Music Videos

May 28, 2008 at 6:27 am (Sexualisation.) (music videos, Women)

Jennifer Hurley’s article about “how being a music video junkie turned me in to a feminist”, tells of how Hurley was a fan of watching pop and rock music on the television when she was growing up. She tells of the abundance of imagery that exploited women’s bodies as objects and the pouting of the leather clad video vixen.

I find this very true, not only in rock music today but in the music industry in general. Women are used to beautify and sexualise video clips and live performances. The women in these videos are usually wearing little at all and acting provocatively (making it seem as if that is what all women are like in everyday life). This type of sexualisation of women is sending the wrong message to people of all ages and genders. It is also resorting back to the stereo type that women in the music industry are groupies and only have to offer sex appeal to music rather then be considered true musicians.

Note: The males are fully clothed while Gwen is wearing a revealing bikini top

Source:

Hurley. J, (1994) Popular Music, Music Video and the Construction of Gendered Subjectivity, Vol.13, No.3, Cambridge University Press

Lauren