Nicki Minaj Objectification

The development of visual media has introduced the concept of The Male Gaze Theory. The Male Gaze Theory is defined as how women are depicted in the media from a male perspective, such as presenting women as sexual objects for men’s pleasure (Loreck). The article, inexplicitly, talks about the male gaze: “Up to 81% of music videos contain sexual imagery, the majority of which sexually objectifies women by presenting them in revealing clothing, as decorative sexual objects, dancing sexually, or in ways that emphasize body parts or sexual readiness.” The article talks about how women are sexually presented in the media which is what the male gaze encompasses the “male gaze” is a harmful contribution to the sexualization of girls and is also seen throughout the music video. The beginning of the music video shows 50 Cent walking into a brothel-type mansion where the camera pans to focusing on the writhing, half-naked women in the foyer of the mansion. This scene is viewed from a male’s perspective because the camera focuses on their sensual movements and physical assets instead of their normal facial expressions or more appropriate places on their body. Also, since 50 Cent is the only male in the mansion, the camera is only coming from a male perspective because brothels are only truly for a male’s pleasure. The other women in the video are objectified from their revealing clothing

The Film Dreamworlds III examines the explicit nature and the objectification of women in music videos across music genres. A similar theme is presented throughout these various music videos as women are sexualized and exploited. In addition, many music videos display the domination and antoagonizing nature of a man controlling the numerous women submitting themselves to him. The portrayal of these images in music videos advertise and influence audiences to accept this behavior on screen, which in turn strengthens aggressive masculinity and the pornography of women.

In her article “The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto: Negotiating Spaces for Women,” Imani Perry argues that the objectification of women in the music industry is normalized in our society. Her purpose is to persuade us that most feminists who fight against the objectification and exploitation of women are ultimately colonized by the sexual fantasies of men. As a law professor at Rutgers Law School, Perry structures her text in a very effective manner. Using a general-to-specific organization scheme, she begins by outlining the recurring image of sexualized women in music videos, then presenting various cases of prominent feminist figures in the music industry.

Director Sut Jhally, in his documentary film, “Dreamworlds 3: Desire, sex, and power in music videos”, analyzes the issue of how women are portrayed in the music world. Jhally, in his film argues how music and media has become a proud industry when it comes to advertising women, all for the benefit of popularity and record sales. Jhally believes these videos both inform and misinform our culture about our dominant attitudes regarding femininity masculinity, sexuality and race. He uses an empathetic tone in order to appeal to pathos, the feelings and experiences in women when he presents video clips that are somewhat offensive to watch as proof that women have become a common necessity shown in music videos. Often presented as being sexually aggressive and submissive, being objectified by men. He also intentionally wants to try to stir up emotions as he introduces song lyrics of women being called inappropriate names and images of women being fondled by men throughout the film. Sometimes, aggressively without consent.

It is clear that hip-hop music and music videos objectify women; however, there have been feminist movements that have begun reducing this sexualization.

Recently the song White Privilege II by Macklemore has caused much controversy because of the fact that it called out specific artists such as Iggy Azalea and Miley Cyrus, but not because of the actual problem it was trying to address- white privilege. However, there are plenty of songs on the top charts about pointless things spreading around unfavorable messages such as enforcing negative stereotypes and gender roles through their lyrics, music videos, and even the artists themselves participating it. Younger audiences should be educated about the negative effects of sexualization because it is shown commonly through pop music in song lyrics, music videos, and how artists represent themselves. The fact that sexualization is often present

As shown in Blake Shelton’s song “Honey Bee,” country music depicts traditional gender roles where the man is masculine and the woman is feminine. However, Country music does not degrade women as seen in other genres of music, in this case, hip hop (Wilson, 2000). In contrast, hip hop music degrades women and portrays them as submissive sex objects, often wearing provocative clothing. As shown in 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop,” a dominant male theme is portrayed throughout the lyrics and music video; whereas, the females are depicted as sexually accessible to his desires (Djupvik, 2014). Similarly, both genres portray men as the dominant, masculine character and females in a submissive role.

An issue many have with Hip Hop music is it over-sexualisation of black women. Within hip hop music videos and the lyrics used to define women, are often portrayed in ways that calls for them to sexually satisfy men. Hunter and Soto (2009), highlighted that women in hip hop music are often characterised as sex workers. Their study coincides with Miller-young (2008), who argued Hip-Hop music has an obsession with portraying women as strippers in their song. She pointed out that Hip-Hop music is extremely misogynistic with males being shown as pimps whilst females are shown involved in sexual acts. This shows that within Hip-Hop music males are shown to be the dominating sex. This can impact on women negatively due to the fact hip-hop has become

Women are seen through the eyes of the music industry as little more than sex objects; causing them to feel of no worth, leading to extremely dangerous long term mental illnesses and eating disorders. Music lyrics/video is a key source of messages that advocate and encourage drinking, smoking, drug abuse, sexuality, sex-role stereotyping, sex and violence. Exposure to music videos, has also been correlated with early uptake of sexual activity. (AMCA, 2014)

The song’s inflammatory topics and religious iconography in the music video caused a great deal of criticism (Starr, Waterman, 2021). The video consisted of images such as “group and interracial sex, burning crosses, and an eroticized Black Jesus” (Starr, Waterman, 2021). Nevertheless, Madonna took advantage of the controversy rather than run from it, using the media frenzy to promote her songs and attract attention. The writers talk about Madonna’s purposeful use of her sexuality to stir up controversy.

Since the explosion of music videos in 1981, a large portion of their popularity has been due to the objectification of women and their sexuality. “Early content analyses showed that anywhere from 40% to 75% of music videos contained sexual imagery”(Arnett, 2002). Hip-hop music videos especially have a reputation of degrading women. In these videos “women are often depicted in positions

All over history, music has been a critical commitment to people’s lives. Various kinds of music have been created after some time and impact people in unique ways. Of the numerous kinds that have come to frame, hip-hop has turned out to be more prominent inside today's standard pop culture. Alongside the formation of music recordings, hip-hop's popularity has taken off and changed from various perspectives. Inside the music videos of most hip-hop artists, men and women are portrayed in unmistakable and clear ways that may subconsciously influence our perspectives of the standards of today’s society. Hip-hop music videos are so present among the people that these depictions of sexual orientation parts frequently go unrecognized. The complicated

Within popular culture today, objectified female bodies can be represented everywhere from advertising images to magazine covers, television, music and many more. Through these media institutions, we allow them to construct social identities in ways that allow us to understand what it means to be black, white, Asian, male or female etc. Within many popular culture mediums such as music, stereotypical representations of racially marked female bodies are often formed. Thus, these representations also have the ability to create stories about a certain culture. In music videos, it does not go unnoticed that women are portrayed as objects whose objectives are to pleasure men. In this paper, I will argue how racially marked female bodies are represented. This paper will mainly focus on how these racially marked women are depicted in the hip hop culture. To demonstrate this, I will draw examples by using award winning music videos by Nicki Minaj, R.Kelly, 50 cent to exemplify representations of the female body and how they are objectified as sex objects. In conclusion, we will be able to see how the female bodies are used in mainstream hip hop videos to convey seductively.

Women have consistently been perceived as second-class citizens. Even now, in times when a social conscience is present in most individuals, in an era where an atmosphere of gender equality 'supposedly' exists, it is blatantly apparent that the objectification and marginalization of women is still a major social issue. In reality, progression in terms of reducing female exploitation has been stagnant at best. Not only is the degradation of women a major problem that to date has not been eradicated, but it is actually being endorsed by some music celebrities. There are a growing number of people who purchase rap albums that support the fallacy that women are mere objects and should be treated as such. As the popularity of rap continues to

According to Vogue magazine, “we are officially in the era of the big booty” (Garcia, 2014). Likewise, 2014 has been dubbed The Year Of The Booty (Ball, 2014). Meaning, today, the measure of a woman’s sex appeal is directly linked to the prominence of her behind. While music videos have long been critiqued for reproducing distorted ideologies of women’s sexuality, recent research suggests that female artists are more likely to sexually objectify themselves in their own music videos than male artists