Sex and Music Videos in the 21st Century

Sex and Music Videos in the 21st Century

Females have been portrayed as sex objects in music videos since MTV began. Some of the earlier stars on MTV consisted of Prince, Kiss and Aerosmith, just to name a few. Even those videos contained images of women in bikini’s, so why are we so shocked and appalled when Kid Rock has 20 surgically enhanced women parading around him as if he is king? Is it really that shocking that Sisqo’s, “The Thong Song” was voted 2000’s summer anthem, by Jet Magazine? His most recent album contained thirteen tracks. Of those thirteen tracks, 50 % contained sexual content. (www.cwrl.utexas.edu)

It isn’t that society is shocked that men portray women as sex objects, it’s the fact that males in general still view women as sex objects. This is the 21st century. Women have fought long and hard to be treated as equals to men. They wanted to prove that women are not a trophy, yet not required to be bare foot and pregnant. Just when women think they have won the fight, models, such as Pamela Anderson, whom willingly prance around in skimpy shorts and tight, revealing, leather tops and sporting high heels become the competition. This is an image that respectable women have fought so hard to rid society of. What a slap in the face.

Young, impressionable males do not understand what the subliminal messages in popular music videos are. Subconsciously, boys think that they understand what rock and rap videos are saying. The children do not understand that producers, directors and the artists, work as a team to strategically use camera angles, positioning, poses and sexual innuendoes to make their point. In fact, according to Kathleen Turkel, an assistant professor of women’s studies at the University of Massachusetts, “The fantasy world of rock videos is not innocent or accidental, but it is a carefully designed advertising technique used to sell CD’s, tapes and videos to a target audience of 14 to 34 year-old consumers.” (Rhodes) The final result of all of these messages is a very skewed image of who and what women are. Young girls viewing these videos is actually quite disturbing because what they watch on television is what they will grow up wanting to become. With all of these graphic images allowed on television, is it any wonder why we have horrible rape cases and other sexual assault crimes?