Blog was written by Marlyn Perez for her Women & Media class at SUNY Old Westbury Spring 2013 semester. Feel free to leave comments.

Body Image

Every time you're watching television, the women seem to fit the thin "model" ideal. This makes the women watching television want to look like these woman. Studies show that black women watch more television than white women do. However, they are not as affected by the thin body ideal because they have higher self-esteems than white women. 

Rap videos have been accused of violent lyrics and imagery. The female characters shown in these videos are usually portrayed as sexual objects and carry a heavy emphasis on sexuality and physical attractiveness. These women also behave in submissive ways. In the research conducted, they found that thin females are overrepresented in videos compared to the real population. It was also found that when the video had to do with sex or materialism, the woman's body would be smaller rather than in a video of political awareness where the female would have a larger body shape. I feel like that fits the beauty ideal of society. People believe that thinner is more beautiful than a larger body size. Just like mainstream media, rap videos show a unrealistic view of the female body.

Source:

Zhang, Yuanyuan, Travis L. Dixon, and Kate Conrad. "Female Body Image as a Function of Themes in Rap Music Videos: A Content Analysis." Sex Roles 62.11-12 (2010): 787-97. ProQuest. Web. 14 May 2013.

The NOW Foundation

The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an organization that was founded in 1966. The Foundation focuses on a broad range of women's rights issues, including economic justice, pay equality, racial discrimination, women's health and body image, women with disabilities, reproductive rights and justice, family law, marriage and family formation rights of same-sex couples, representation of women in the media, and global feminist issues. In the article "Organizers Focus Awareness on Women in Music Videos" written by Rose Afriyie, focuses on a discussion at Alabama State University about the portrayal of women in music videos and the instances of daily street harassment. They used the film "Dreamworlds 3" by Sut Jhally as a educational tool to show a perspective on several filming techniques. They believe that certain camera angles can dehumanize a woman and create an environment where abuse against women is not taken seriously. The NOW Foundation wants to create a voice for the women of these videos that have been silenced and sexualized. The NOW Foundation seeks for media justice.

Source: 

Afriyie, Rose. "Organizers Focus Awareness on Women in Music Videos." National NOW Times 39.2 (2007): 11-. ProQuest. Web. 14 May 2013.

Effects On Our Youth

Akua Djanie affectionately called ‘Blakofe’ left Ghana for the United Kingdom at the age of 10. She returned 15 years later and has since became a household name due to her involvement in successful television and radio programmes as well as live entertainment shows. Djanie is also an award winning Writer (‘Best Journalist 2011 by the Ghana/UK Society Media Awards), Stand-Up comedian and Actress who has had the opportunity to work across Africa and the UK. In March 2010, she wrote an article called "Music Videos or Porn with Music?." In this article she speaks about her experience when  she found her children watching music videos that were so explicit, she confused them as porno. She starts off by saying that she usually keeps the television in her room so she can monitor what her children watch but once in a while puts it out in living room so they can watch what they want. The day she decides to give them a little freedom, she finds them watching what she thinks is porn. When she asks about it, they inform her that it's a DVD she had bought them and indeed, it was a music DVD she had purchased for her children to watch. She describes scenes that muted seem like soft core porn. Instead of choreographed dancing, girls were gyrating and shaking their rears for rappers. She described the women to be "seductively caressing themselves whilst sprawled across huge beds." As a woman she feels offended by the lyrics in these songs and she does not understand how a woman would want to dance to it. She also could not find a way to explain it to her kids when they asked her what the lyrics meant. She wishes artists would be more like Wyclef Jean who does not follow any artists lead but creates his own beats and paths she thinks others should follow.

Source:

Djanie, Akua. "Music Videos Or Porn with Music?" New African 2010: 28-9. ProQuest. Web. 14 May 2013 .

Interview with Kemi Sequoia

Aspiring Naija Rapper 

Marlyn (Me): Hi Kemi, I'm here today to interview you about sexuality in music videos. Since this is your field, I felt you would have important feedback. Describe the music you write.

Kemi Sokoya: Well, you know the music I write is to inspire all the young independent females.

Me: Have you been featured in a music video?

Kemi: Yes I have been. For my friends back home, up and coming rappers.

Me: How were you dressed in this video?

Kemi: I was styled by my designer Angela, nothing too skimpy.

Me: Funny you say, I wanted to have this interview with you because I wanted to see what you thought about the way women are portrayed in music videos.
Kemi: I'll begin by saying that if I make it I refuse to degrade myself in my videos. My music will be good no matter what and I refuse to let the amount of clothes I wear dictate that.
Me: That's something you will have to work against, the whole using your sexuality to make yourself heard. You ever wondered why other female artists become open to looking more like video vixens in their videos rather than the artist?
Kemi: I feel like a lot of people specially people in the music industry are sucked into the "money, clothes, car and hoes" appeal of it all. They know how the audience reacts to certain things they see, so they feed that. It sounds so cliche and I'm sure you're tired of hearing it but sex sells. Whether it's a commercial, music video, ad for a new perfume... that woman barely wearing clothes made the appeal of the product bigger.
Me: I agree. I feel like even when female artists begin as rebels, doing their own thing in videos, they still end up conforming to all the sexuality in their videos. Do you think that aspect of videos is controlled by men?
Kemi: Yes and no. Yes because besides viewers, women want to impress men. We want to look good, we want to look better than Jane, Julie & Samantha. It becomes a competition for male attention. Then I say no because female artists do not have to settle for looking sexually needy or thirsty for anyone's attention. The music should be enough to get your viewers & fans.
Me: A lot of interesting points. Thank you so much for your time & I wish you the best.
Kemi: Thank you. Same to you pretty.

Video Vixens: Images in Hip Hop Videos

( Hip Hop vs. America )

When placing a black video vixen in a music video, she seems to have the right moves and a rear bigger than what we think her aspirations are. In this video, a panel of rappers, professors, and a former video vixen discuss the portrayal of black women in music videos. They discuss the influence of these types of portrayal on young women. They watch what's on television and aspire to become video models and nothing else. They forget their goals in life because what seems cool is on television and far from reality.

Author Akiba Solomon made a connection between women in hip hop and slavery. She says that women were reduced to work and reproduce and now these black women are being used for their sexuality instead. Since sex sells, pornography seems to have become mainstream by using these music videos as a medium. It seems like the only purpose black women have in the media is to be in music videos shaking their asses unlike white women, who are on every channel you turn to. Women in these videos are dehumanized because they do not do anything but dance and be sexually needy. Women in videos often forget that they have the right to decide, the right to say no to something they do not want partake in.