Female Roles in Music Videos Comm. 406

A lot of women portrayed in music videos these days are highly sexuallized for the young male's, or possibly female's, fantasy. I'm not just talking about one particular genre of music. Pop, rock, country, and rap display women as helpless, horney, sexual objects, often dressed in almost nothing, catering to the male artist's every desire. An excellent example of this is R&B artist, Sisqo. Almost everyone, I'm sure, has heard the song and seen the music video for Sisqo's "Thong Song."In the video there are women in thong bikinis sunning themselves and dancing provocativly for the men featured in the video who are portrayed as powerful and wealthly. I think it is disapointing that some musicians have to use not so creative ways to sell a record. Also, women shouldn't always be looked at in such a inhumane way. Many young impressionable minds may be influenced by these women in these videos.

Today's Comm. 406 discussion made me think of the music video "Stupid Girls" by the pop artist Pink.

This really eye-opening music video completely captures the oversexualized role of women in music videos.  It also parodies the ridiculousness of the behavior of certain celebrities, and shows regular women who are damaged by the influence of these celebrities.  This video begins with a young, impressionable girl sitting in front of the television viewing a music video; an act that many young, impressionable girls are doing all around the world. In the video Pink portrays herself as a strong, well-dressed, woman who is meant to look like a female president.  She also dresses as the various "stupid girls" in the video.  She makes fun of Paris Hilton with her sex tape incident, she calls out the overly sexual Jessica Simpson in her "These Boots Were Made For Walking" music video.  She shows how women's body image issues force them into getting plastic surgery, overexercising, and purging to be thin. While she acts out these negative behaviors she asks where all of the girls with ambition and goals have gone.  The narrative encourages girls to have respect for themselves and accept their natural beauty. At the end of the video, the little girl turns off the televison and chooses to go outside to play football, rejecting her "princessy," girly toys and choosing not to be a stupid girl.  While there is definitely some show of skin and sexuality in this video, it is in the form of parody and is necessary to the main premise of the narrative.