Women in Music Videos

Research Paper # 100456

Communication > Mass Media
Film
Music Studies

This paper discusses the portrayal of women in music videos.

1,636 words () | 6 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer notes that in our consumerist society, music is one of the most important money-spinners. The writer points out that as noted by Julie L. Andsager and Kimberly Roe, music videos are very important in this industry as they play an important role in launching the careers of artists. Moreover, the writer describes that music videos enjoy an enormous following among teenagers, which means that they likely play an important role in forming their opinions about important issues such as gender roles. This research paper investigates the key issue of how music videos portray women. The writer maintains that as music videos have the potential to impact the lives of so many women, and to form the opinions of so many young people of all genders, the portrayal of women in music videos is clearly a matter of great importance.

From the Paper:

"Clearly there exist destructive music videos which encourage sexism and the objectifying of women. This is cause for great concern as such music videos clearly have the potential to encourage men to treat women as mere sex objects. Even more troubling is the fact that some music videos seem to actively encourage and promote violence against women. For example, Van Horn found that more than half of the music videos he examined contained violence, and that all too often this was violence against women. An Eminem song, Kim, illustrates this chillingly well. The following is not the entire song, but merely excerpts, but it should be kept in mind that the entire song is sickeningly violent, not only these excerpts."

Sample of Sources Used:

Andsager, Julie L. and Kimberly Roe. "Country Music Video in Country's Year of the Woman." Journal of Communication, 49.1 (1999): 69+.
Bailey, Moya. Quoted on www.essence.com/essence/takebackthemusic/ hattheyresaying.html
Eminen. Kim. Lyrics downloaded from http://www.lyricsstyle.com/e/ minem/ im.html
Railton, Diane and Paul Watson. "Naughty Girls and Red Blooded Women: Representations of Female Heterosexuality in Music Videos." Feminist Media Studies, 5.1 (2005): 51+.
Shaviro, Steven. "Supa Dupa Fly: Black Women as Cyborgs in Hiphop Videos." Quarterly Review of Film and Video, 22 (2005): 169+.