How women are portrayed in Music Videos - Freddie Forrester

I would like to start off with a thought, the thought that women are being exploited every day in this world and even though it has been around for many years, the seriousness of this matter has grown tremendously. Media within our society constantly degrades women and sends out negative messages about the way in which women should be treated and how women in fact portray themselves. Music videos are one of the main types of media where women are demoralized and are seen as sexual objects. I would like to use 50 cent’s ‘Candy Shop’ music video as my first example. The entire video is based around sex and the dominance of men. In the opening scene we are taken into a mansion filled with women with large breasts wearing very revealing lingerie. Although there are many different ethnicities, we can quite plainly see that all the women are very attractive and there are no faults or flaws with the women involved in the video. 50 Cent, the only man in the video, is consistently surrounded by partially naked women. This almost portrays 50 Cent as having ownership over the women, in a similar way to Hugh Heffner in the Playboy Mansion. In addition to this the women are only partially clothed and have seductive facial expressions in every close up. This shows that women are expected to only use their looks and feminine assets to get what they desire, rather than the knowledge and success that they may possess. So from this we can see it from a man’s point of view that women are objects and are potentially just property.

If we move on to look at Rihanna’s ‘We Found Love’ we can see that some women even choose to portray themselves in the same way. Rihanna is in fact a very successful artist and there are plenty of people from all around the world, who listen to her music and aspire to become just like her. However, in this video, she seems as though she is very dependent upon men, as she is always shown with her partner, and is extremely exposed and poorly dressed around him. In the video, it shows Rihanna with a man who seems to be her partner, taking part in many recreational activities. The first of which they take part in together is kissing each other and smoking while lying on the curb of the road. This continues on to show them hugging, drinking, taking drugs, shoplifting, attending music festivals, and having sex together. It also shows Rihanna allowing her partner tattooing the word ‘MINE’ on her backside. The tattooing of this word shows how woman are referred to as objects in this music video and many others like it.

In my personal opinion I believe this is having a major effect on our society as many young girls watch these music videos and believe that this is how woman should be treated. The sexualisation that is shown can lead to a lack of confidence with their bodies as well as depression and/or eating disorders, which in turn can cause them to self harm, want expensive cosmetic/prosthetic surgery etc and in some extreme cases even suicide. This causes a serious mental drain on the young girls as they believe that in order to be successful or to be noticed they need to be similar to these girls in the music videos. In actual fact this is not the case, because if we look at the likes of Hilary Devey from television programme ‘Dragons Den’, we can see quite clearly that a woman can be highly successful without having to exploit themselves. If we refer to Hilary Devey’s own website we are told and I quote “Hilary Devey gained her wealth of experience in the distribution sector, having worked at Littlewood’s, followed by Tibbett and Britten, and Scorpio (part of the United Carrier network). She then spent seven years in the retail distribution sector at TNT before leaving to set up her own business”. Not once are we told of her exploiting her body or anything to gain her fame and fortune and it is women like this who set a good example to the young girls of this generation. 

Another good example is Neyo’s ‘Miss Independent’ Neyo shows a positive, light on women who strive for success in the video and proves that women can be independent and don’t need to rely on men or there looks etc. Instead of the usual scantily-clad women laying over cars and the men starring in the video, he decides to show a positive perspective of hard-working and successful women in a much less feministic way.

So to summarize, a majority, but not all, music videos portray women in a negative way, using their sexuality as a source to sell the music videos without no care or consideration to the subliminal message that is served through this. Women are seen in all different genres of music videos such as hip-hop, pop, rock, country, etc but they are mainly used as either an accessory or get objectified. Through indecorous images and lyrics, music videos are an expression of how women are stereotyped as nothing more than sex symbols. Many male artists use women as another one of their accessories in their music videos, along with cars and jewellery. Once you remove the beat from the song and start concentrating on just the content of what you are watching, you soon come to realize that the women that are presented in these music videos are majority of the time wearing nothing but undergarments. In various videos such as the ones I delved deeper into earlier, it is evident that there is a sense of ownership of these women because the men are the ones who are paying for everything. The men whether it is the artist themselves or an actor/dancer in the video is always surrounded by a large number of women in order to appear manly and in control. In most of these music videos, women are always financially supported by men and never shown as independent.Ironically, male artists are not the only ones who are portraying women as sex symbols in the music industry, as many female artists choose to show themselves in this provocative and stereotypical image as well. Does this interpretation of women in the videos affect the way women are treated in society? The answer of course is yes. Objectifying women has introduced complications into our society such as making some women lose all respect for themselves after being served as sexy objects in the music videos. Most of the music videos seem to show disrespect for women and their behaviour towards themselves and also the people around them; inducing bullying, self-consciousness and many other social insecurities. Also a lot of music videos seem to be aimed at the most vulnerable people, especially male chauvinists. In music videos where women are objectified the main image perceived is the representation of the sexual illusion for men with the latest common motifs that include teenage girls, strippers and almost any other obtainable women in multitudes. A music video shot by a man is at its best because men can direct a female's sexuality and make it into what they find invigorating. Most of the time, the role of women in such music videos is limited only for their femininity whilst their actual feelings are uncared for. During the last few decades and more specifically throughout the twentieth century, the music industry has had a tremendous impact on people’s perceptions of women. It can be said, that in these videos women are portrayed as sex objects rather than important figures in society.

So finally to conclude this essay the way women are portrayed in videos is different but the majority of videos show them as sexual objects and a man’s accessory which of course demoralises women and wrong and in my opinion needs to be changed to protect the young teenage girls of our society from believing this is the right way to behave.

How women are portrayed in advertisements - Zehra Kale

In this report I will be discussing and analysing how women are portrayed in the advertisements, this report will include the positive and negative sides which are used whilst using women in advertisements and the affects which the advertisements have on the public, women especially.

      

The first point which I will be discussing is the actual women used in advertisements, a study shows that around 20 years ago that the average model used on television advertisements were 8% lighter in weight than the average women, that figure has turned for the worse as today the average model weighs a large 26% less than the average woman and models today weigh less than 95% of the whole population of women in the UK. This research shows that thinner more attractive women are being used in an advertisement which is for the pure purpose of that beautiful people lure customers more than an average looking average sized person. The advertisements which use thinner models are creating the concept that this is how the average women look like which is wrong as there are many issues which this leads to such as the viewers having eating disorders as they aim to look like the models on the advertisements. Even in advertisements which portray the average person’s life style such as Hovis’s adverts which have women making cereal for her child they are not creating a realistic event as not every woman looks like a supermodel, it would be much more realistic if the mother in the advertisement was an average woman as the viewers would be able to relate more with the advert.

The advert above shows a mother in the background whilst her child is eating cereal, this advert fills the stereotype of a stay at home mother, there to give her child breakfast, this is the standard role of a female which even a large brand such as coco pops could not see past, rather than exploring the routes of having a male parent in the advert they went with the easy route of expressing the stereotype of the female being the stay at home mum. I am not making reference to the fact that women should not be stay at home mums but that advertisements should touch on the subject that, women being stay at home mums is not always the case. Being the 21^st century I do believe that it is safe to say that the number of working mothers has increased since the 20^th century, which is why I believe that the advertisements should also follow and match the current situation that the country is in. Which is that not every woman is a stay at home mum and there is many women with excellent careers in the current society.

The advert above is of a woman surprised by the change in bottle lid, the bottle of the lid has changed so it is easier to open, if the expression on the woman’s face was not bad enough the caption on the image which states “you mean a woman can open it..?” is a pure reference to the hierarchy of where women are thought to be in society, women are portrayed as being weak and vulnerable highlighting that women need men to assist them, even with opening a bottle lid, the change of bottle lid is not a step of the right direction for women to be able to do life’s struggles, but shows that the most basic of objects have to be simplified to be able to be operated by women, women are constantly being undermined and this advert does not justice to how far women have came in society, women have been able to come as far as being able to vote and be a member of parliament, this advertisement is an insult to all women as in this day and age sexism is not socially accepted and adverts like the one above should not be even produced let alone put out for all the public to see.

Another advertisement from the well known airline Ryanair caused controversy as they used a picture from their charity calendar made by their cabin crew as an advertisement promoting their cheap one way flights and the play on words included red hot fairs and crew, which indicates that as little as £9.99 you can get a one way flight as well as their attractive cabin crew, not only are they objectify their cabin crew they are also almost offering their employees up for sale, the image they used from their charity calendar unsurprisingly was of a female with barely any clothes on, the fact of the matter is that they knew that using a female would attract more custom rather than using a male in the same scenario. Looking into this deep enough shows that Ryanair believe that a majority of those who use their airline are men, which is why they used a female in the advertising campaign, almost indicating that men are most likely to have enough disposable income to be booking flights, which goes as far as saying that women’s careers do not produce as much income as men’s does.

Another advert I looked at is a Tom Ford advertisement for fragrance for men in 2007. 

Tom Ford adverts were best known for their controversy and caused a lot of media discussion and attention. The advert which I will be discussing was in a list of top ten controversial and most scandalous adverts listed of all time.
This is an image of a woman's groin with the after shave bottle on top of it. The fact that this is a woman and not a man just proves that woman are objectified and used as sex objects as the term sex sells is used throughout controversial advertisements as it unfortunately does work.
If the after shave was placed on top of a male rather than the female, this would maybe discourage most of the population of straight men as this would only appeal to the homosexual male audience. 
The woman's body has been placed in a very provocative manor with one of her hands showing, oiled up, tanned skin, almost the look which the image gives are one which would be expected after a sexual encounter causing the female to have a sweaty look to her, the colour of her nails are also red which symbolise sex and passion, fire and danger, which is exactly what the advertisement is.
Next to the image is the man Tom Ford himself, lying down giving off a large amount of sex appeal with a woman's hand caressing his chest, looking at both images, they do not reveal the woman's identity, which gives the statement of that she is not relevant, the only relevance of her being in the advert is of the message her body parts represent, her body parts symbolise sex, mystery and how irrelevant women are to society as this advertisement highlight how women are only worthy of one thing.

The above advertisement is one which is made by Dolce & Gabbana which shows one woman who looks pinned down by a man which there is also three other men around her, the hold which the man has over the woman looks very forceful and the woman looks very restricted, this advert symbolises a very sexual encounter and the woman in the advertisement have became like an object which looks like she is going to be reused by the other men who seem to be waiting for their turn, the woman looks like a piece of meat and the men look like animals who have captured their prey, the advertisement doesn’t look anything like an advertisement showing off the clothes which are supposed to be advertised, but more like a picture of a gang rape, this advertisement is one of a very a abusive nature, the picture looks very controlling and overpowering by the men in the picture.

In summary of all of the pictures which have been spoken about the images are all very controversial which all symbolise where men want women to be in society, children raising, no opinion and sex objects, women have always been dealt a difficult hand which has not been improved over the years, the sexier women have got in advertisements the worse off it has become, the more of sex objects they have became. Women are portrayed in many different ways in the media, advertisements and general coverage; they types of ways they are portrayed are as followed: sex objects, irrelevant to the society, stay at home mums, children raisers and a piece of meat. The affect which this has on women are inevitable, advertisements as such lead to eating disorders and self abuse as they cannot live up to the standards of the models used in the adverts. Unfortunately the producers of the adverts do not look to the future for the long term affects but more for now, the money they will make and how much attention they will receive in the media.

Feminism - Panayiota Theopemtou

Feminism is ‘the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes’, (modern feminism. 2008-2010) and is also defined as an organizational activity in womens rights and interests. This is a subject which links issues of all human rights, it is a human right to be treated with equality, the image aside could be seen to liken the fight for gender equality to the fight for racial equality or it could be seen that the most important kind of equality is gender equality. 

Before feminism became a well known topic Marylin Monroe was one of the first women in show-business to be outspoken about her views and rights as a woman. In doing this she influenced women and is still influencing  and empowering women to this day. She is, even now, considered the image of womanhood, her image has continued to be used by the media even after her death in 1962, because of this and her feminist views she is still one of the worlds most respected and influential female icons.  Her views at the time were forward thinking, statements such as ‘I don’t mind living in a man’s world, as long as I can be a woman in it.’ and ‘Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition,’ show her feminist views, in speaking out at the time she paved the way for other women in the public eye to openly share their feminist views. 

Nowadays, feminism is less of a taboo, it has become more visible, in the media and in popular culture. Artists such as  Beyoncé , who was in an all female group called “Destiny’s child’ publicly  share feminist views through music.  The group was hugely empowering to women, through their lyrics and their behaviors  the group crafted a very clear message that women need to think independently, make their own money, and provide for themselves without any assistance from men. ‘Independent Women’ ‘Survivor’ ‘Bills’ and ‘Nasty Girl’ are just some of the many songs they released creating a strong image for women. ‘Destiny’s child’ released songs that focus solely on the need for women to be independent and the sense of achievement women should feel in living and thinking this way. In doing this they were leading women to think and be independent with the ultimate goal of creating strength within oneself.

This attitude was pushed forward further by Beyoncé when she started her solo career and decided to stop her dad, a dominant male figure in her life, from being her manager so she could manage herself.  Her main reasoning for doing this, which is expressed in her documentary ‘Life is but a dream’, is the need for women to be independent, and to prove the power women can achieve in this society, almost overtaking man as the dominant force in ones own life. Whilst watching the documentary ‘Life is but a dream’, I realized Beyonce holds feminist views, that women need women and that they have to work harder then men in many respects to achieve and maintain the same levels of success. A woman must be ‘strong enough to bear the children then get back to business’. This line from her song “Run the world (Girls)” is one example of  her feminist views. As Beyoncé voices over her song ‘Girls’ in her documentary, she makes a statement, which for me completely changed my views on feminism. She states, ‘It really pisses me off that women don’t get the same opportunity’s as men do or money for that matter, because lets face it, money gives men the power to run the show, it gives men the power to define our values and to define what’s sexy and what’s feminine and that’s bullshit at the end of the day its not about equal rights its about how we think .We have to reshape our own perception on how we view ourselves,’ showing that feminism isn't only a fight for equality but a means for women to change the way they think, in order to be as powerful as men.

Beyonce is not the only artist to use her music and the media to convey  her view on women’s rights.  Another artist exploring equality for women is Emeli Sande,  most recently in her video ‘Clown’, in an interview she elaborates on the lyrics of the song and where it came from in her mind, "It's about not allowing yourself to be judged by others or to be taken for an idiot. I feel the video reflects that". Although Emeli Sande might not be outspoken in her feminist views, this particular music video portrays a different image to me, below I have created a collage of statements which appear in the video, these are statements which can be interpreted as feminist.

In the music video she is the only female surrounded by several powerful looking men. I believe this indicates that males dominate the music industry and put pressure on female performers, the information shown through slides in the video tell us  of suppression behind the scenes and  alludes to the fact that Emeli Sande may have felt suppressed by males in the music industry, as was Beyoncé.

The girl group TLC were an influential girl group of the 90’s. Their first major hit, “Waterfalls” was a number one in several countries, making millions, however the girls never saw this money.  Their manager Perri Reid ‘Pebbles’ took advantage of the young girls naivety, although he managed to orchestrate fame for the group worldwide, he also managed to run them into bankruptcy, Perri was also managing Toni Braxton when she filed for bankruptcy. It could be argued that he exploited these women and their inexperience. These artists  and their songs had heavy  feminist  undertones, in a way it was ironic that they were still being exploited in an anti-feminist way. After TLC went through bankruptcy their return to music saw a change in the nature of their songs, their new music was more about having their voice heard and being respected as women. Songs such as ‘No scrubs’ and ‘Unpretty’ are both about not being what man/society wants you to be but to only take on board your own thoughts as a woman and to listen to your inner voice,’Every time I think I'm through, it's because of you, I've tried different ways but it's all the same, at the end of the day I have myself to blame I'm just trippin' as shown in these lyrics from TLC’s song ‘Unpretty’.  

 I have noticed that women within the music industry are pushing more then ever to get their voices heard and have almost created a movement in order to achieve that change, what about men in the music industry? Feminism isn't just a movement which is followed by women and about a change being engineered by women. There have been male artists who have made music which alludes to feminism, as early as 1966 James Brown sang the song ‘It’s a man’s world’ lyrics such as ‘This is a man’s world but it wouldn't be nothing without a women or a girl’ show the importance of women in society. I was intrigued by the influence of women on males in the industry, the song ‘Keep ya head up’ by Tupac is predominantly about respect for women and men needing to change the way they view and treat women. ‘And since we all came from a woman. Got our name from a woman and our game from a woman. I wonder why we take from our women. Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it's time to kill for our women. Time to heal our women, be real to our women … He has no right to tell a woman when and where to create one. So will the real men get up. I know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up.’ Tupac grew up with only a female role model at home. This led him to hold quite feminist views, to believe women were strong and men needed to stand by the strength of their women instead of dominating them. The media portrayed Tupac as a womanizer and, although he was cleared of all charges, he was accused of sexual abuse on women and the media still portrayed him to be a character with little or no respect for women. The feminist messages in his music were almost overridden by the media forcing a perception of him on the public. However, Tupac did release several songs that focused on the views and struggles of women, bringing feminism to a whole new audience with his willingness to discuss these issues, in order to support the females not only in his life but everywhere, to me he was a male musical pioneer of feminism.

It is not just through the medium of music which feminist views are explored. Wolfgang Klaus Friedrich is an artist, a male feminist and the first male to exhibit his work in the women’s museum in Bonn. His work is considered by the art community and other men to be controversial, the feminist messages displayed through his work are strong. He openly admits, "I love women, and I'm a determined feminist, but I'm a man … I would like all rights to be shared 50/50. " an artist speaking out in such a way, especially a male,  regarding feminism, in such a traditional field, is truly ground-breaking.

       Without people using their fame, publicly exploring the issues and struggles women have faced and are still facing and bringing the issues of feminism into the public arena, the progress women have made in the fight for equality would not have been so great. The media, music artists, artists, actresses have all played their part in allowing feminism to become accepted into society, without them it is unlikely feminism would be part of our culture.

 Freewebs. (2008-2010). Modern feminism: an evaluation. Available: www.freewebs.com/feminism-evaluated  

 Marylin Monroe. (2006). My Story. Available: http://www.marilynmonroe.ca/camera/books/63.html. Last accessed 24th April 2013.

 Marylin Monroe. (2011). Quotes. Available: http://marilynmonroe.com/category/quotes/. Last accessed 24th April 2013.

 Beyoncé Knowles (2013). Life is but a dream. America: Parkwood Entertainment. 38 minutes into the documentary.

 Female First. (2012). Emeli Sande - Clown. Available: http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/music/popmusic/single/Emeli+Sande-270413.html. Last accessed 23rd April 2013.

 TLC. (1999). Unpretty. Available: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/tlc/unpretty.html. Last accessed 24th April 2013.

 Tupac. (2006). Keep ya head up. Available: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wP02bz7n1Us. Last accessed 24th April 2013.

 Vytene Stasaityte. (2013). Feminist male artist shakes up gender norms. Available: http://www.dw.de/feminist-male-artist-shakes-up-gender-norms/a-16506066. Last accessed 24th April 2013.

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