[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guBk0WFnuEE[/youtube]
One of my absolute favorite musicians discusses female representation in the music industry. She is able to articulate such a powerful, important message in today’s world – a corrupt system.
As I look through my Facebook news feed yesterday and today one of the popular things I am seeing is the Meghan Trainor video. Trainor has a song out now called “Dear Future Husband.” Within this song she is telling her “future husband” how to treat her right just by following a few simple things, like making sure that he gives her flowers every anniversary. The song goes on just listing things that he should follow so he can treat her like a lady. To me though she was a little demanding with all the things she wants just so that her future husband can treat her like a lady. Yeah it would be nice for those things but all females want their future husbands to treat them right in their own way. I also think that the way she is dressed and dancing shows a little to “sexy” for mass media. I thought that some of the outfits that she had on were low cut and tight which could be shown to be sexy during the music video. Also with this video it can be a little sexist because you have a woman her asking things to be treated right by her future husband but what about the men? They are also need to be treated right by his wife, so where is his video?
One of my best friends came to me and said that she had to show me something. She played a song and I really did not think that much about it, it was pretty catchy, but I couldn’t figure out what was so great about it.
In the beginning of the video, it shows J Lo and her friends sitting down with a guy from a record company who is presenting her with ideas for her music video. After some really horrible propositions, her friend states that “if she was a guy, they wouldn’t be having this conversation” because they would have the video be set at a mansion or on a yacht with half naked girls. So, for this video, the decide to objectify the men which reverses the roles.
I love J Lo because she has always been a strong woman that owned her image as a real woman with real curves. I highly suggest watching the video because it uses humor to bring to light the issues of objectifying women by turning it on men. I almost feel like it is a gab at the music industry that supports these kinds of videos by saying how does it make you feel when your sex is portrayed in this way.
I must warn you, the video does have some bad language and sexuality.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4oiEhf9M04[/youtube]
When I first started learning about gender and gender norms in this class, I could not help but think of country music videos. As many people know, country music tends to stereotype men and women into gender roles, especially women. Girls wearing sexy or skimpy clothing, being objectified to please her man, and shown doing the domestic work are all interpreted from many country songs and music videos. Recently, Maddie and Tae’s breakout hit, “Girl in a Country Song,” breaks away from the stereotypes that have been laid on women and throws them right back at you. The artists took various hit country songs objectifying women and rewrote the lyrics for a twist outlook. Maddie and Tae’s lyrics tell us that girls are not a cliché and deserve some respect. The music video even takes a different approach and uses role reversal by dressing the men up as “the stereotypical country girl.” I think “Girl in a Country Song” is a humorous and lighthearted way of breaking away from the gender norms and showing that girls have the right to a little respect.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MOavH-Eivw[/youtube]
In the Justin Moore song “Bait a Hook”, it takes the traits of what is known to be a southern man and demeans the man who isn’t as “manly” as Justin in this song. Nothing against Justin, he is my favorite country artist of all time. However, the song does show a glimpse of gender “norms” and discrimination of not following those gender “norms”. Even though it may be a small example of a man acting less manly than another it is a prime example of discrimination for not following what is said to be a gender “norm”.
Beyoncé dropped her new audio-visual album without any notice to her fans in December 2013. The self-titled album sits at #6 on Bilboard’s Top 200 and #11 on iTunes. Beyoncé and her album have been under a lot of scrutiny from the media because of how sexual it is, even having Michelle Williams weighing in on it, despite how popular the album is with Queen B’s fans. In Bey’s video “***Flawless” she includes an excerpt from Nigerian feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie TED talk as her as her second verse saying “…We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.” Throughout Mrs. Carter’s self-titled album she portrays to women that being a sexual being is something we should embrace and not suppress because we are just that, women. To even further confirm Beyoncé’s somewhat feminist stance, here is an article about her interview with British Vogue last spring.
Here’s a little more background on singer Beth Ditto, who I referenced in the APA Report on Sexualization of Young Girls online lecture.
Here Rick Ross addresses the lyrics in his single, U.O.E.N.O. (You Ain’t Even Know It),” that reference drugging a woman and then taking her home unknowingly.
What if sexism was part of the job description? Interesting article about sexism in the music industry.