Sexualised music videos

In media we looked at a video called 'Stacy's Mum' - Fountains of Wayne and linked it to traditional and post feminist views.

This is what we found out:

Traditional feminist:
In the video women are being exploited by the lack of clothing they are wearing i.e. short gym skirt, brief bikini (swim wear), sexy underwear, short dress while cleaning, pole dancing wearing leather boots and stockings scantily clad. Throughout the video of Stacy and especially Stacy's mum are seen as sexual objects.

Male desires also come into play with this video as one of the locations is very significant. This is after 'Stacey's Mum' is cleaning in her kitchen and then it turns into a night club. The night club location can also imitate a strip club by the flashing lights and loud music. Also through the whole video it is seen through the eyes of a male's perspective. This relates to the 'Mulvey's Gaze'. Voyeurism can also be seen in this video as it shows the boy looking at her - daydreaming about her.

We then wrote how a post-feminist and a radical feminist would react to this video.

Post-feminist:
In the video women are using their sexuality to overpower men / boys. This would be seen when Stacy's mum was pole dancing when she knew the boy was staring at her putting him in a daydreaming trance. This can also be seen when the boy was mowing the lawn and Stacy's mum was getting a massage naked and the masseur was making eye movements to the boy suggesting 'nice' which could make the boy feel like he is missing out on something good, whist staring at Stacy's mums bottom when he lifted the towel. All of this shows the boy is seen as weak as his crush on Stacy's mum is all seen as fantasy.

Also in this video women are seen as showing they have confidence in their bodies. This would be seen when Stacy's mum is receiving a massage from the masseur and she is comfortable lying their naked. Her big house, nice car, swimming pool and her business suit (looks as if she has come back from a business trip) shows she is a dominant female and looks as if she is a very successful woman, because of this power her masseur looks as though he is her servant.

During the last scene of the music video we see the boy in the bathroom looking at Stacy's mum coming out of the pool, the boy closes his eyes and his fantasy starts as he is thinking of Stacy's mum walking through the rain undoing her bra, he uses these images to 'pleasure himself'. He is then caught by Stacy walking in on him making him look stupid and depowered.

We also looked at another example which was called Shakira - She Wolf. We did the same as Stacy's mum and analysised it by looking at post and traditional feminist views.

 

Traditional Feminist
This video shows that women are exploited as she is wearing skin coloured and skin tight body playsuit which is extremely revealing to her body. Also thoughout the whole video she is in a cage where two messages can be perceived. One of the messages that can be seen is that she is an animal on show like in a circus, even though you do not see an audience, you can imagine that there is an audience looking at her. Another message that can be seen is that she can be portrayed as being a sex slave to male desire locked in a cage. This can percieved as women being degraded and not having the same rights as men.

Also in the video, Shakira uses provocative movements and behaviour in order to stimulate sexual behaviour. This would be strongly suggestive of male desire.

Post-Feminist
In the video she comes across very confident and looks as if she is enjoying herself. She is also comfortable about being the centre of attention and confident about her body as she does not mind other people watching her dance provoctively. This can also been seen as her using her sexuality to have power over men making them want to watch her.