviously ditzy and has money to buy name brand clothing, getting a lot of attention from a man. At this time, the little girl sees and believes that, according to society, women will get a lot of attention from men, and have money if she is, unrealistically, skinny and beautiful. Although, the little girl then takes a stand and says “I don’t wanna be a stupid girl.” This means she does not want to be a women like the girls throughout the media. To me, this is important for women and especially young girls to see because the song, and my music video, is saying that it is okay to be different and one does not have to follow the norms of an i”deal women” like is portrayed all over television and popular…
Secular humanism is the number one belief held by the popular media. Instead of freedom of religion, there are organizations seeking freedom from religion. Prayer is no longer allowed in schools, and if someone is a Christian, they are now considered a minority. Music from the present time is the antithesis of the music that started our nation. Lyrics today are filled with profanity and the “clean” versions of some songs by popular artists could more accurately be named an “instrumental” version. Beyond the actual profanities, the overall message of today’s popular songs has shifted even further away from God. The majority of music is now centered around sex in a way that sex outside of marriage is not only accepted, but it is glorified. Women are objectified in many modern songs and are not described how one should describe a person created in the image of God. Americans have shifted away from God and their culture has followed suit. This shift in ideology has created the demand for songs with content that is being produced today. If the culture did not demand it, the music would not be…
Many of us have heard the famous single “Love The Way You Lie” which aroused a lot of controversy when it was released two years ago. Performed by famous American rapper Eminem and singer Rihanna. The song attempts to portray domestic violence and abusive relationship. The position of male and female in a relationship and their social interaction are always the hot topic of contemporary music. In this paper I would like to discuss how this song perpetuates male dominance against female through four aspects in gender-role socialization, including emotion, action, sex and social interaction. Also I would argue about the cause and elements that form the male dominance.…
There are many topics out there that seem to appeal to the ears of the music industry. A popular approach is to objectify women by comparing them to animals or anything that is worth less of them. This approach is extremely popular, since it is adding to the long, long list of ways society is still oppressing women in the 21st century. While you are at it, you can focus on singing about either a woman’s chest or butt or maybe including both will land you a higher spot in the music charts. As your song becomes a top hit, sooner or later, you’ll hear a 14 year old boy singing about women’s body parts, and parents will praise the music industry for exposing young children to content that sexualizes the female body.…
There is a certain appearance that women must keep up, while for men, there is no particular appearance – they are judged on their music not their look (Davies 303). When women are displayed in magazine covers, they are wearing tight clothes and showing a lot of cleavage. “A simplistic explanation for the highly sexualised representation of women would be that individual male music journalists are unable to view women as anything other than sex objects” (Davies 304). In Groce and Cooper’s essay, they interviewed women in local rock and roll bands. One vocalist, Carole, mentioned, “I try very hard to be pretty to an audience.…
I think you could find a case for a lot of these examinations could relate to these songs, but the one that really stood out to be was the “sexual double standard,” along with “sexual objectification.” The reason for believing this, is because in the song “Dear Future Husband,” Megan Trainor says “Dear future husband, If you wanna get that special lovin’ Tell me I'm beautiful each and every night.” basically saying the only way you’re going to be able to get anything, is if you do that. She is making herself into a sexual object towards her future husband and selling off what he likes, to get what she wants. I personally think reinforce norms within our society. By doing this, she is just doing what culture seems to be “okay with” by not “selling…
For a long period of time in human history, women have been treated as the collateral part of the community, the ‘accessories’ of men. Education began to open up for women in recent history and women’s suffrage was achieved only a century ago in the United States. However, the hundred years were not enough time to rid of the prejudice against women that has been molded for past 6,000 years. Sexism against women is still extant today, especially in science fields. As part of the Rocket Team of the Science Club for Girls, a program that promotes more girls in science, I am well aware of how women are still put aside in the science world below the surface of wide recognition.…
Studies have explored music’s effects on behavior. One such study considered the effects of exposure to sexualized lyrics (Carpentier, Knobloch-Westerwick, & Blumhoff, 2007). After this exposure to overtly sexualized pop lyrics, the participants rated potential romantic partners with a stronger emphasis on sexual appeal in comparison to the ratings of those participants who heard nonsexual pop…