Misogyny In Music Videos

“Music is part of us, and either ennobles or degrades our behaviour.” - Boethius (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/b/boethius.html#9ElISr9wLM7g3acA.99T)
Music can control our emotions, our thoughts, our mindset, but it isn’t always done with good intent. To begin, music videos and the lyrics of songs contain many messages of misogyny, which defines itself as a hatred of women (). Additionally, those hateful and sexist themes can be detrimental to the audience’s mindset on how girls should be treated. Finally, based off the representation of females by both celebrities and songs, a negative influence on the demeanour of girls is shown. These inimical actions must be halted, and so, music that can cause harm to women must be censored.
To start, various songs normalize sexual harassment. Numerous popular songs have lyrics that involve the “‘no’ means ‘yes’” theme - for example, “I know you want it” (Blurred Lines; Robin Thicke) - and those themes are concealed in a catchy beat. When words such as those are used in music, something is created for the purpose of enjoyment, it is normalization of the very serious issue. In addition to that, several songs promote violence against women. In music videos and in the words of songs, a multitude of references to physical aggression and threats towards women are made - “… rip out ya tongue cause of what ya mouth, told.” (Southern Hospitality; Ludacris). Songs like those are attempting to prove that acting hostilely to a woman is okay, and is without consequence. As a final point, music videos depict dominating males. Many videos show fully clothed men with women wearing very revealing clothing. This subliminally shows that females are only useful for sex and it is a positive representation of male chauvinism - which the belief that women are inferior to men (). Hate and abusive conduct towards women are clearly demonstrated in the music industry, and due to music’s abundance in the world has almost become socially accepted, however this misogynistic way of being should not be
The first point to take into account would be that certain songs promote drug and alcohol use. Take the lyrics of the song “Stay High” by Tove Lo, for instance, with words like “I’ve gotta stay high all the time to keep you off my mind”, insinuating that the substance abuse can numb the pain of a break up. This song, and others like it encourage the use of drugs in females, hinting to them that doing so would be beneficial. Along with that, the way a girl dresses can be affected by music. Women may begin to wear more revealing clothing, that accentuates their breasts, butt, etc. in order to exploit their sexuality. The clothing worn by women in the music industry tends to be quite objectifying, a study showed that even the female artists objectified themselves in that manner (Frisby, Cynthia, and Jennifer Aubrey. ; pg 67) and as celebrities, they set modes that are easily mimicked by girls who want to be like their idols. Lastly, exposure to sexually degrading music encourages sexual activity. In an article that researched the relationship between music and sexual activity, the findings concluded that exposure to sexual lyrics had an association with early sexual experience (Primack, Brian A., ). These works prove that song lyrics with erotic themes could provoke sexual behaviour, and as many of these songs are targeting women, it is entirely possible that women will be impacted. Only