Sexism In music videos

In the music industry, sexism is a major issue particularly in regards to women. Women are treated drastically different to men. when discussing the way in which women are portrayed it is important to consider Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory as it deals with issues of  sexism. One of the more important points with her theory is the male gaze. This means that the media texts are created for the   viewing of males, and not the viewing of females. This is why in media texts, women are presented to the audience as being "objects of erotic desire". This is because it would appeal to the majority of the male audience. Even when women consume media texts, they have to watch it from a male point of view as they are forced to watch the exposure of women.

Blurred Lines

 

Last year the controversial music video to blurred lines by Robin Thicke highlighted the problems of sexisim in music videos. "It promotes a very worrying attitude towards sex and consent," explained Kirsty Haigh, EUSA's vice-president of services. The main artist in this video Robin Thicke is persistently shown to be completely dominant over the women in the video. Also, the women in the video are wearing very little clothing (in the explicit version of this video they are topless) where as he and the other male are fully clothed. This not only presents their dominance but it also presents women as the object of erotic desire which conforms to Laura Mulveys theory.  In reference to Goodwins theory, this video contains many close ups of the artist which appeals to audiences and record labels and the video also features a choreographed dance routine which is typical of a pop video. In terms of Goodwin, the girls in the video have a dance routine which is a characteristic of his theories.

Wrecking Ball

Miley Cyrus's video to her song "wrecking ball" is very controversial in regards to sexisim. In the majority of the video Miley is naked whilst swinging on a wrecking ball.  She also licks a sledge hammer in a seductive way. Many argue that it sends an inappropriate message to her younger audience who she gained throughout her career as Hannah Montana. Although it could be interpreted that Miley exploited her sexuality in this video to shock audiences and gain attention, it could also be inferred that she is making the statement that she is no longer the innocent disney star; that she has grown up. This video is unique as she is purposely exploiting herself. she is exploiting the music industry because she is doing something unique and being controversial about it, thus creating interest in her, and therefore giving her more chance of achieving revenue. She is also On the other hand, I think she is being exploited. In regards to Mulvey's theory, she is making herself appear like an object of erotic desire by using her body to appeal to the audience. 

Hard out Here

This video is a feminist video as it is mocking other videos that sexualise woman.  It is showing how its hard nowadays to be a woman because of all the expectations that people have for them.  People think they need to be skinny where, as the song says, you can see their bones.  They need to have a big butt and boobs because this is what will get them a good life and get them to stardom.  IT even parodies how in many black music v black women’s bodies are reduced to lurid props.However, as the video shows, we can see that Lily Allen completely disagrees with these views.  This makes the video entertaining and it can also teach others what woman have to go  through in their lives. It is clear that the video is a parody of a lot of current videos, such as J Lo's video 'Booty'.  It does sexualise woman throughout the video but this is just to show what happens behind the cameras and maybe even the media in general.  In this video Lily is making a similar statement to Mulvey, she's expressing how the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance.