Sexuality in music videos
Encyclopedia
Sexuality in music videos has become more widespread since the 1980s. Because of its commercial function, music video
s must attract the audience's attention and convey a message quickly inside a truncated storyline. The sexual attraction
provides a means of both drawing attention and conveying a message quickly.
According to social learning theory
, in order for a mediated model to have a legitimate chance at gaining the attention of a potential attendee, that model and its media-form must be salient, striking, conspicuous, and/or prominent.
A survey found that 72.2% of black, 68.0% of white, and 69.2% of Hispanic youths agree that rap music videos contain too many references to sex.
and network television. A sample of sixty-two videos from 1984 showed, that 60% included "some portrayal of sexual feelings or impulses". The most sex-appealing videos of that year included "Legs
" by ZZ Top
and "Physical
" by Olivia Newton-John
.
In 1990, suggestive sexual activity like pelvic thrusts, long lip licking or stroking, was present in 89% of MTV
videos. The 1996 research showed, that the hip-hop and R&B were greatest in the sexual variables. In further analysis, videos that mixed hip-hop and R&B displayed sexual content the most frequently, followed by hip-hop itself and R&B itself. Country
videos depicted sexual content the least often of the seven genre categories picked, followed by rock
videos. However, country musicians such as Shania Twain
and Faith Hill
garnered substantial crossover success in pop
after sexualizing their images ("You Win My Love
" and "This Kiss
" respectively). The diverse content may occur within the one video, like in Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me
", where she portrayed a waitress, a dominatrix
and a nurse.
The 1997 study documented frequent instances of simulated intercourse
, oral sex
, masturbation
and sexual dancing in hip-hop videos. Snoop Dogg
and Hustlaz had the top selling adult videos in 2001 and 2003 respectively, as well as 50 Cent
, Lil' Jon and Ice T
. As the hip-hop culture emphasizes the heterosexuality
, the lesbians have been generally co-opted into the male fantasy of a ménage à trois
on the order of Ludacris
's "Splash Waterfalls
", where female sexual arousal and coupling is arbitrated electronically by a virile male presence (particularly, Ludacris on computer screen).
BET
's former late-night program "BET Uncut" often featured explicit music videos that ordinarily would not have been shown during the day, and many contain partial nudity. "Before, artists were mostly making sexually oriented material for the underground market — providing them to strip clubs, or selling them as part of videos or DVDs. Now, they're bringing them directly to television, through places like BET Uncut and the Playboy network. And more outlets are growing for those who want to see more — or less — than a bikini".
Nelly
's video "Tip Drill
" became controversial by featuring women of various shades in thong bikinis or just thongs and topless. In addition to slapping of each other's butts or having them slapped by men as they gyrate close to men's faces, the women are simulating oral
, vaginal and anal sex
both with men and one another. The Rammstein
video for Pussy contains unsimulated acts of sex.
s (e.g., belief that is is less acceptable for women to be sexually experienced than for men). Exposure to sexual content was also associated with more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex, regardless of gender, overall television viewing, and previous sexual experience. However, Gad Saad
argues that the premise that music videos yield harmful effects and that the harm would be sex-specific (e.g., women's self-concepts will be negatively affected) has not been supported by research.
to edit their 1981 video for "Girls on Film
", which originally featured topless women mud wrestling. Madonna
had several of her videos banned from MTV and VH1
, most notably "Justify My Love
".
In 1993, the video for "Soon
" by Tanya Tucker
was banned from daytime airings on both The Nashville Network
(TNN) and Country Music Television
(CMT) because of scenes in which Tucker is in bed with a man
along with a "nip slip" that was cut from the video. It was also flagged as inappropriate because of the simulated sex scenes on YouTube
and age verification is required in order for it to be viewed on the video sharing
website
.
Later, another network, Black Entertainment Television
(BET) 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. On August 2, 2006 the India
n Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued a notification which required all music videos a censor certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) before airplay. This was preceded by debate over so-called 'remix videos' - cover version
s of popular Bollywood
songs featuring scantily clad girls. Particularly, the CBFC gave its "A" certificate to Paris Hilton
's "Stars Are Blind
".
In spring 2010, a new wave of overly sexual music videos were released. Most notably is Christina Aguilera
's "Not Myself Tonight" in which she engages in sexual acts with both men and women. This video was shown on MTV with a TV-PG rating.
Music Videos and Their Effects on Adolescents
Sexuality in music videos and the music industry alone has become a widespread phenomenon. For the majority of music videos in our society today, sexual, and at times degrading images, are focused primarily on women. Women are seen as objects by men, whether they are in the background getting money thrown on them, or champagne poured over their bodies. Their actions, clothes, and movements are the main focus for selling videos and maintaining an audience. Primarily a young, adolescent audience. In an article about sexuality in music videos, the author states that, "because of its commercial function, music videos must attract the audiences attention and convey a message quickly inside a truncated storyline." Music videos in our culture today, are using images and symbols of sex to sell an artist and attract an interest for young adolescents. The idea that "sex sells" is the epitome of the music industry, and directors, producers,and even artists do not stop at anything to show over the top behavior in order to be on top. The problem with overt sexual imagery against women in these videos can lead to many concerns. One main concern of female objectification is the violence that is inflicted on women by males in music videos. The violent images that young, male adolescents see influence them to act out and copy and portray violent acts against women because it is what is familiarized in music videos and the media. The more women are objectified and treated like “pieces of meat” the more violence from men against women occurs, and not just in music videos but in everyday life. In a study conducted on the effects of music videos on adolescents, it is pointed out that, "our findings raise concern for the effect of violent portrayals in music videos on adolescents' expectations about their own safety and the way they view people of another gender or race. Their approaches to interracial interactions and male-female relationships, and their strategies for conflict resolution are vulnerable to the effects of these portrayals." The same article then moves into statistics of violent crimes that have been commited by young adolescents because of the exposure to media violence and also discusses the number of violent videos shown during an experiment conducted. This will be thouroghly talked about in the next section. Along with violence from exposure to music videos, young adolescent females develop low self esteem with body image because they feel as if they do not measure up to the women advertised in this industry.
Influences of Violence
For the majority of the time, we see these sexual images and videos from MTV, also known as Music Television. In an article called “An Investigation of Sex-Role Stereotyping in Music Videos,” it states that “music videos not only appear to reflect society and norms, but may also help socialize young people by communicating ideas about proper behavior and the selection of career paths, as well as influencing males and females to develop distinct personality characteristics.” What MTV doesn’t quite realize is that the actual effects that these images and ideas have on young people are not teaching them proper behavior, but teaching them how to demoralize and objectify women. In a survey about sexual images in music videos, "72.2% of black, 68.0% of white, and 69.2% of Hispanic youths agree that rap music videos contain too many references to sex." Not only does rap music and rap artists involve a lot of sexual images in their videos, but they also demonstrate violence against women, and adolescents begin to act on these violent influences because they believe that it is okay. In the popular music video "Love the Way You Lie," by Eminem and Rhianna, not only are the lyrics of the song degrading and demeaning to women, but the images and actions that are portrayed in the video show a lot of violence toward women. In the video, you can see the main characters verbally fighting, and then their verbal fight escalates to the male throwing the female on the bed, throwing her into the wall, hitting her and pinning her down, throwing miscellaneous objects at her, and then finally slapping her across the face. The violence that adolescents are seeing in the media make it okay for adolescents to copy and portray in everyday life because they are not being socialized or familiarized with anything else. The violence towards women that is being shown on MTV repeatedly, and also the actions shown like throwing money at women, and pouring alcohol all over them, is now being more commonly inflicted into everyday life. In April of 2001, after the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, a riot of about thirty men broke out in Central Park where men were seen "dousing women with water and groping them in a sexual manner against the womens will, and tearing at their clothes." The sexual attacks and dousing of water had taken place on about fifty different women who were all screaming for the men to stop. When men of that mob went to court for their actions, "twenty-two women testified at trial that they had been beaten, dragged, groped and penetrated vaginally and anally with their attackers' fingers." When the men were asked why they were spraying water on the women, the response was that they see rappers in music videos spraying and dousing champagne and other kinds of alcohol on women and they appear to love it. Men are picking up certain actions that they see in videos and acting out on them, but in real life, the women do not "love" it and the consequences for these actions are serious, resulting in jail time from two years to even five years. Not only do images represent violence and the demeaning of women, but lyrics are another strong influence on adolescents as well. The lyrics that are sung in popular songs that are repeatedly played on radio stations have more swears and demeaning words like "hoe" or the "b-word" in every other line of the song. Returning back to the actions of men pouring alcohol all over women, we can see in the Birdman song, "Pop Bottles," that within the first verse pouring alcohol over women is encouraged and glorified, "okay start with straight shots and then pop bottles, pour it on the models, shut up b*tch, swallow." Furthermore in this song, right off the bat we see that the woman refered to in this song is considered a b*tch. Secondly, in a song by Lil Wayne called "Hoes," in the opening verse he uses the b-word and the word "hoe" to describe the girl he is singing about, "Its only me you bitch on our way to the stoop. I'm that birdman junior you ain't know and don't give me that silly bullshit about you ain't hoe." The problem with videos, songs and lyrics like this, are that when young adolescents are socialized to hearing words and phrases like this constantly degrading women, these adolescents believe that it is acceptable to use violence against women and begin using degrading words to talk to or about females. In the study that was mentioned in this article previously, findings show that violence by teenagers and young adolescents has sky rocketed, and that there are, "murders of about 3,500 youths between 15 and 19 years old every year. More than 150,000 arrests of adolescents for violent crimes occur each year. Hundreds of studies have linked exposure to media violence to violent real-life behavior in adolescents."
Self Esteem and Body Issues on Females
From what we know due to personal experience, and even from what is portrayed in the media, adolescence marks a very crucial time in one's life, especially when it comes to adolescent females. During this time of adolescence for females, fitting in and feeling accepted by peers is key. A major factor in feeling accepted by peers, is the concerns of body image and weight. With that said, an article that discusses female adolescents as targets by the media shows how females are dissatisfied with their appearance because of what they are seeing in the music industry. "According to a survey of adolescent girls, the media was identified as the primary source of information about health issues, and also, frequent music video viewing may be a risk factor for increased perceived importance of appearance and increased weight concerns among adolescent girls." With this being said, it is clear to see that female adolescents believe that physical appearance is a major part of fitting in, but more importantly a major part of their self esteem. When it comes to how females feel negatively about themselves and their bodies due to the media, this can lead to dangerous health habits such as dieting, depression, anxiety,low self esteem, and most importanly, eating disorders. In addition to this article, a similar article discusses sexualization of young girls, where a study explores the roles of sexually objectifying music videos with adolescent females that shows how teens suffer psychological consequences. By the conclusion of the article and study, findings show a model in which, "self-objectification mediates a direct relation between music television viewing and body esteem, dieting, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and confidence.". The images that are portrayed in the media, especially in music videos today, show women with the perfect bodies, beautiful perfect features, and the idea that all women are simply put on this earth to be the object of a mans desire. When growing up with these ideas constantly bombarding the media, it is hard to not develop low self esteem and self conscious body issues because the image that we are seeing in the media, is an image that is impossible to obtain. When it comes to women in the music industry today, young adolescent teens have artists like Britney Spears, The Pussycat Dolls, and even Madonna to look up to and admire. The problem with these women is that their influences on teens is primarily focused on flaunting their perfect bodies with barely to little any clothes on, sex and pleasing men. When young adolescent girls are constantly bombarded by these images they feel as if in order to be considered "hot" and "sexy" they need to wear little to no clothing, dance around on men, and fit into a size zero. Not only does the appearance of women in the music industry today causes self esteem issues for young girls, but the lyrics have become very sexualized and even degrading towards women. In an example about degrading lyrics, we turn to Britney Spears, where one of her most infamous singles is the "I'm A Slave 4 U," hit that none the less topped the charts but the message it was sending off was greatly misinterpreted. The lyrics openly suggest Britney admitting that she is a "slave" for a man that she sees at a club and she won't deny her feelings for him in that way. The problem with these lyrics is that no women should ever be considered a slave to a man, whether it is concerning manual labor, or has a sexual connotation. The term "slave" is strictly demeaning to any kind of person, especially in this context. Secondly, the female pop sensation group,The Pussycat Dolls, are another prime example for their negative influences on adolescent girls. For the majority of their songs and music videos, we see the female group prancing around in lingerie or for that matter, nothing at all, to show off their perfect, in shape, toned bodies, and are choreographed to dance and move in sexual positions to attract attention from males. In their first single "Don't Cha," the lyrics and video itself shows the Dolls prancing around in their underwear and teasing a male boasting that they are hotter then his girlfriend. Although the song is without a doubt catchy and fun to sing along to, there needs to be a logical, objective side to how we percieve songs like this, and realize the effects songs like this have when these lyrics reach the ears of young adolescent females, and even young children. What kinds of messages are pop stars really sending? How are young children and adolescents responding to these lyrics?
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s must attract the audience's attention and convey a message quickly inside a truncated storyline. The sexual attraction
Sexual attraction
Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal refers to an individual's ability to attract the sexual or erotic interest of another person, and is a factor in sexual selection or mate choice. The attraction can be to the physical or other qualities or traits of a person, or to such qualities in the context...
provides a means of both drawing attention and conveying a message quickly.
According to social learning theory
Social learning theory
-Theory:Social learning theory is derived from the work of Albert Bandura which proposed that social learning occurred through four main stages of imitation:* close contact* imitation of superiors* understanding of concepts* role model behavior...
, in order for a mediated model to have a legitimate chance at gaining the attention of a potential attendee, that model and its media-form must be salient, striking, conspicuous, and/or prominent.
A survey found that 72.2% of black, 68.0% of white, and 69.2% of Hispanic youths agree that rap music videos contain too many references to sex.
History
The nature of sexual activity in music videos has evolved over time in more or less the same way as cableCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and network television. A sample of sixty-two videos from 1984 showed, that 60% included "some portrayal of sexual feelings or impulses". The most sex-appealing videos of that year included "Legs
Legs (song)
"Legs" is a song performed by the band ZZ Top from their 1983 album Eliminator. The song was released as a single in 1984 and reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States...
" by ZZ Top
ZZ Top
ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
and "Physical
Physical (Olivia Newton-John song)
"Physical" is a song by Australian pop singer Olivia Newton-John, released in September 1981. The song was an immediate success, shipping 2 million copies in the United States, being certified Platinum, and spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, ultimately becoming Newton-John's...
" by Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...
.
In 1990, suggestive sexual activity like pelvic thrusts, long lip licking or stroking, was present in 89% of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
videos. The 1996 research showed, that the hip-hop and R&B were greatest in the sexual variables. In further analysis, videos that mixed hip-hop and R&B displayed sexual content the most frequently, followed by hip-hop itself and R&B itself. Country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
videos depicted sexual content the least often of the seven genre categories picked, followed by rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
videos. However, country musicians such as Shania Twain
Shania Twain
Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...
and Faith Hill
Faith Hill
Faith Hill is an American country singer. She is known both for her commercial success and her marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw. Hill has sold more than 40 million records worldwide and accumulated eight number-one singles and three number-one albums on the U.S...
garnered substantial crossover success in pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
after sexualizing their images ("You Win My Love
You Win My Love
"You Win My Love" is a song by Canadian singer Shania Twain. It was the fifth single released from her 1995 album The Woman in Me. The song was written solely by Mutt Lange, making it one of the very few Shania songs which she did not co-write. The song became Twain's third number-one hit at...
" and "This Kiss
This Kiss
"This Kiss" is a song written by Beth Nielsen Chapman, Robin Lerner and Annie Roboff, and recorded by American country music singer Faith Hill. Released on March 10, 1998 as the first single from her 1998 album Faith, it became a crossover single, reaching #1 on the U.S...
" respectively). The diverse content may occur within the one video, like in Faith Hill's "The Way You Love Me
The Way You Love Me (Faith Hill song)
"The Way You Love Me" is a song by American country music artist Faith Hill. It was the second single off her 1999 Breathe album, released as a single in 2000. It was also her second number one country single from her CD Breathe and her 8th number one country single overall...
", where she portrayed a waitress, a dominatrix
Dominatrix
Dominatrix or mistress is a woman or women who takes the dominant role in bondage, discipline and sadomasochism, or BDSM. A common form of address for a submissive to a dominatrix is "mistress", "ma'am", "domina" or "maîtresse"...
and a nurse.
The 1997 study documented frequent instances of simulated intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
, oral sex
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
, masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...
and sexual dancing in hip-hop videos. Snoop Dogg
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. , better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Snoop is best known as a rapper in the West Coast hip hop scene, and for being one of Dr. Dre's most notable protégés. Snoop Dogg was a Crip gang member while in high school...
and Hustlaz had the top selling adult videos in 2001 and 2003 respectively, as well as 50 Cent
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III , better known by his stage name 50 Cent, is an American rapper, entrepreneur, investor, record producer, and actor. He rose to fame with the release of his albums Get Rich or Die Tryin and The Massacre . Get Rich or Die Tryin has been certified eight times platinum by...
, Lil' Jon and Ice T
Ice T
Tracy Marrow , better known by his stage name Ice-T, is an American musician and actor.He was born in Newark, New Jersey and moved to the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles when he was in the 7th grade. After graduating from high school he served in the United States Army for four years...
. As the hip-hop culture emphasizes the heterosexuality
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
, the lesbians have been generally co-opted into the male fantasy of a ménage à trois
Ménage à trois
Ménage à trois is a French term which originally described a domestic arrangement in which three people having sexual relations occupy the same household – the phrase literally translates as "household of three"...
on the order of Ludacris
Ludacris
Christopher Brian Bridges , better known by his stage name Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor. Along with his manager, Chaka Zulu, Ludacris is the co-founder of Disturbing tha Peace, an imprint distributed by Def Jam Recordings...
's "Splash Waterfalls
Splash Waterfalls
"Splash Waterfalls" the second single off Ludacris' album Chicken-n-Beer. The song features Sandy Coffee responding to Ludacris' verses, but she is not credited as featured guest on the single. The video describes a desired love between two people. As well, other intimate feelings and thoughts are...
", where female sexual arousal and coupling is arbitrated electronically by a virile male presence (particularly, Ludacris on computer screen).
BET
Bet
Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...
's former late-night program "BET Uncut" often featured explicit music videos that ordinarily would not have been shown during the day, and many contain partial nudity. "Before, artists were mostly making sexually oriented material for the underground market — providing them to strip clubs, or selling them as part of videos or DVDs. Now, they're bringing them directly to television, through places like BET Uncut and the Playboy network. And more outlets are growing for those who want to see more — or less — than a bikini".
Nelly
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...
's video "Tip Drill
Tip Drill (song)
"Tip Drill" is the name of a 2003 song by Nelly. It was used as a remix of the song "E.I." featuring the St. Lunatics and produced by David Banner. The music video became controversial for its overt depiction of women as sexual objects...
" became controversial by featuring women of various shades in thong bikinis or just thongs and topless. In addition to slapping of each other's butts or having them slapped by men as they gyrate close to men's faces, the women are simulating oral
Oral sex
Oral sex is sexual activity involving the stimulation of the genitalia of a sex partner by the use of the mouth, tongue, teeth or throat. Cunnilingus refers to oral sex performed on females while fellatio refer to oral sex performed on males. Anilingus refers to oral stimulation of a person's anus...
, vaginal and anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
both with men and one another. The Rammstein
Rammstein
Rammstein is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band from Berlin, formed in 1994. The band consists of members Till Lindemann , Richard Z. Kruspe , Paul H. Landers , Oliver "Ollie" Riedel , Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz...
video for Pussy contains unsimulated acts of sex.
Impact
Gan, Zillmann and Mitrook found that exposure to sexually explicit rap promotes distinctly unfavorable evaluations of black women. Following exposure to sexual rap, as compared with exposure to romantic music or to no music, the assessment of the female performers' personality resulted in a general downgrading of positive traits and a general upgrading of negative ones. A 2008 study by Zhang et al. showed that exposure to sexually explicit music videos was associated with stronger endorsement of sexual double standardDouble standard
A double standard is the unjust application of different sets of principles for similar situations. The concept implies that a single set of principles encompassing all situations is the desirable ideal. The term has been used in print since at least 1895...
s (e.g., belief that is is less acceptable for women to be sexually experienced than for men). Exposure to sexual content was also associated with more permissive attitudes toward premarital sex, regardless of gender, overall television viewing, and previous sexual experience. However, Gad Saad
Gad Saad
Gad Saad is an evolutionary behavioral scientist and Professor of Marketing at the John Molson School of Business . He holds the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption . He was recently appointed an advisory fellow of the Center for...
argues that the premise that music videos yield harmful effects and that the harm would be sex-specific (e.g., women's self-concepts will be negatively affected) has not been supported by research.
Regulations and censorship
Shortly after the debut of MTV, it forced the English group Duran DuranDuran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
to edit their 1981 video for "Girls on Film
Girls on Film
"Girls on Film" is the third single by Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981.The single became Duran Duran's Top 10 breakthrough in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at Number 5 in August 1981...
", which originally featured topless women mud wrestling. Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
had several of her videos banned from MTV and VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
, most notably "Justify My Love
Justify My Love
"Justify My Love" is the first single by American singer-songwriter Madonna from her 1990 greatest hits compilation The Immaculate Collection and was released on November 6, 1990, by Sire Records. It caused international controversy due to the accompanying music video which was sexually explicit...
".
In 1993, the video for "Soon
Soon (Tanya Tucker song)
"Soon" is a single by American country music artist Tanya Tucker. Released in 1993, it was the first single and title track from the album Soon. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart.-Chart performance:...
" by Tanya Tucker
Tanya Tucker
Tanya Denise Tucker is a female American country music artist who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13...
was banned from daytime airings on both The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network
The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows...
(TNN) and Country Music Television
Country Music Television
Country Music Television, or CMT, is an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming includes music videos, taped concerts, movies, biographies of country music stars, game shows, and reality programs...
(CMT) because of scenes in which Tucker is in bed with a man
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
along with a "nip slip" that was cut from the video. It was also flagged as inappropriate because of the simulated sex scenes on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and age verification is required in order for it to be viewed on the video sharing
Video sharing
Video hosting services refers to websites or software where users can distribute their video clips. Other sites such as file hosting services image hosting services and social network services might support video sharing as an enhancement to their primary mission, but in general, they are not...
website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
.
Later, another network, Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television
Black Entertainment Television is an American, Viacom-owned cable network based in Washington, D.C.. Currently viewed in more than 90 million homes worldwide, it is the most prominent television network targeting young Black-American audiences. The network was launched on January 25, 1980, by its...
(BET) refused to play the 2005 video "Naked
Naked (Marques Houston song)
"Naked" is the title track and second single from Marques Houston's second album, Naked. It's the fifth track on the album. The remix for "Naked" features Mike Jones....
" by Marques Houston
Marques Houston
Marques Barrett Houston is an American R&B singer, songwriter, rapper, and actor. A member of the R&B singing group Immature/IMx until 2002, he went solo in 2003. He is also the cousin of J-Boog, former member of the R&B/Hip-Hop group B2K....
. In the same year a VH1-sponsored documentary Hip-Hop Videos and Sexploitation on the Set was released. On August 2, 2006 the India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Information and Broadcasting Ministry issued a notification which required all music videos a censor certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) before airplay. This was preceded by debate over so-called 'remix videos' - cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of popular Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
songs featuring scantily clad girls. Particularly, the CBFC gave its "A" certificate to Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton
Paris Whitney Hilton is an American businesswoman, heiress, and socialite. She is a great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton . Hilton is known for her controversial participation in a sex tape in 2003, and appearance on the television series The Simple Life alongside fellow socialite and childhood...
's "Stars Are Blind
Stars Are Blind
-Release history:-Chart performance:"Stars Are Blind" was one of the highest debuting singles in the U.S. in 2006, entering the Billboard Hot 100 at number eighteen due to strong digital sales. It had previously debuted at number two on the U.S...
".
In spring 2010, a new wave of overly sexual music videos were released. Most notably is Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
's "Not Myself Tonight" in which she engages in sexual acts with both men and women. This video was shown on MTV with a TV-PG rating.
Music Videos and Their Effects on Adolescents
Sexuality in music videos and the music industry alone has become a widespread phenomenon. For the majority of music videos in our society today, sexual, and at times degrading images, are focused primarily on women. Women are seen as objects by men, whether they are in the background getting money thrown on them, or champagne poured over their bodies. Their actions, clothes, and movements are the main focus for selling videos and maintaining an audience. Primarily a young, adolescent audience. In an article about sexuality in music videos, the author states that, "because of its commercial function, music videos must attract the audiences attention and convey a message quickly inside a truncated storyline." Music videos in our culture today, are using images and symbols of sex to sell an artist and attract an interest for young adolescents. The idea that "sex sells" is the epitome of the music industry, and directors, producers,and even artists do not stop at anything to show over the top behavior in order to be on top. The problem with overt sexual imagery against women in these videos can lead to many concerns. One main concern of female objectification is the violence that is inflicted on women by males in music videos. The violent images that young, male adolescents see influence them to act out and copy and portray violent acts against women because it is what is familiarized in music videos and the media. The more women are objectified and treated like “pieces of meat” the more violence from men against women occurs, and not just in music videos but in everyday life. In a study conducted on the effects of music videos on adolescents, it is pointed out that, "our findings raise concern for the effect of violent portrayals in music videos on adolescents' expectations about their own safety and the way they view people of another gender or race. Their approaches to interracial interactions and male-female relationships, and their strategies for conflict resolution are vulnerable to the effects of these portrayals." The same article then moves into statistics of violent crimes that have been commited by young adolescents because of the exposure to media violence and also discusses the number of violent videos shown during an experiment conducted. This will be thouroghly talked about in the next section. Along with violence from exposure to music videos, young adolescent females develop low self esteem with body image because they feel as if they do not measure up to the women advertised in this industry.
Influences of Violence
For the majority of the time, we see these sexual images and videos from MTV, also known as Music Television. In an article called “An Investigation of Sex-Role Stereotyping in Music Videos,” it states that “music videos not only appear to reflect society and norms, but may also help socialize young people by communicating ideas about proper behavior and the selection of career paths, as well as influencing males and females to develop distinct personality characteristics.” What MTV doesn’t quite realize is that the actual effects that these images and ideas have on young people are not teaching them proper behavior, but teaching them how to demoralize and objectify women. In a survey about sexual images in music videos, "72.2% of black, 68.0% of white, and 69.2% of Hispanic youths agree that rap music videos contain too many references to sex." Not only does rap music and rap artists involve a lot of sexual images in their videos, but they also demonstrate violence against women, and adolescents begin to act on these violent influences because they believe that it is okay. In the popular music video "Love the Way You Lie," by Eminem and Rhianna, not only are the lyrics of the song degrading and demeaning to women, but the images and actions that are portrayed in the video show a lot of violence toward women. In the video, you can see the main characters verbally fighting, and then their verbal fight escalates to the male throwing the female on the bed, throwing her into the wall, hitting her and pinning her down, throwing miscellaneous objects at her, and then finally slapping her across the face. The violence that adolescents are seeing in the media make it okay for adolescents to copy and portray in everyday life because they are not being socialized or familiarized with anything else. The violence towards women that is being shown on MTV repeatedly, and also the actions shown like throwing money at women, and pouring alcohol all over them, is now being more commonly inflicted into everyday life. In April of 2001, after the Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, a riot of about thirty men broke out in Central Park where men were seen "dousing women with water and groping them in a sexual manner against the womens will, and tearing at their clothes." The sexual attacks and dousing of water had taken place on about fifty different women who were all screaming for the men to stop. When men of that mob went to court for their actions, "twenty-two women testified at trial that they had been beaten, dragged, groped and penetrated vaginally and anally with their attackers' fingers." When the men were asked why they were spraying water on the women, the response was that they see rappers in music videos spraying and dousing champagne and other kinds of alcohol on women and they appear to love it. Men are picking up certain actions that they see in videos and acting out on them, but in real life, the women do not "love" it and the consequences for these actions are serious, resulting in jail time from two years to even five years. Not only do images represent violence and the demeaning of women, but lyrics are another strong influence on adolescents as well. The lyrics that are sung in popular songs that are repeatedly played on radio stations have more swears and demeaning words like "hoe" or the "b-word" in every other line of the song. Returning back to the actions of men pouring alcohol all over women, we can see in the Birdman song, "Pop Bottles," that within the first verse pouring alcohol over women is encouraged and glorified, "okay start with straight shots and then pop bottles, pour it on the models, shut up b*tch, swallow." Furthermore in this song, right off the bat we see that the woman refered to in this song is considered a b*tch. Secondly, in a song by Lil Wayne called "Hoes," in the opening verse he uses the b-word and the word "hoe" to describe the girl he is singing about, "Its only me you bitch on our way to the stoop. I'm that birdman junior you ain't know and don't give me that silly bullshit about you ain't hoe." The problem with videos, songs and lyrics like this, are that when young adolescents are socialized to hearing words and phrases like this constantly degrading women, these adolescents believe that it is acceptable to use violence against women and begin using degrading words to talk to or about females. In the study that was mentioned in this article previously, findings show that violence by teenagers and young adolescents has sky rocketed, and that there are, "murders of about 3,500 youths between 15 and 19 years old every year. More than 150,000 arrests of adolescents for violent crimes occur each year. Hundreds of studies have linked exposure to media violence to violent real-life behavior in adolescents."
Self Esteem and Body Issues on Females
From what we know due to personal experience, and even from what is portrayed in the media, adolescence marks a very crucial time in one's life, especially when it comes to adolescent females. During this time of adolescence for females, fitting in and feeling accepted by peers is key. A major factor in feeling accepted by peers, is the concerns of body image and weight. With that said, an article that discusses female adolescents as targets by the media shows how females are dissatisfied with their appearance because of what they are seeing in the music industry. "According to a survey of adolescent girls, the media was identified as the primary source of information about health issues, and also, frequent music video viewing may be a risk factor for increased perceived importance of appearance and increased weight concerns among adolescent girls." With this being said, it is clear to see that female adolescents believe that physical appearance is a major part of fitting in, but more importantly a major part of their self esteem. When it comes to how females feel negatively about themselves and their bodies due to the media, this can lead to dangerous health habits such as dieting, depression, anxiety,low self esteem, and most importanly, eating disorders. In addition to this article, a similar article discusses sexualization of young girls, where a study explores the roles of sexually objectifying music videos with adolescent females that shows how teens suffer psychological consequences. By the conclusion of the article and study, findings show a model in which, "self-objectification mediates a direct relation between music television viewing and body esteem, dieting, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and confidence.". The images that are portrayed in the media, especially in music videos today, show women with the perfect bodies, beautiful perfect features, and the idea that all women are simply put on this earth to be the object of a mans desire. When growing up with these ideas constantly bombarding the media, it is hard to not develop low self esteem and self conscious body issues because the image that we are seeing in the media, is an image that is impossible to obtain. When it comes to women in the music industry today, young adolescent teens have artists like Britney Spears, The Pussycat Dolls, and even Madonna to look up to and admire. The problem with these women is that their influences on teens is primarily focused on flaunting their perfect bodies with barely to little any clothes on, sex and pleasing men. When young adolescent girls are constantly bombarded by these images they feel as if in order to be considered "hot" and "sexy" they need to wear little to no clothing, dance around on men, and fit into a size zero. Not only does the appearance of women in the music industry today causes self esteem issues for young girls, but the lyrics have become very sexualized and even degrading towards women. In an example about degrading lyrics, we turn to Britney Spears, where one of her most infamous singles is the "I'm A Slave 4 U," hit that none the less topped the charts but the message it was sending off was greatly misinterpreted. The lyrics openly suggest Britney admitting that she is a "slave" for a man that she sees at a club and she won't deny her feelings for him in that way. The problem with these lyrics is that no women should ever be considered a slave to a man, whether it is concerning manual labor, or has a sexual connotation. The term "slave" is strictly demeaning to any kind of person, especially in this context. Secondly, the female pop sensation group,The Pussycat Dolls, are another prime example for their negative influences on adolescent girls. For the majority of their songs and music videos, we see the female group prancing around in lingerie or for that matter, nothing at all, to show off their perfect, in shape, toned bodies, and are choreographed to dance and move in sexual positions to attract attention from males. In their first single "Don't Cha," the lyrics and video itself shows the Dolls prancing around in their underwear and teasing a male boasting that they are hotter then his girlfriend. Although the song is without a doubt catchy and fun to sing along to, there needs to be a logical, objective side to how we percieve songs like this, and realize the effects songs like this have when these lyrics reach the ears of young adolescent females, and even young children. What kinds of messages are pop stars really sending? How are young children and adolescents responding to these lyrics?