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 with a focus on 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 perspectives become- Geena Davis institute on gender in media.
This links directly with the idea of hegemony, where those in power (the media) influence society, young men are influenced to disrespect women, as they see this kind of behaviour displayed on their telly vision sets and in their lad magazines.
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. EG
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 ultimately signify male desire.
Women in the music industry primarily serve a purpose and that purpose is often at the advantage of the male eye. Women are almost always sexualised in the media, more specifically the music industry. Often women and found scantily clad, wearing more make up than clothing, panting in sexual positioning, dancing proactively. Music labels and the government continue to make claims of how they intend of putting rules, regulations and bans in place, yet this is still very un evident in today’s music video industry.
For example, Ofcom has been criticised for being out of touch over sanctioning the use of sexualised images on the X Factor.
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’. Lana also often looks feminine, often dressed in soft pastel colours often with rich fierce colours as such as red which act as a juxtaposition to her largely angelic look, strong colours act as a contrast causing interest, demanding attention. Lana clearly attracts sexual attraction, stimulating the males mind and eyes, although alternative and musically spectacular, Lana still causes controversy with her highly sexed persona sold in an appealing package.
On the other hand Adele, is sold as an award winning vocalist; singer, songwriter, and is rarely of what I’ve seen and studied, sexualised. Although a classic beauty with curves, her figure is often victimised by media. Adele subverts media and music industry expectations and remains superiorly successful and in fact worth a net worth of $45,000,000, whereas Lana still lags on a more demure $12,000,000. This displays how the ‘sex sells’ rule isn’t always strictly true. I feel artists as such as Lana Del Rey and Adele are not entirely popular in their own merit, their sound or look. I believe in context to audience theory, the hypodermic syringe model is appropriate. The audience act as a passive 3rd party member, ‘fed’ information, that the media are powerful agents of influence, capable of ‘injecting’ ideas and behaviours directly into relatively passive audiences of isolated individuals. In other words the audience or passing, passive member of society has no choice other than to ingest what the media feeds them, be it sexualised or not. For example Adele as mentioned earlier is not a typically sexualised public figure, yet she is still ‘fed’ and ‘injected’ to us as members of a media controlled 21st century. If the common opinion is a positive one, then the entire media industry on the whole tend to follow the trend.
Famous figures in the music industry often haven merchandise associated with them and their label. Music starts are often scene diving in to the perfume, fashion, make-up and begin to sell ‘their story’ in their very own books and autobiography’s. In context to the user and gratification model, this kind of advertisement and produce reinforces personal identity by comparing roles with that similar to them in the media, the need for companionship and interaction, the need to be informed and diversion; audiences actually crave the industry and want to be a part of the media ‘celeb culture’ phenomenon.
