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Women and their fight for equality
Sexism in music opinion essay
Females fight for equality
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Recommended: Women and their fight for equality
Throughout history, women have had to fight for equality with men in the world. Today sexism continues to be a problem and women are still not completely treated the same way men are. Sexism is defined as discrimination or devaluation based on a person's sex (“Sexism-Dictionary.com”). Recently, the music industry shows sexism towards female artists. This not only allows male artists to have a more likely chance of being respected, but also affects the views audiences have on female artists. Sexism is shown in the music industry towards female artists.
Sexism towards women occurs when men feel as if they are superior to women. Men have not always looked at women as equals, but more as objects to please themselves. Traditional values teach that men should provide and work for their family while women should just be mothers and take care of their homes for their husbands. While traditional values are fading away and women are becoming independent and powerful in today’s society, some people continue to follow the same archaic beliefs. According to Rick Nauert, “Sexism also has the potential to shape how women think, feel and behave towards men in general” (Nauert). It is necessary for men to view women as capable leaders and not just caregivers so that women can feel respected. If a woman’s opinion of men changes simply from a sexist remark, it must be very difficult for an artist to constantly feel discriminated against simply because of her gender.
It is common in the music industry for females to be sexualized not only by male artists, but also by someone as irrelevant as a music video director. Male music artists frequently use women as props in their music videos. This may not be the choice of th...
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... with their music can help to decrease sexism in the music industry and decrease the need for sexualizing women as well.
Sexism, throughout the world, causes men to feel superior over women. Sexism in the music industry continues today. Many female artists’ careers are affected by this prejudice. Female artists have not only begun to stand up for themselves, but have also started to speak out against this problem. By acknowledging that this problem exists in the music industry, females hope to eliminate this challenge for all girls hoping to be famous artists in the future. Realistically though, does the music industry have the ability to overcome sexism or is making money because “sex sells” more important to society today? As of right now, it seems as if money is more important to most, but one can never know what the future holds.
I. Introduction Gender plays a big role in music, I became aware of gender role in music when noticing how most songs talks about women and how they are being either exploited or empowered. Most music videos even in the 80s either objectified women or respect sexuality. Women are usually sexually alluring in music videos, stage performances and even in the song lyrics. Most music video uses video vixens or video girls that are usually dressed or performing sexually. For example, “Siouxsie Sioux frequently performed wearing black leather and rubber bondage attire, as well as heavy eye make-up, making overt statements about her sexuality.
... it brought in sultry rhythms and made some adults worried about over-sexualizing music. However, today it is very common to hear something sexual in a song or verse. In today’s music industry, many women are just as successful as the men.
Women in popular music have created a tremendous history in the wake of feminism. They have made their presence visible by identifying themselves as feminists. Being a woman was hard during that stage. Women were not allowed to do many things due to gender inequality such as the right to vote and to own a property. Therefore, from that moment onwards, women decided to stand up and make some changes. During the early stage of feminism, women developed their skills in popular music to create awareness. They associate popular music with feminism. Although there were racial issues between the black and white during that time, both sides continued to establish in different ways, through different genres of music. Black women focused on ‘black genres’ such as blues, jazz, and gospel, whereas white women performed in musical theatres. Female artists such as Lilian Hardin, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Nina Simone were among the notable exceptions of female instrumentalists during feminism. In this essay, I will assess feminism focusing on the second-wave.
Traditionally, an image of Honky tonk girls permeate the collective unconscious of the American country music (Wilson, 2000). Honkey tonk are referred to bars that play country music and women in country music are represented as corrupted temptresses who sit in honky tonks with painted lips and tinted hair to seduce men or as innocent virgins who are loving and patient (Wilson, 2000). However, contemporary female country musicians reject this traditional view on women because such simplistic dichotomy fails to recognise diverse identities that are adopted by women in a contemporary world (Wilson, 2000). In other words, country music provides a space for female musicians to challenge normative gender roles that dominant culture embraces and
In society today, media such as movies and music share huge roles in the dynamics of culture especially concerning communication. In Dream Worlds 3: Desire, Sex, and Power in Music Video we see how famous singers and producers in the making of their music videos have the power of illustrating our language and beliefs. From the music we listen to and things we watch, we are constantly gaining new knowledge by the message that is being presented to us. The main focus of this specific documentary was how women in the music or media industry all together are treated. From this documentary and lectures in class we see that media objectifies, stereotypes, and degrades women and their bodies as advertisements and money makers. Themes in the film discussed
In this day and age, pop music dominates the airwaves at every turn. Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Kanye West, and many are commonplace names among teenagers and younger demographics not only in the United States, but all around the world. The United States has accepted the position of international, cultural role model long ago, dating back to the 1950’s when rock and roll caught fire as a hybrid of blues, country, and jazz and spread to the rest of the world almost infectiously. Since then, every major artist that comes out of the United States has easily become a global icon, regardless of the language or nationality of their adoring fans. However, one could conceive that this glamorized version of music comes less from the soul of the artist and is merely born of fiscal ambitions and visions of grandeur. The point made previously is not to critique any pop icon’s talent, which clearly they have proved to possess an abundance of it to keep the public swooning at their every whim, but instead, to show that there are musicians out there producing beautiful music without the threat of corruption and adherence to mainstream culture.
Women have consistently been perceived as second-class citizens. Even now, in times when a social conscience is present in most individuals, in an era where an atmosphere of gender equality 'supposedly' exists, it is blatantly apparent that the objectification and marginalization of women is still a major social issue. In reality, progression in terms of reducing female exploitation has been stagnant at best. Not only is the degradation of women a major problem that to date has not been eradicated, but it is actually being endorsed by some music celebrities. There are a growing number of people who purchase rap albums that support the fallacy that women are mere objects and should be treated as such. As the popularity of rap continues to climb at unprecedented rates, so too does its influence on the perception of women. In the vast majority of hip-hop songs, the depiction of women as sexual objects, the extreme violence directed towards them and the overall negative influence these lyrics have on the average adolescent's perception of women make rap the absolute epitome of female exploitation.
... educating at home, workshops, protest, and support of positive artists women can make larger steps to changing the portrayal of women in the rap music industry.
Madonna is a controversial legend whose attitudes and opinions on sexuality have forced the public to take notice and change the image of females in society. Madonna believed women’s sexuality was a natural aspect of life; therefore, she dared to challenge the rules and definitions of femininity and sought to expand the meaning of it. In a male dominated world, she wanted to focus on the importance of women and let them have a voice of their own. Madonna shattered all the myths on traditional beauty standards and made her statement on sexuality and feminism, which changed how society viewed the standards of beauty. She impacted female power by encouraging sex- positivity into her music and her style. It is mainly because of Madonna that ordinary women, and women in modern entertainment have more choices and freedom which continues to influence further generations.
When looking at the music industry today, it is clear there is an imbalance between portrayals of men and women. Usually one is used to seeing female artists prance around in tight little outfits showing all parts of their body, while the looks of men do not matter. Many women feel they need to fulfill sexual roles in the music industry. Perhaps female artists dress in a provocative manner to get noticed and to make it big in the industry. However, in Ann Powers’ article, she mentions that Klein states, “I want to see more images of women showing audiences what’s in their hearts and minds; I want to see less of what’s on the outside” (2). I agree with Klein. In fact, female artists do not have to fulfill pre-determined sexual roles because it is the talent that should shine through and not their outer appearance.
The first main example of physical image becoming a major marketing point in the music industry lies in the career of Elvis Aaron Presley. His image was the building point of his reputation, as he represented the first major example of a sex symbol in music. Presley has been described as a “sex god”, which inspired other artists to emulate him in the future and use sex to sell their music. (Long, “Elvis the Sex God”, Vox Magazine) and various television and music executives described how visually captivating his performances were. Although Presley had undeniable talent, his talent was not the only selling point that his handlers used to market him to the public, which was quite a departure from the classical and jazz eras, where musical skill was the prominent issue in determining the popularity of musicians such as Beethoven, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington. L...
The music industry’s history is a convoluted mess. There is no real consensus on what the music industry IS and what paths it has taken. Were the Beatles the greatest band to ever exist? Maybe. Is there a hyper objectification of women throughout the “men’s club” that is the music industry? Probably. It’s this hard to define, frankly confusing business that is worth roughly $130 billion dollars today. With it’s flimsy and opaque edges, can the music industry ever be called into question on its wrongdoings? The racist undertone throughout its history may force it to. With the music industry as an ever growing business that seems to change almost every decade, the one thing that has not changed throughout time is an undercurrent of racism that
Women – beautiful, strong matriarchal forces that drive and define a portion of the society in which we live – are poised and confident individuals who embody the essence of determination, ambition, beauty, and character. Incomprehensible and extraordinary, women are persons who possess an immense amount of depth, culture, and sophistication. Society’s incapability of understanding the frame of mind and diversity that exists within the female population has created a need to condemn the method in which women think and feel, therefore causing the rise of “male-over-female” domination – sexism. Sexism is society’s most common form of discrimination; the need to have gender based separation reveals our culture’s reluctance to embrace new ideas, people, and concepts. This is common in various aspects of human life – jobs, households, sports, and the most widespread – the media. In the media, sexism is revealed through the various submissive, sometimes foolish, and powerless roles played by female models; because of these roles women have become overlooked, ignored, disregarded – easy to look at, but so hard to see.
These artist often extend their display of sexism in a variety of ways ranging from their casualness of profanity and coarse language in verbal interviews given, magazines, written articles, reality television programs to the many social settings of celebrities. Female artist are always depicted in these media vehicles and especially in mainstream movies. Their characters are very cliché in their portrayal of sexual roles, to the revealing costumes designed for the sexiest female artist ever. The speaking roles of featured female artist in movies are also flavored with several sexual innuendos and camera close up shots of their female anatomies. Appearing in roles like these even shows support for sexism coming from female artist. An article by a feminist even talks about a female artist appearing in a sexist music video and how it shows support. The writer says “Her appearance displays her unity not with the women branded ‘pigeons,’ but with the men who label them.” (McLune 223). It is a universal belief that the way people carry themselves through both verbal and non-verbal behaviors mandate how the world perceives them. These universal perceptions especially rings true with the mannerisms and behaviors of female
Modern Pop musicians care about their popularity and image more than they care about their lyrics. I don’t think anyone could successfully deny that image has always been important in popular music. The significance of image has increased a lot in