Is there too much sex in Music Videos?

Sexualised music videos are having a negative impact on individuals and society.

In one of our classes we had a debate on this topic. For this topic I was on the "For" side; here are some of the points that I wrote down for the argument:

• Copycat Theory - Young people/ children are influence by clothing and attitudes from music videos.
• Feminine - Sexualise females are seen as sex objects.
• Technology has a heavy influence because it is easy to access e.g. TV, Internet and Magazines.  
• Lyrics in the music influence our vocabulary.
• Cultivation - Over again and again we see the same videos.
• Young children may not understand what they are watching, can be naive.
• Most people have access to T.V and Internet etc.
• Mainly all music genres have sexual content in them either by lyrics or the visual.
• Women wear more sexual clothing to express themselves or not.
• As long as people buy and watch the music and the videos, sexualisation will exist and continue to be in music videos. 

By learning about sex in music videos I now have a better understanding of how women are portrayed in the media. This links to my production as my genre is techno music. This affects it as many techno music videos have women scantily clad, dancing in night clubs. Sometimes these women can be seen drunk and very vulnerable.

'Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys' cont.

While watching this documentary we made more notes about how women are represented in music videos. In the documentary there was a specific example which really showed how women and men are represented. This was Timbaland - Carry Out ft. Justin Timberlake. 'Sexual Equality Expert' Julia Long explained how the women were represented during this music video. I shall now explain in more detail.

How are women represented?
Women are seen as sex objects. This can be seen from the type of clothing the women are wearing, for example, some of the women are wearing costumes such as maids outfits. Some of the resons for this is:

• The maids outfit is seen as a service for the men by giving them what they want. 
• The clothing of the maids outfit gives sexual fantisies as a soft porn image is shown.
• Pornographic imagery is shown by how the women wear and show the clothes e.g. breasts hanging out, short skirts, bending over etc.

It dehumanises women. In other words it takes away human qualities from women. This would all link into the cultivation theory as audiences would be influenced by 'opinion leaders' (in this case it would be Timberlake and Timbaland). So, anyone who admires or aspires to these artists would think that it is fine to treat women like this as they would want to be like them.

The women are also seen as disposable objects. It is like the men pick up the women, use them when they want, and when finished they throw them away. This would also link into one of the locations shown in the video. This would be the fastfood places shown as in fastfood restaurants food is dispoable, in this case the food would be seen as the women.

During the video there is close ups of the womens body parts. This sends out messages to men that women are there for the taking and that men can lust after them like they would in a pornographic film.  However this video is not a pornographic piece of work, but a video that is used for mainstream audiences.  Due to this video being accessable to the mainstream audience means younger children are able to watch and so more vunerable and then able to imitiate what they see in the media, this would link to the copycat theory.

How are men represented?
The men in the video are seen as powerful, strong, have a voice and dominant which puts them immediately in a position of power.  Throughout the video Timberlake and Timberland are seen either standing in the middle of the women or sitting surrounded by women.  This can be seen in a variety of places during the video.  One of these places was when Timbaland was sitting in a car with women serving him with food or dancing around the car and him.  This almost shows that they are worshipping him as it looks like he has a lot of power. By this it seems as if the men get the girl just for sex. Another place was when Timberlake was sitting on a throne and women were feeding him while dressed provacatively in their maids outfits this links to Roman times when Kings were fed by their harem of women.

Also in the video both Timbaland and Timberlake can be seen as rich, from the type of clothing that they are both wearing, this being expensive suits. This also shows that they have a lot of power as it gives them importance. Another way they can be seen as rich and have power is the throne that they sit on in the video. This is because thourghout history someone who sits on a throne is seen to have power and a lot of respect.

During most of the video the men can be see in control. This links to how the men / women are treated by each other.  The women in the video are serving the men by giving them what they want / need, by bending down to their level. Whereas the men are just their waiting on the women to do what they please.

What effect might this have on an audience?
This would encorage men to view women as objects instead of a real human being. This then result in disrespect, anger and frustration as real women don't behave in this way. Sexual violence then could arise as some men may think it's cool or the right thing to do to women. The hypodermic model would relate to this as it would be seen as this type of behaviour would be 'injected' into the minds of the viewers.