Why are women in music videos sexualised and objectified?
The sexualisation of women in the media has become an intricate part of today’s society; whether it’s in advertisements, magazines, commercials or music videos. In today’s media values the objectification of bodies has the maxim that the more skin on show, the better. Laura Mulvey claimed that “women are turned into sex objects through how they are shot in the media.” This is clearly true of the music industry; most of the music videos, front covers of magazines or the commercials represent women as a sexual objects and exist only as objects of men’s pleasure. When examining the sexualisation of women and young girls in the media today it became obvious that women as well as young girls struggle to become commercially successful in the music industry unless they conform to sexualised codes of dress and lyrics. This takes many forms within music from unpleasant sexualised lyrics to scantily clad outfits, representative of underclothes or swimwear. Hyper sexualisation objectifies women, defining them in a purely sexual role at the expense of other aspects of life. Women’s sexualisation most commonly occurs in a patriarchal and misogynist society where society is run by men therefore women are over sexualised as they are seen as inferior which leads to the idea that women are seen as nothing more but a sexual object. The music videos that I will be analysing are Lopez I Love you Papi and I will be comparing it with Bad Bitch by French Montana as these two videos are portraying the same issue. I Love You Papi song is a unique song that illustrates how women are objectified but in a female n these music videos I will be looking at the lyrics used towards women, clothes worn by them as well as how they’re treated.
The codes and conventions of the song I Love you Papi emphasises women being sexualised and objectified, this is done via when the music video starts as the camera is panning down on her reflecting on her inferior and powerless position. We immediately see her sexualised clothing with two men on the bed behind her sleeping topless which indicates her power through controlling those two men. The video appears to attempt a post-feminist parody of a male gaze. As the song develops, the audience have a greater sense of a superior position through mid-shot camera technique when she confidently places a set of gold chains around her neck which subverts the traditional idea of men putting the gold chains on their body symbolising wealth, power and high status. In a typical music video we see women wearing exposed clothing while washing the car whereas in this music video we see men who are topless and cleaning the car which parodies the typical music videos and the role of women in other music videos. It doesn't condemn objectifying bodies in music; rather it applies the right to women, an attempt at a 'female gaze'. When French Montana appears the roles of empowering really start to fall apart who we assume to be her “Papi”, this indicated the powerful male character, and the scripts are immediately flipped back to normal, as JLO’s backup dancers stop calling the shots and are instead put into bikini tops and used as furniture. While men scrubbing down their abs and using their butts to wash JLO’s car seem absurd, women of colour clad animal-print outfits doing a sexy dance around a fully clothed male artist just look like more of the same.
Whilst the video attempts humour, parody and a reversal of sexism, it fails to re-imagine the role of the female artist. Jennifer Lopez often is shown to wear white such as when she’s around group of men on the boat through a technique of tilt shot which makes her appear tall and big so the audience are shown to be fragile and immobilised as they are vulnerable. The sound in the music video consists of diegetic as well non diegetic. Even though the music video is trying to be post modernism and challenges the traditional ideas of women wearing exposing clothes, stripping, we still see Jennifer Lopez wearing very little clothing throughout the music which then goes back to the traditional idea of women being sexualized and objectified in this video as Laura Mulvey says "often a female character has no importance herself, it's how she makes the male feel or act is the importance", which is demonstrated in this music video through the way Jennifer Lopez is dressed and dances in front of the camera which attracts men and would watch this video as purpose of entertainment.
Referencing it to the other music
videos like the Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, the video has stuck to the traditional
ideology of women being sexualised. The mes en scene follows the conventions of
rap music with female dancers with very little clothing doing sexual dance
moves throughout the video. This video is very sexualised and objectifies
women. This song is a cover from the “thong Song” which includes “My anaconda don't want none unless you got buns,
hun." the man is in control of the sexual situation, his 'anaconda'
described as a predatory animal. But Minaj totally flips the line on its head
and raps about the power of a bodacious booty instead. This represents how
women are trying to break free from the traditional conventions of being
objectified and sexualised but unfortunately, they’re trapped into today’s
society which is stopping them from having absolute power and to lead.
This video is aimed mainly at men and
in terms of the uses and gratification model; men only watch this video simply
for an entertainment as escapism from their everyday life because every male
desires living a luxurious life. According to the modelling theory the
audiences are influenced from the text they consume….
When creating this media product the institution was institution was
influenced by mainly media and how women are portrayed and trying to challenge
the idea of the typical role of women in the music videos, however the
institution has not succeeded to challenge the typical idea. The music video
was distributed on commercial based platform via digital download well as on
major platforms like YouTube. This music video was produced by the Capitol
Records which is originated in United States and it's a small company which is
owned by the Universal Music Group (Subsidiary), since this is one of the major
six companies; it can influence the audience really easily as well as it's manipulative.
When contrasting this music video with Bad Bitch by French Montana, we
see that the video has continued with the traditional roles of women in the
music video. As the video starts we hear a diegetic sound of phone ringing and
straight away we see two men on the balcony and a woman entering the screen
bringing the phone in a white bikini top with chains on her back. This
indicates that even the colour white symbolises purity, virginity, innocence, and goodness but in this
scenario it’s complete opposite as the woman is portrayed as a slave and
stripper. As the video continues we see
three women on the stairs in a swimsuit outfit posing as the main woman walks
down the stairs. This indicates that the women are waiting to receive orders
and command from the males in the video. The clothing worn by women throughout
the video is very provocative and this is completely objectifies women as they
come across as a sexual object as been said by John Berger. The majority of
women in this video are light skinned women and according to Bell Hooks “the
lighter skinned women are considered more desirable and fit better into the
western ideology of beauty” this is shown really well in this video the lighter
skinned women attracted men more than the darker skinned women. The lyrics of
the song have very little relation to the visuals because we often see naked
shots of women but the storyline is about French Montana finding a woman who is
considered as a the ‘perfect’ female who presents the perfect attributes. He
vocalizes this throughout the song about how he would treat his woman and where
he would take her.
Relating this
to the Blurred Lines song where sexual moves are used by women throughout the
video and the way they’re objectified such as the sexual, bite
lipping face the female character is making is sexual and provocative to men as
the male gaze is a key aspect in this music video. The close shot of the women
lighting the star constructor cigarette is another form of stereotype as women
being taken for advantage. Also, The lyrics “But you’re animal, baby it’s in
your nature” and the women characters touching the animal is another form of
where the men are taking advantage of the women. The lyrics are clearly
targeted at the women but their touching the animal as if they are illiterate.
The low angle shot is another convention of where the men look more dominant
and powerful than the women. Overall, women are seen as a sexual object in the
eyes of society. This is one of the major issue about women being sexualized
and objectified and will remain the same and will not change since today’s
society is male dominant.
In terms of audience and
how they engage with this video is that, this product is mainly created for
mainly men, ‘male gaze’ and it’s only a source of an entertainment and
encourages men to indulge in sexual desires. According to Geena
Davis institute on gender in media, the more hours of T.V. a boy/man watches,
the more sexist his perspectives become which is evident because in today’s
society the majority of programmes, music videos contains women who are barely
dressed and the sexualised role they’re given to play in that programme or a
music video. However, from a woman’s
perspective it creates a moral panic in which women feel imaginary pressure to
conform to appear like the women in the music video. Looking in to relevant
statics in context to the media’s effect to today’s society, 9 in 10 girls say the
fashion industry and media place a lot of pressure on them to be thin- Girl
Scouts of the USA research institute also 31% of girls admit to starving
themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy for weight loss- Girl Scouts of the
USA research institute.
Next, this video is narrated which is based on binary oppositions in the
circumstance its men vs. women. Men are seen to be dominant and powerful in
which these women have no control over.
