“I’m just walking trying to see through the rain coming down”, these are lyrics from Taylor Swift’s song A Place in This World which she wrote when she was only thirteen. This struck me, not only as to how the America’s sweetheart must have felt when she was just starting out, but of how she chooses to project a different image from other contemporary pop singers of her time. Among all the other famous young music icon these days, I think Taylor Swift just got it all on her, and her choice of music went positive for her career. Nevertheless, while I consider Swift Taylor and her music to be more conservative, most people would claim that her image portrays the same theme as that of Lady Gaga, and Miley Cyrus who evidently used the sexualization of the woman’s body to promote their music. For one, Taylor Swift is noted for her glamorous clothings and mannequin posturing, Lady Gaga for her unconventional fashion sense and Miley Cyrus and other pop icons for their revealing outfits.
Would the music top pop icons such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Miley attain the high profile and popularity, they have today without flaunting their looks and body? There are many people who doubted that these women would have reached their celebrity status by sheer talent alone. For instance, Miley has to pull off her body twerking and almost naked stunts to get noticed; and while Taylor Swift aimed to portray a sweet image, her glamorous clothings and music albums’ general attribution with sexual innuendos made her music more appealing. Many keen observers find it ironic that despite the professed equality and women’s independence, talented women today still finds it tough to penetrate the entertainment industry without appealing to the sexuality of the woman’s body. It appears like the music industry has already carved the role to be played by women, that is, notwithstanding their talent, they should remain as submissive sex objects.
In a Wikipedia page, a statement by Björk Guðmundsdóttir, a noted singer and songwriter from Iceland, revealed the difficulty faced by women in the music industry, “ women’s labor and expertise -inside and outside of the music industry- go unnoticed”(qtd. in Wikipedia). Her concept was collaborated by Lady Gaga who made a statement about the “difficulties of being a female recording artist” (qtd. inWikipedia), and she expressed her sentiments about the music industry being a boys club that is difficult to get into. Further, she stated how she strived hard and long in order to get noticed as a musician, more for her intelligence than her body. Accordingly, while women have played a significant role in the music industry, their efforts were less recognized compared to men. When I was about twelve, I fancied how the popular women in the music industry must have everything planned and smoothly sailing for them. However, as I read over the difficulties that they have to go through, I felt unhappy at how the female talents have to struggle to be recognized in the industry, lest their talents will be dismissed and left unrecognized. My goal in this paper is to seek and provide other people’s opinions about the role played by women music icons in promoting the sexualization of the female body. How badly they needed these sexual antiques to enhance their career and popularity? I plan to go over articles on these women icon’s interviews as well as some articles that discusses the sexualization of women icons, especially in the music industry.
In a research article entitled Check That Body! The Effects of Sexually Objectifying Music Videos, the effect of sexual objectification of female artists in music videos on male undergraduates was examined. The study was focused on the objectives of providing sufficient evidence about college men’s reaction to artists’ music videos, particularly on evidences suggesting that men’s attitudes on gender and sexuality are primarily affected by sexual music videos (Aubrey et al, 365). There is the idea that the behavior of men is highly impacted by their exposure to the sexually provoking music video of female artists. That is, it was hypothesized that the man’s act of viewing the female artists in representing their bodies as sensual objects trigger the men’s conviction “that women use their bodies and sexuality to unfairly manipulate men” (Aubrey et al, 361). The argument is that the music videos are considered to have lured the men into the men the idea that women are using their body and sexuality to gain the best advantage over men. The women, therefore have no reason to complain when men respond based on their cognitive understanding and act beyond what is acceptable such as committing uncalled sexual advantages on women. Accordingly, music critics suggest that, in terms of music videos, the female music artists are responsible to some extent as to how they wanted to be perceived by the viewing public. However, it is also to be noted that the portrayal of the music icons of themselves is highly dictated by industry and cultural expectations; that is, the most saleable manner to portray “themselves is through the objectification of their own bodies” (qtd in Aubrey et al, 365). Unfortunately, the culture and industry expectations are highly influential in motivating female artists to readily take part in their depiction as sexual objects. Moreover, a recent study revealed that female music artists were “more likely to objectify themselves than male artists were to objectify female characters in their music videos” (Aubrey et al, 360).
The same argument about the sexualization reflected by the female music artists is depicted in the article entitled The Pornofication of the Female Pop Star. In this article, the seemingly welcome exploitation of todays pop star appeared to have been accepted and adored by the masses. For instance, it talked about the shocking transformation of Miley Cyrus from the sweet and wholesome Hanna Montana image into a hyper-sexual young woman as depicted in her music videos. The claim that Miley Cyrus is talented is out of the question, however, her want for immediate recognition has been dominated by her aggressive depiction of her sexual image.
While there are those who suggested that Miley took advantage of the sexualization of the pop music culture, others suggested that is is more like the music industry profited from her being projected as a sexual object. Accordingly, sexual availability in the music industry are expressed in an artist's choice of song, its lyrics, and its tone among others. For instance, the proliferation of music videos puts forth the opportunity of the sexual images of women to be more accessible to the masses. Moreover, the advent of the social where allowed for the leveling up of the sexual image of the music artist into a new dimension. The commodification of the female body is promoted by the music industry by letting the female artist exude sexual allure in their performances. For the female artist, the scheme to flaunt their body is a form of promotional game that are aimed at gaining an increased sales of their records. The idea is that the more sexually and daring the image, the more popular the star becomes and eventually the more saleable she is in terms of albums and endorsements for that matter. For instance, in one of Rihanna’s music videos, she re-invented herself in terms of visual aesthetics by borrowing the antics popular in strip clubs such as stripping and pole dancing all in reference to the commodification of the female body. The trouble is that, in due course, the image of the female artists surpasses the art and beauty of her music (Bohr).
An argument arises about the freedom of women pop music artist is on whether these women are empowered or in fact exploited. In another article published in The Spectrum: A Scholars Day Journal, the author discussed about how the media projected the lives of music icons being free and unrestricted. He started his discussion on the current trend in the pop music industry where there is an increased sexualization of women. In the article, the author posed the question as to “how do women understand popular music media's representation of women, and how do these understandings validate, refute, or inform two prominent radical feminist theories about the impact of popular media’s representation of women on women’s overall spaces for action?” (Glantz, 8). The result of the research showed that a large number of the participants believed that the media’s hypesexualization of the female body in the pop music industry is “consistent with the radical view”(Glantzm, 21). The assertion of the radical culturalists is that the “sexualizing representations of gender inequality produce and condone oppressive legacies similar to those of sexual objectification” (qtd. in Glantz23). In addition to the sexualization of women in the music industry, it was also noted that the pop media favors the patriarchal hierarchy system where men are, more often than not, in the positions of authority and that women are made to assume submissive roles. For instance, despite projecting an image of freedom and independence, Rihanna, depicts submission by the lyrics of her songs, thus there must be a false pretense as to the empowered image she wanted to convey.
In another research article entitled Sexually Suggestive Songs and Singers: Music Media and its Effects on the Sexualization of Women, the author discussed the relationship between music and the sexualization of women. It was found that exposure to sexual music content has been associated with beliefs about sexual activities, women’s liberal outlooks toward sexuality as well as the longing to engage in risky sexual acts. It is believed that the popular media plays a significant role in women’s and young people’s sexualization due to the proliferation of music that contain sexually explicit and provoking music. Further, it was also found in research on media content “that exposure to sexual messages is more common in music than television” (Brandt, 5). The findings in this research corroborate the findings in the first article where it was claimed that the sexual images in the music videos “have an impact on attitudes towards women” (Brandt, 18), moreover, it was found that rap music has the highest impact on the sexualization of women, especially in terms of having risky behaviors.
Conclusion
Based on the readings, I thought that the music industry, despite the role it plays in the entertainment genre, can be a venomous business. The female performers are highly sexualized, and it was unlikely for women artists succeed by using their talent alone. That is, more than their talent, they also have to brandish their body to be noticed. Looking now at how successful are the top pop icons today, such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Miley, I can’t help but think of the efforts they have to exert to please the audience and to be given the chance to stand in the limelight. While they claim it to be the modern woman’s freedom of choice of expressing herself, most people thought otherwise. This research has provided me with sufficient insight about the status of female pop icons, and I hope to find more scholarly works about how they feel about their hyper-sexualization. Moreover, I would like to know what they think about being perceived by some people as submissiveness to the opposite sex.
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Works Cited
Aubrey, Jennifer, Megan Hopper, and Wanjiru Mbure. "Check That Body! The Effects of Sexually Objectifying Music Videos on College Men’s Sexual Beliefs." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 55.3 (2011): 360-379. Web.
Bohr, Marco. "The Pornification of the Female Pop Star." Visual Culture Blog. N.p., 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Brandt, Jessica. "Sexually Suggestive Songs and Singers: Music Media and its Effects on the Sexualization of Women." Diss. University of Central Florida, 2013. Print.
Glantz, Jaime. "Women in Popular Music Media: Empowered or Exploited." The Spectrum: A Scholars Day Journal 3.5 (2013): n. pag. Web. 16 Feb. 2016.
Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. "Women in Music." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc, 2016. Web. 16 Feb. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_music>.
