2. Sexuality within music videos
• Sexuality within music videos has become a lot more widespread since the
1980s. Music videos attract and audience and convey messages really easy
because of its commercial function. The sexual attraction to music videos
attracts the audience and also conveys a message along with it.
• Compared to male artists, female artists are more sexually objectified as they
are more likely to demonstrate sexual behaviour Sexual objectification is more
prominent in R&B/Hip Hop and pop videos rather than country videos.
3. Stereotypes within music videos
• Slutty stereotype- the slutty stereotype is prevalent in todays music videos. In
most music videos women are objectified as tools for men's pleasure. This is
evident in both men's and women's music videos.
• Innocent stereotype- this stereotype is contradicting, this shows that the
‘good girls’ are shy and innocent and don’t know their worth. They don’t put
out and show confidence. This directly contradicts the slutty stereotype as it
shows that women cant win.
• Sexual objectification- women have developed in some cases to being purely
props for men's music videos. They don’t seem to serve a purpose other than
pleasuring men.
• Competition- women also tend to engage in competition for mens attention.
One women is tearing another women down in order to get ahead by proving
that they’re better or ‘hotter’.
4. • ‘Good girl gone bad’- within the music industry, society has a tendancy to
obsess over the ‘good girl gone bad’ occurring with so many music artists.
For example many Disney stars such as Selena Gomez and Miley cyrus are
portrayed as good girls as they used to have their own shows on Disney
channel and are now being portrayed sexually.
5. Regulations and censorship
• Shortly after the debut of MTV in 1981, the popularity of music videos
exploded. This forced Duran Duran to edit their 1981 music video ‘Girls on Film’
which originally featured topless women. Also Madonna had several music
videos banned from MTV and VH1, the most known one being ‘justify my love’.
• In 1993 the music video for ‘soon’ by Tanya Tucker was banned from daytime
airings. This was all because of scenes in which Tanya Tucker were in bed with a
man alongside with a ‘nip slip’ that was cut from a video. It was flagged as
inappropriate because of stimulated sex scenes on YouTube and the video may
only be viewed on certain websites as long as you are over 18 years old.
• A network called ‘black entertainment television’ refused to play the 2005
video ‘naked’ by Marques Houston. In the same year a VH1-sponsored
documentary Hip-Hop Videos and Sexploitation on the Set was released
6. • In spring 2010, a new wave of over-sexual music videos were released. Most
notably is Christina Aguilera's video ‘not myself tonight’ in which she simulates
sexual acts with both men and women. This video was shown on MTV with a
PG rating
