Sexism in music videos

In 2013 “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke and “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus provoked controversy.

They are both seen as sexist videos, however, Blurred lines has been banned in many university unions.

Lily Allen’s “Hard out Here” video parodied black music videos that reduce black women’s bodies to lurid props. Even this video is making a joke out of sexist videos, there is still a hint of exploitation of women as they dance around in hardly any clothes.

“Wrecking Ball”

      

This video caused such an outrage because of the fact she is naked through some of the scenes of the video and she would lick a sledgehammer which made no sense in the video. It was almost like she was exploiting herself, but some scenes you could see the emotion in her expression which really connected to the song. It is a completely different image from when she was Hannah Montana as she used to act and look innocent. This has obviously controlled her future and so she is trying to break out the old mold.

I feel like she made this video to show that she is breaking the mold and that the things that the media says about her is upsetting. It's her way of showing that she doesn't care what some people may think of her, she wants to do what she wants, dress how she wants and to just be accepted for how she is.

In some parts, she is exploiting herself, as this may be her way of showing how people see her. If they see her as this girl gone crazy then she'll act like it. But she will do it how she wants.

“Blurred Lines”

            

20 University Student Unions ended up banning the record due to the rape related lyrics and vile music video to accompany it.

Look at the lyrics – how does the pop video reinforce these controversial lyrics?


The lyrics include lines such as 'I know you want it', 'What do they make dreams for when you got them jeans on' and 'I hate these blurred lines'.

These lyrics are very much related to rape and sexual assault as it encourages people to think that 'no doesn't really mean no' and that woman are 'asking for it'. This is a common argument from rapists, as they try to blame the woman for getting raped, although it was the rapists fault for what happened. Woman do not ask for it, if someone wants to wear a short skirt or a revealing top then it is up to them how they want to look. Others need to be taught that this does not mean they want to get with a man and have them look at them in certain sexual ways, they need to just appreciate that she wants her body to be seen because she thinks it looks great. All she wants is for her body to be sort of celebrated, not used. This can also be argued with woman who breast feed their children. It is a natural process and is also very healthy for the baby. But because the woman is exposing herself, this means that it is sexual. They are not a sexual part of the woman and this needs to be learnt in society.

There are two versions of the video, where one has girls in hardly any clothing, the other has girls in no clothing. This is to degrade woman even further than the edited version already did. This version was deleted from youtube but was later restored.

How exactly are women portrayed in this pop video?

The woman in this video are portrayed as objects. They are only there to please the men in the video and in the audience. It further encourages others that woman do not need to be respected and are just there for men to use. It shows that whatever they wear that is seen as sexy, is seen as them asking for a man to rape them or sexually assault them.


“Hard out Here”

            

This video is a feminist video as it is mocking other videos that sexualise woman. It is showing how its hard nowadays to be a woman because of all the expectations that people have for them. People think they need to be skinny where, as the song says, you can see their bones. They need to have a big butt and boobs because this is what will get them a good life and get them to stardom. However, as the video shows, we can see that Lily Allen completely disagrees with these views. This makes the video entertaining and it can also teach others what woman have to go through during their lives.

It is clear that the video is a parody of a lot of current videos, such as J Lo's video 'Booty'. It does sexualise woman throughout the video but this is just to show what happens behind the cameras and maybe even the media in general.

I think the video is very good at showing Lily Allen's views and does not objectify woman in the way that other videos do. It is just showing what happens throughout society and is mainly making fun of other peoples views.