Gender Representation Feminism

Gender Stereotypes In Music:Current Research Findings

• Men engaged in significantly more aggressive and dominant behaviour• Men represented as independent, adventurous, unemotional and

competent• Stereotypical Gendered occupations apparent (i.e. Males as

FireFighters/Mechanics Women as Cheerleader/Waitress)• Women engaged in significantly more explicit, sexual and passive

behaviour• Women represented as objects of sexual advances or as sexual objects• Sex role stereotyping and negative attitudes towards females• Women more likely to be presented in provocative or revealing clothing• Women portrayed as decorative objects that dance, pose and do not

play instruments• Research findings NOT restricted to the Hip Hop genre

Feminism (1960/70’s)• A movement in which women questioned

their position within patriarchal society & the ‘private sphere’ of ‘home/children/domestic bliss’

• Serves to uncover, challenge and eliminate oppression and dominant gender imagery

• Women began to debates the narrow range of

stereotypes present across all media;• Women as virgins, mothers or promiscuous • Women as sex objects• Women are inferior to men• Women as domestic/based in the home

Sexual Objectification and the Male Gaze(Laura Mulvey 1975)

• Definition of Voyeurism: Erotic pleasures gained from looking at a sexual object (who is unaware of being watched)

• Presence of women solely for the purpose of display (rather than narrative function)

• Female on display is passive and objectified for a male gaze regardless of viewers gender

• Voyeuristic treatment of female body in ‘male’ videos – use of dancers as adornments to the male ego

• The inclusion of women for display is a staple element in music video’s – across all genres

• Women connote to-be-looked-at-ness and are the object of the male gaze.

Pussycat Dolls - Feminist Reading

• Sexual power derived from physical attractiveness to men.

• Snoop’s voyeuristic male gaze/POV shots invites male viewer to join in.

• Suggestive body language. • The Doll’s used literally as

objects to create patterns in an aerial shot.

Post-Feminism and the female gaze

Post-Feminism (1980’s)

• A re-appraisal of Feminist values

• Does not strive for ‘equality’ as this assumes men are ‘the best’ - they wish to surpass male achievements

• Objected to theories which position them as objects of the ‘male gaze’

• Identifies a ‘female gaze’ - women actively desiring men

•Women began to assert their right to dress and be sexually attractive

Pussycat Dolls - Post-Feminist Reading

• Offer messages of sexual empowerment - assertive, provocative and in control of ‘the gaze’

• Confident, sassy, sexy icons challenging traditional assumptions about passive female sexuality “I’m a sexy mama/ Who

• Uses a provocative male address challenging Snoop to “loosen up my buttons babe” - however, the dolls prove ‘too hot to handle’ for Snoop