Sexualization Of Women In Music Synthesis Essay

Music is engraved in people's brains whether they like it or not. People all rely on music for entertainment, self soothing and a way to express their feelings. However the question uppermost in my mind, is what kind of effect does it have on teenagers? The older generation often complain about the adverse effect that music has on young impressionable minds. Do they really mean music or the inclusion of questionable video and lyrics? Without a doubt, many of today's music videos include high levels of near nudity, sexualized moves and morally questionable behavior. Why do music producers find it necessary to include this kind of behavior in order to sell music? Is it music which is being sold or are they promoting a lifestyle? You can not
help but be aware of discussions about how women are being perceived in music. The way gender is constructed can come from varying sources, for example, family, culture and most importantly the media.
Television and magazines play an integral role in how we perceive gender, and now popular music is taking over. Today's music is mainly gender- biased. Music videos continue to influence the way that women are seen; as accessories for men, and a way to appeal to a large number of audiences, especically male viewers. This objectification is sending the wrong message to people about how women should be treated and viewed. No only do male artists objectify women in their music videos, but women themselves are agreeing to present themselves in a way that makes men view them in a sexualized way. In 2011, a study was published in The Journal of Broadcasting and Electric Media, which examined how music videos impacted the sexual beliefs of young men. Jhally stated “music videos are often constructed around the “pornographic imagination,” in which women are seen as sex symbols that simply must have sex and will submit to any fantasy that a man may have.” Some women see this as a form of empowerment. They do whatever they want and feel proud about their sexuality while others
are pressured into following the crowd and see this as a stereotyped trap with no other way to be successful and appealing in today's market. Researchers Calfin Carroll, Greeson Willimans and Schimdt had an experiment that suggested teenagers and undergraduate students who are exposed to sexualized music video contents are more likely to agree with stereotypes of women than those assigned to control group. They divided students into two groups, one group would watch sexually stereotyped music videos and the other group watched music videos which contained less sexual contents. They discovered that male college undergraduates who viewed sexually stereotyped music videos expressed greater objectification of women, and are more comfortable around inappropriate behaviors than male participants who viewed less sexual content. A perfectly shaped woman in a bikini shaking her butt and holding one leg high in Nelly's music video "tip drill". Robin thick's music video "blurred lines", where naked women are dancing inappropriately and throwing themselves at men, as the men sing about sex, power and wealth. This is what young women are exposed to. The BBC recently reported that parents fear music videos have become too sexualized. It certainly has very strong effects on their identity, self-respect, self-confidence and behavior. Women in the media puts such an intense pressure on young girls today. It is every girl's dream to fit in and become part of what is "cool" even if it means behaving aggressively, because those are the types of women they have been exposed to their entire life. Most american children and teenager's first choice is watching MTV. A researcher conducted a study of of students who watched all MTV videos and ranked them in different categories. "In general, it was found that the message the MTV sends is one that is highly sexualized, no matter what the gender. MTV and the videos it airs encourage men and women to act in highly sexualized ways, and discourages normal non-aggressive and non-sexual relationships between opposite sexes." (Sommers Flanagan, Dec 2011).)Men were portrayed as strong, more powerful, higher achievers while women are portrayed as sex slaves (the victims), less competent and weak. MTV video content primarily included objectification, dominance and aggressive sexual behaviors which only develops more negative stereotypes and attitudes towards women. In a male's point of view, Hugh Hefner, The founder of Playboy was asked about objectifying women and he said,"The notion that Playboy turns women into sex objects is ridiculous. Women are sex objects. If women weren't sex objects, there wouldn't be another generation. It's the attraction between the sexes that makes the world go 'round. That's why women wear lipstick and short skirts". Hugh Hefner refers to women as "sex objects" who are used only to satisfy men's sexual desires. We have all seen instances where men exploit women in order to gain success, either in music videos or commercials, and this has so many negative effects on young males. When young males are constantly exposed to this kind of behavior they become more aggressive towards women and changes their ideas of how they should be treated. Today, many young men feel casual towards sex and think that sexual harassment is not a big issue because of those stereotypes. A campaign called Rewind and Reframe was launched recently to encourage and empower young women to speak out and change attitudes. Women around the world would blog about their views on different music videos, those letters would then be sent to the Chief Executives of the BPI and Vevo videos, and to David Cameron. Young women are demanding respect in music videos and age restrictions accessing Vevo videos whether they are sold or viewed online. Their aim is to protect the younger generation. One young woman involved in the project said, “There are times when I hate myself for liking certain kinds of music or songs. They have good beats but the videos and the message is sometimes completely repulsive, and even hateful… Music videos are affecting dance too, women are just expected to dance in a sexual way… There is nothing left for women that has not been sexualised. People always talk about choice, but where is my choice to not be sexualised when everyone expects and sees only that when they look at me?” (Rewind and Reframe, Nov 2013). Over the years, The content of music and their videos changed drastically, from playful and romantic to degrading and hostile.
Most female artists today are severely lacking in terms of love, true feelings, true passion just creativity and originality. Music videos have been demorolized, degraded, and it promotes the devaluation and degradation of women which effects many young girls today. We are facing the deaf of beautiful music. Music that has a meaningful, positive and hopeful message about love and understanding. Popular music took over which promoted all the animalistic desires in humans. it is becoming the trend now for popular artists to perform without any pants on. This became a normal part of their wardrobe. we rarely see women in videos nowadays with a long dress looking classy but still having that sex appeal. Huge artists like beyonce, rihanna, shakira who young women are idolizing now should be more responsible. Women can still show off their body but with respect and dignity. Back in the early 90's, women used to be more covered up from head to toe and still looked sexy and have that feminine edge and were respected. Femininity comes within, your caring heart, your feelings, your softness. These Women are misleading our young girls down the wrong path. Women who are successful are not gained appropriate recognition, as they're being judged using the same standards as is used for women in music videos. Women like Serena and Venus Williams, the tennis players,
Katie Couric, the global anchor and Sara Blakely, the founder of spanx, and a multimillionaire who donated half of her fortune for charity. Those are the women we want young girls to look up to. Women who still follows the trend of being sexy but doing it in a classy, more dignified way. Getting back to the initial question, what effect does it have on us? we the public become desensitized to the effect that negative images have on the younger generation. People continue to allow their children to watch and act out these music videos at home, and no doubt in clubs. We are therefore responsible for the views that the youth male and female develop as a result of numerous hours of watching television without parental guidance. During which they learn and develop the view that women are sexual objects for men to admire. Moreover, the music producers situation is an interesting one because for them to continue to make money and develop their craft, they are forced to go along with 'what sells' which in this case is videos of scantily, clad women moving their bodies seductively. Does it affect us? clearly it does.