Laura Mulvey Ideas Continued

I continued research into Laura Mulvey’s belief that women are portrayed as sexual objects in music videos.

I think certain music genres portray women in different ways. For example, Hip Hop, R&B, and Rock have been identified as genres that exploit and degrade women.

Sometimes Hip Hop and R&B artists collaborate, however this doesn’t mean conventions found in both genres are lost, in fact they can merge together, as shown in Akon’s Video ‘Smack That’ featuring Eminem. Women in this video are portrayed as objects of the male gaze as they dress seductively and dance in front of smartly dressed men in the video. The clothing itself creates a hierarchy between men and women, as the men wear suits while the women wear underwear and t-shirts.

However, while women are used as sexual objects within videos; men are also used in female videos in a reversed role.

Female artists like Beyonce & Madonna present themselves seductively but are seen as strong female 

characters as they aren’t passive objects in their videos but break stereotypical views. 

Furthermore, sometimes women and men are both portrayed as sex objects or gazed at by viewers as shown in the video below.