Sexism in Music Videos

Sexism and Laura Mulvey

In the music industry there are several issues to do with sexism, these are mostly down to the inequality towards women. Most of the issues are based on how men and women are also presented. Recently music videos have brought quite a bit of controversy to the table as it portrays women negatively in an objectified, sexual manner. 
Examples of videos that do this a lot are Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Miley Cyrus' Wrecking ball.

A part of Mulvey's theory implies that the male gaze removes womens ability to have any kind of human identity. This means that women are reduced to nothing but sexual objects that are admired solely for their physique, and not their intellectual prowess. The theory also implies that women are made to take the secondary stance so that music videos can be released and be successful.

Women also lack the ability to advance the plot line of any music video, similarly to how they perform within a movie. The only time we see women advance the plot is indirectly through the male character by directing his actions.

Muley argues that objectification of females is infectious as the media constantly creates numerous outrageous standards for women within the industry due to the standard of how significant the male gaze is.

Mulvey's text suggests that women have two roles within music videos. The first is to be viewed and admired pleasurably. The second is to be admired by the audience.

Dr no is an incredibly famous example of this, mostly due to the scene with Sean Connery with Ursula Andress on the beach.

Mulvey talks about the term Socophilia, she describes watching movies and music videos to be Socophilic practices. The definition of this is the love of watching/observing.

The majority of Mulvey's texts refer specifically to Hollywood cinema. Although the majority of her points transfer to pop without any need for clarification.

The initial sexist pop video that I will talk about is Lilly Allen's "Hard Out Here"

Mulvey's theory is easily applied to this video as it is entirely made up of women dancing is a very seductive manner, They also appear to be wearing less than what would be socially acceptable. Allen was very outspoken towards the fact that there must be more power given to females within the music and film industry. The release of Hard Out Here leads us to believe that she is in-fact a complete hypocrite as she is doing exactly what she speaks against, sexualising women. The lyrics to the song itself are very supportive of women and equality, however the dance that the women within the video do is completely against all that the song and Lilly stand for.The song implies that the only way women can bring up any inequality issues with their fellow performers is through sarcastic means such as the lyrics " we've never had it so good uh-huh we're out of the woods and if you can't detect the sarcasm, you've misunderstood" The video is highly debated as to its intentions, on one hand it may be a ploy to gain large popularity and gain a lot of money, or on the other it may be a bold statement to show people that women are infact taking charge of their own bodies. The Mise-en-scene of the video is quite simple and fits well with the objectification of women, such as the little clothing, champagne that gets poured onto the dancers and the other props that are used. It is important to note how camera angles are used within this video, it is quite often that we see the camera focus on the buttocks and breasts of the women, however staying away from Lilly, which assists with the idea that she is somewhat different from what you'd expect and doesn't need to sexualise herself.

The next video I will analyse is Blurred lines, which featured at the top of this post.

This video was highly controversial as it sexualised women in the most severe way. By having the women wear very little clothing, and the clothing they wear be mostly skin coloured, it leaves little to the imagination and infact came with an uncensored version where the women were actually topless. The "clean" version of the video does infact contain some mild nudity which means there is little escape to it. The video itself is highly sexual towards women with lines such as "you're a good girl" and "you're the hottest bitch in this place" the most direct line probably being " I know you want it" which leaves little to be guessed as to what Thicke is referring to. Mulvey's theory is very useful here as Passive and Active roles are very rarely seen in such a large way. With the men wearing full clothing and the women wearing very little. The womens role within this video is purely to be looked at sexually, the only vocal role any of the women have is simply to say "meow" which is clearly for sexual reasons. The video itself targets women as a sexual being and not an intellectual one as they purely dance around for the mens entertainment, not just ours as an audience.

The last video I will cover is Miley Cyrus' wrecking ball.

The majority of this video is spent with Miley being naked and she is quite sexual in the way that she acts. The main sexual acts are her swinging naked on a wrecking ball and licking a hammer as if it is something very different from a hammer. This is clearly a sexual reference however the song follows a very different route which has lead to some confusion as the song has an actual quite deep meaning about a previous relationship gone wrong, but it appears that Miley felt the need to sexualise herself to make the song as popular as it is. Lesser sexual acts within the video can be seen as Miley biting her lip continuously and pushing out her breasts and buttocks. There is a moment following this where Miley seems quite emotionally distressed which has lead some to believe her sexual acts are not as sexual as they appear, but infact are meant to bring her back to the natural human state and to reference her being wrecked by her previous relationship. The video walks a fine line as some would believe that Miley is proving to the industry that she can do whatever she wants, however the other side of the line is that she is playing directly into the hands of the industry by completely sexualising herself. Mulvey's theory is tested here as by following it, you would assume that the Male Gaze is played directly into this video, by having Miley work her assets to her advantage, however it is debatable whether she is infact using them for her own advantage, and taking ownership of her body.