What Are The Stereotypes Of Masculinity And Femininity?

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

Robin Thicke’s music video to his song “Blurred Lines” avidly contributes to the patriarchy, while portraying sexism, gender standards, and beauty standards. His music video can be analyzed from a feminist theory approach, as it’s evident that his song and video contribute to a patriarchal society and its inherently sexist and sexualized ideologies. The ideology behind the song and music video is purely sexual and about male dominance. The lyrics to the song and actions in the video exhibit extreme over sexualization and objectification of the women. Analyzing this piece of popular culture through a feminist approach opens up a provoking conversation about how popular culture functions in a patriarchal culture. Analyzing pop culture though a feminist theory can allow for a larger variety and more in-depth analysis about the social aspects and political agenda within popular culture.

To elaborate, she includes females as decorative objects in her video, these women ascribe to the ‘idealistic’ body type of hourglass, small waist, perky breast and big bum; engaging in sexual movements and posing (Figure 1). Since music video give a glimpse of the artist image, viewers are likely to attach sexual attractiveness rather than talent to the artist. Therefore, self-objectification reduces people to their bodies, instead of the understanding the individuality of female characteristics they are clustered as one ‘sexual object.’ Rihanna may use self-sexualisation as a form of empowerment showcasing her success within the music industry. Ultimately, self-objectification and sexualisation is a way of upholding hegemonic idealistic femininity. Sociologist McRobbie underlines that music videos are elements of popular culture which participate in the ‘undoing of feminism’ (McRobbie, 2004,

Although there had been female artists long before, feminist music did not really come to be until the early 1970s. One of the best known feminist songs of this era is "I am Woman" by Helen Reddy. Released in 1972, it eventually became the anthem of the women's liberation movement. Michelle Arrow described it as "the 'lightbulb' moment, the instant a new set of possibilities -- women's liberation -- became visible" (Arrow, 2007). Reddy herself also said of the song, "It's not just for women...It's a general empowerment song about feeling good about yourself, believing in yourself" (I Am Woman, 2010).

Serpe elaborates, “Beauty pageant that collided with a high-stakes Dating Game: women were paraded on stage for a rich man, seen only in silhouette, who would pick a lucky winner and marry her,” (Serpe 269). When Serpe describes this, it illustrates that men see women as lotteries to choose from, which demonstrates that they are an object to the man. Serpe notes, “Rich man is only seen in silhouette,” which means that the women do not really know who the man is, but once they are picked, they are married in the spot, which means that they would not be able to have a connection. The contestants only know that he has money, which does not really means anything if there is no love, which Serpe demonstrates. Unlike Serpe, Stanford’s article explains that the song gave the women empowerment to take charge of their life even though they are told that one has to listen to everybody.

In the same vein, in the Girls’ Generation’s music video, “I got a boy”, two fold of aspects of feminine gender and sexuality are represented in the context of polycentric cultural globalization and cultural adaptation. One is cultural feminine typicality, such as aegyo, the other is girl’s empowerment, such as

It’s telling them that women will do anything for money, further emphasizing a man’s use of money to assert his dominance over a woman. This made me think that a woman is a person will show their body as long as she is being paid for it. I highly doubt that this is true but what about the young people who look up to these artists? They will end up growing with the impression that ‘I can spend money on a woman and she

Charlotte Bunch once said “Sexual, racial, gender, violence, and other forms of discrimination and violence in a culture cannot be eliminated without changing culture.” Our society experiences all of these problems and I would like to focus on the gender perspective in the 21st century and how women have had more of an influence in music than people actually realize. Men have dominated the music industry and business but women have been the underlying reason as for why men and other females have been so successful in the music scene.

Anna Rogers, a graduate student at the University of South Carolina, analyzed sexist themes present within popular country music songs and found that “many sexist themes exist, including depicting women in traditional gender roles, describing relationships with women in unrealistic ways, and attributing a woman’s worth strictly on the basis of her physical appearance” (Rogers). Unsurprisingly, male artists sang almost every song Rogers found to analyze for lyrical content, but this was not intentional. She simply used the Billboard Hot 100 chart to determine which songs were considered the most popular. This further illustrates that the genre is not only dominated by men, but it is also dominated by men who tend to express sexist views lyrically, which can then influence their listener’s opinions on gender roles and gender

For example, the asian women at the beginning of the music video, is seen as the “dumb” foreigner who is there to please the man. Not only are women objectified in the music video, they are characterized in the lyrics as male commodities. In the song “Talk Dirty to Me,” Derulo sings: Been around the world, don't speak the language But your booty don't need explaining (10-11) These series

Although music videos contain a variety of musical styles, they have many common visual themes that inaccurately portray famous artists. These themes are the degradation of women, and the promiscuity of men. Many of videos display women as sexual objects to be looked at while they rhythmically dance to the beat of the song. Women are not the only dancers though; men can often be seen grinding against many different women throughout the same song. This implies that

This statistic shows how women are known more for their bodies than for their talents. Three years later, the Guerilla Girls made another statement about music videos in their poster “Do Women Have to be Naked to Get into Music Videos while 99% of the Guys are Dressed?” Because art and media in society focus on women’s bodies, it is extremely common for someone’s associative network to connect females with sex. Feminists such as the Guerilla Girls attempt to break this stereotype of women, but society has taught people to have inaccurate opinions of feminists, which make it difficult to break the

In today’s society, contemporary music videos are a measure of myth about sexuality and gender whereby sexual objectification is accompanied by media culture. Music videos depict images that captures minds, shapes a person’s attitude and tells a story. Throughout the 21st century, music videos have shaped perceptions of women and their role as sexual objects. In this case, the music video Man Down provides a potent example of black masculinity and sexual overtone. This blog entry will speak about how this music video bounds editions of knowledge that women are sexually available and men are sexually desirable.

This essay has shown that Hip-Hop music has a negative representation of women's sexuality. Women in music videos

My dear parents: I know we have many different political beliefs. Somewhere in the gap between the 2012 election and this one, I turned into what you may call “a raging liberal.” Now whether it is due to my homeschool econ classes, or just what I’ve deemed acceptable I do still tend to lean conservative on economic issues, but social issues? That’s where you and I go two very different directions. Hot topic evangelical “social issues” aside, one area I hope we may eventually find common ground on is Marijuana legalization or even just decriminalization.