Props or People: A Women’s Place in Music
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. –Plato
Music shapes who we are as an individual as well as a society, however, within the last several decades there has been an astonishing increase in the objectification of women in the music industry. From country, to pop, to rock, to hip-hop and rap there has been a dramatic rise in the use women’s bodies to sell music. The exponential increase in the objectification of women in various genres of music leads to the deterioration of women’s mental health, confidence, and political efficacy.
Alongside the creation of MTV in the 1980’s came the rise …show more content…
In research conducted by Dr. Eric Rasmussen, a professor at the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University, analyzed 750 country songs from three eras: the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, he found that “country lyrics in the 2010’s talk about women’s appearance more, talk about women in tight and revealing clothing more, refer to women using slang more and rarely use their names. Country music has generally been seen as the most wholesome music genre, but what this research is saying is that may not be the case anymore.” It could be argued that the music business uses men’s bodies at the same rate, but a team of researchers analyzed the roles of men and women in 1,000 music videos and found that “males are more often depicted as adventurous, aggressive, and dominate; females are more often depicted as affectionate, fearful, and nurturing” (Vorderer & Zillmann). From this research we can see the music industry reinforcing the same traditional gender roles that are found in magazines, television, and in society: men are dominant over women. Consequently, when men and women are listening and watching music video they are subconsciously evaluating what their role is in society based on what there are seeing and hearing in their favorite music. When men talk about women in demeaning ways in songs and use women as props in music videos, this causes all confidence in young girls to diminish. Because of the music industry young women will never feel like they will never fully be respected, they will never feel like they will be good enough, and they will never feel like they will be pretty enough. Often times young girls will begin to objectify themselves as well. In fact, those who feel they have low self-objectification generally have a 3.5 GPA and more confidence while those who identify as
Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. –Plato
Music shapes who we are as an individual as well as a society, however, within the last several decades there has been an astonishing increase in the objectification of women in the music industry. From country, to pop, to rock, to hip-hop and rap there has been a dramatic rise in the use women’s bodies to sell music. The exponential increase in the objectification of women in various genres of music leads to the deterioration of women’s mental health, confidence, and political efficacy.
Alongside the creation of MTV in the 1980’s came the rise …show more content…
In research conducted by Dr. Eric Rasmussen, a professor at the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University, analyzed 750 country songs from three eras: the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s, he found that “country lyrics in the 2010’s talk about women’s appearance more, talk about women in tight and revealing clothing more, refer to women using slang more and rarely use their names. Country music has generally been seen as the most wholesome music genre, but what this research is saying is that may not be the case anymore.” It could be argued that the music business uses men’s bodies at the same rate, but a team of researchers analyzed the roles of men and women in 1,000 music videos and found that “males are more often depicted as adventurous, aggressive, and dominate; females are more often depicted as affectionate, fearful, and nurturing” (Vorderer & Zillmann). From this research we can see the music industry reinforcing the same traditional gender roles that are found in magazines, television, and in society: men are dominant over women. Consequently, when men and women are listening and watching music video they are subconsciously evaluating what their role is in society based on what there are seeing and hearing in their favorite music. When men talk about women in demeaning ways in songs and use women as props in music videos, this causes all confidence in young girls to diminish. Because of the music industry young women will never feel like they will never fully be respected, they will never feel like they will be good enough, and they will never feel like they will be pretty enough. Often times young girls will begin to objectify themselves as well. In fact, those who feel they have low self-objectification generally have a 3.5 GPA and more confidence while those who identify as