My Reserch Essay

Media Studies- MS3 research essay- Ashleigh Louise Brown.

In my research essay I intend to look in to the very well documented issue of women and their being sexualised in the media and more specifically the music industry; music videos.

  Firstly I began to look at the sexualisation of women, young women and girls in today’s media and how this is not only harmful but extremely worrying. Woman in the media and in particular the music industry struggle to 'make it’, without a degree of self-demoralising sexualisation. This takes many forms within the music from distasteful sexualised lyrics to scantily clad outfits, symbolic of undergarments. It is common in today’s media that the more flesh on show, the better!

Looking in to relevant statics in context to the media’s effect to today’s society, 9 in 10 girls say the fashion industry and media place a lot of pressure on them to be thin.- Girl Scouts of the USA research institute.

31% of girls admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy for weight loss- Girl Scouts of the USA research institute.

The more hours of T.V. a boy watches, the more sexist his prospectives become- Geena Davis institute on gender in media.

The sexualisation of women in the media has become an intricate part of our society-whether it is in advertisements, magazines, commercials or even music videos.

  After making their debut on MTV in the early 1980s, the popularity of music videos has dramatically increased. As this new medium became a more integral part of the music industry, the roles that women played have changed over time.

 Whether they are the lead singers or back-up dancers, women are sexualized now more than ever. While sex appeal was once considered a bonus for a woman, it is now practically a requirement.

  A Professor of Communications at the University of Massachusetts analyses the representation and portrayal of women in music videos. He points out that women are usually "barely dressed" or wearing "low-cut and skimpy tops, stockings, lingerie, and bikinis" when they are dressed. In addition to this, women often outnumber men while performing provocatively for the cameras by touching themselves, the male artists, or other women.

According to Mulvey: “...the male gaze projects its fantasies on to the female figure which is styled accordingly….women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness”. As a result, women hold the look of the male, play to it and thus signify male desire.

Lana Del Rey is a current musician; singer, song writer, although her musical style is unique and often described as ‘indie’, much of her lyrical and visuals are rather visceral and heavily sexualised. My production and magazine spread for MS3 are influenced by Lana and her style, look at how her image is presented to the media. For example ‘Lana Del Rey’ is not the musician’s real name but in fact a stage name under which she artistically expresses herself. Much of Lana’s lyrical prowess and her uniquely constructed sound is heavily based from her own life experiences be them through her adolescence or personal sexual experiences, in which she presents with a siren sounding voice which simply mesmerises and dazzles a listener and a watcher. Certain lyrics include verses as such, ‘My pussy tastes like Pepsi cola’, ‘Let me put on a show for you daddy, Let me put on a show, Let me put on a show for you tiger’, ‘My old man is a bad man, but I can't deny the way he holds my hand, and he grabs me, he has me by my heart’, ‘Light of my life, fire of my loins. Be a good baby, do what I want’