Joan Morgan Sex Lies And Music Videos Summary
The Toxicity of Today’s Music Industry
To some the music industry is a toxic one, while to others they could not be more indifferent about it. In the article “Sex, Lies and Videos” Joan Morgan stresses the negative affects the music industry is having on this generation. She makes great points throughout the article while using examples to support those points. T.V is one of the most popular forms of “advertising” if you will. She says T.V is essentially a “babysitter” for children. Whether or not that is true, is up for debate.
For starters, music videos seem to be one of the hottest topics when talking about how women are being degraded. From a parental stand point one could understand a mothers concern about her young daughter watching these music videos where a woman is degraded and is being portrayed as nothing more than an object where she is subjected to be “used.” In these videos those women are dressed provocatively and are hanging all over men and their demeanor is everything short of self-respect. In today’s society young girls from the ages of 13-18 are targeted more than anyone else. It could be believed …show more content…
that they are most affected and influenced by these videos. They’re young and naïve, and so badly want to fit in. The job of the producers of these videos isn’t to censor things that could give a young girl the wrong idea on how to dress herself and attract someone of the opposite sex.
Unfortunately a young girl cannot be monitored at all times.
Morgan brings up a valid point in her article when she talks about how a large percentage of girls have eating disorders. One could argue that a single music video with very thin girls could be the culprit. There are many other things that could cause a girl to be diagnosed with some type of eating disorder. Take a look at the models in magazines and celebrities going to extremes to lose weight. What some cable companies have done is allow parents to block certain channels from being watched. Taking advantage of this could solve a world of problems. With that being said, a parent cannot control what their daughter sees when she leaves the home. A mother would like to think she can shelter her daughter from all the bad things in this world, however that is very
unrealistic.
On the rappers defense, not all downgrade women in their videos or their lyrics. If you take Drake for example, his lyrics are about success, hardships, and the love of women. To him, women are beautiful creatures and should be treated with nothing but respect and showered with love. A line of his lyrics in his song “Best I Ever Had” he says, “Sweat pants, hair tied, chilling with no make-up on. That’s when you’re the prettiest I hope that you don’t take it wrong.” Not anywhere in those lyrics specifically does Drake make it seem as if a woman needs to take her clothes off to be accepted or wanted by a guy.
All in all, a parent has control over what their child sees in the home but very little control on what is seen outside of the home. As a parent it is important to instill good values in their children and teach them the right. Morgan says, “It 's time to set some standards. Instead of resigning ourselves to being at the mercy of the media, we have to recognize our power to have an impact on it.” I could not agree more. It is up to the parent to recogzine and decide what is and is not appropriate for their children to watch and take actions they see fit to censor their children from it.
Works Cited
Morgan, Joan. “Sex, Lies, and Video.” Online Article. Jun. 2002: 4.
To some the music industry is a toxic one, while to others they could not be more indifferent about it. In the article “Sex, Lies and Videos” Joan Morgan stresses the negative affects the music industry is having on this generation. She makes great points throughout the article while using examples to support those points. T.V is one of the most popular forms of “advertising” if you will. She says T.V is essentially a “babysitter” for children. Whether or not that is true, is up for debate.
For starters, music videos seem to be one of the hottest topics when talking about how women are being degraded. From a parental stand point one could understand a mothers concern about her young daughter watching these music videos where a woman is degraded and is being portrayed as nothing more than an object where she is subjected to be “used.” In these videos those women are dressed provocatively and are hanging all over men and their demeanor is everything short of self-respect. In today’s society young girls from the ages of 13-18 are targeted more than anyone else. It could be believed …show more content…
that they are most affected and influenced by these videos. They’re young and naïve, and so badly want to fit in. The job of the producers of these videos isn’t to censor things that could give a young girl the wrong idea on how to dress herself and attract someone of the opposite sex.
Unfortunately a young girl cannot be monitored at all times.
Morgan brings up a valid point in her article when she talks about how a large percentage of girls have eating disorders. One could argue that a single music video with very thin girls could be the culprit. There are many other things that could cause a girl to be diagnosed with some type of eating disorder. Take a look at the models in magazines and celebrities going to extremes to lose weight. What some cable companies have done is allow parents to block certain channels from being watched. Taking advantage of this could solve a world of problems. With that being said, a parent cannot control what their daughter sees when she leaves the home. A mother would like to think she can shelter her daughter from all the bad things in this world, however that is very
unrealistic.
On the rappers defense, not all downgrade women in their videos or their lyrics. If you take Drake for example, his lyrics are about success, hardships, and the love of women. To him, women are beautiful creatures and should be treated with nothing but respect and showered with love. A line of his lyrics in his song “Best I Ever Had” he says, “Sweat pants, hair tied, chilling with no make-up on. That’s when you’re the prettiest I hope that you don’t take it wrong.” Not anywhere in those lyrics specifically does Drake make it seem as if a woman needs to take her clothes off to be accepted or wanted by a guy.
All in all, a parent has control over what their child sees in the home but very little control on what is seen outside of the home. As a parent it is important to instill good values in their children and teach them the right. Morgan says, “It 's time to set some standards. Instead of resigning ourselves to being at the mercy of the media, we have to recognize our power to have an impact on it.” I could not agree more. It is up to the parent to recogzine and decide what is and is not appropriate for their children to watch and take actions they see fit to censor their children from it.
Works Cited
Morgan, Joan. “Sex, Lies, and Video.” Online Article. Jun. 2002: 4.