Sexism In Pop Video's !!

Sexism in Pop Videos...

Can pop videos really be sexist?


In 2013, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" sparked outrage.

Why? I hear you cry...

Well, because they reduced women to merely objects of male desire.

Can pop videos really be sexist?

Are women objectified and viewed simply as sexual objects?


Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory
Sisters are doin' it for themselves !!

Mulvey's theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity. Merely relegating them to the status of objects to be admired for physical appearance. The theory suggests woman can often watch a film from a secondary perspective, and only view themselves from a man's perspective.

It can be argued that women are misrepresented in the media, and this statistic speaks VOLUMES: Only 16% of media creators are female.


Despite the sexualised objects women are made to be, women in mainstream film texts prove vital !! Often a female character lacks any real importance, in fact it is how the women make the men feel, or act that is the real important part.
The female only exists in relation to the male.




The Male Gaze leads to hegemonic ideologies within society.
Hegemony is ruling or dominant in political or social context.

Due to the way women are presented in media texts, when women observe the media, 
they gaze at other women in the same way men do, and thus women result in objectifying other women.


Visual Pleasure

Mulvey states that the role of a women in a narrative has two functions:

1. As an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view.
2. As an erotic object for the spectators within the cinema to view.

Often we see these roles fulfilled by women in James Bond films.

The character that look at others are seen as the active role, which is often the male.
The characters that are to be looked at are passive, women tend to play this role. They are under the control of the male's gaze and only exist for visual pleasure. Much like 'Honey Ryder' of the James Bond films.
Females often slow the narrative down, they act as the inspiration for men to act.
Males, on the other hand, push the narrative forward, or have agency, and make things happen, which means they are seen as active.


Scopophilia

Mulvey also discussed the term 'scopophilia', which literally means 'love of watching'.
Film making and film watching have long been analysed as socophilic practices.

Female Objectification


Objectification is closely linked to the gaze. The persons gazed at are objectified, or treated as an object whose sole value is to be enjoyed by the voyeur. The characters who are objectified are devalued and their humanity is removed.

Patriarchal Society = Men dictate the rules !!

Laura Mulvey argued we live in a patriarchal society in which men set the majority of the rules, construct and represent the ideal visions, roles over women. The concern for man is that a passive audience, will be influenced by this representation of reality, and copy it.
But hasn't this happened already ??
<<<

Miley Cyrus - "Wrecking Ball"
So, why did this video cause so much controversy?

Miley Cyrus, was best known for her role in the hit children's series 'Hannah Montana', but know she is recognised for her controversy.

In 2013, Cyrus released the music video for her chart topping single "Wrecking Ball", which followed with music video for the song. In the first day of the song being released it had received a whopping 38,000,000 views!

Many have branded the video as "disgraceful" and "shocking", because of the explicit nature of the video, as it consists of Cyrus swinging back and forth naked.
I feel as though Miley Cyrus made the conscious effort to produce a video like this, to shatter her previous image of a child star. I feel the video conforms to Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, and the scopophilia theory, for the entirety of the video the audience are watching, or 'gazing' at the female body. I also feel the video caused outrage because of the fact the stars previous image now was a far and distant memory, and very much contrasted to the Cyrus' new image.

Robin Thicke - "Blurred Lines"

So, why is this man, Mr Robin Thicke, hated by many feminists?

Robin Thicke's 2013 single "Blurred Lines" cause outrage the minute it was released. The lyrics of the song are arguably glorifying rape and violent sex, with lyrics such as "I know you want it" and "I'll give you something big enough to tear your a** in two", which without the music video, sent Thicke and Co, a lot of stick. But then the music video caused twice as much controversy, as the exploitative nature of the video upset huge numbers of people. There are two versions of the video, which raises questions already, 'Why did Thicke have to make an altered video?' Well, because the 'explicit version' consists of topless, near naked women dancing to the song, which angered people around the world.This meant that Thicke and Co had to produce a less explicit version of the video, but despite the 'child-friendly' video, it still managed to piss off a lot of people. This is due to the fact that Robin Thicke, T.I and Pharrell Williams, appear to possess a pimp-esque manner, by the their clothing, the way they look at the girls, and well basically everything about the video SCREAMS "we just love objectifying women!!" 

So, that is why Robin Thicke is a very unpopular man.


I have come to the conclusion that pop videos can be extremely sexist !!