Performing in a music video for women is different to performing as a male. Women have to show their bodies, knowing they are in the gaze of sexual desire. Hip-hop music videos use women as objects, the male performers treat women as commodities; they are there to up the performers’ status, to make them look good. The women in these videos are taken for granted, they are often seen in domesticated settings, in the home, in the kitchen. In Jay Z’s Girls, Girls, Girls video, the first of his ‘girls’ are in the kitchen, one cooking, and one looking after a toddler. This stereotypes women as home-makers, that the home is where they belong.
Male performers in these clips control the women, they answer to their every whim, they hang off them, showing themselves off, staring seductively into the camera. Nelly’s Hot in Here is a prime example of this, women taking their clothes off and dancing alongside him. They provide a bad example for young women, women should not feel they need to behave the way men want them to, they should have more independence than that.
Modern hip-hop videos use women in this way far more than earlier ones do. Run DMC videos very rarely have women in their videos. If they do, the women are not marginalized, in It’s like that the women are placed at the same level as the men, competing with each other’s dance moves. Run DMC are more concerned with showing off their sneakers than a woman’s booty.
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3 comments:
I agree that there is a concerning amount of female bodies being exploited in recent hip hop videos. I thought this was mainly an American thing, until I saw the video for New Zealand rapper Savage's "Swing!" It seems the sexual imagery of women are what helps videos and music records sell. Earlier hip hop videos were more subtle in showing women as objects compared to now, which is no surprise considering the amount of sexual content it has to compete with used in other forms of media such as advertising, television, video and computer games. An interesting role reversal is evident in Ciara's video "Like A Boy" which can be viewed off the Sony Music Box website (http://musicbox.sonybmg.com).In this video the female gender is placed in a position of power. The females including Ciara herself are all dressed like males,wearing bling and baggy clothes and all dance in a masculine way. She controls the man and treats him as an object of desire, by stroking him as he passively sits in a chair. Ciara even sits in the chair, slouched with legs open and grabbing her crutch. Throughout this clip Ciara voices her concerns that she wishes she could be just like a boy. I have to say this is a fresh change from seeing girls being objects in hip hip and r'n'b videos.
I agree that it is a change. a song and music video such as ciara's 'like a boy' has the potential to highlight the problems of this culture in gender relationship portrayals. however because of the pop industry, it won't have any significant impact on consumers as this culture doesn't allow it to. the nature of consumption today is not to take what is given as a political statement, but as just another image of entertainment.
i agree, ciara goes against stero-typical views of a woman, however the way women are used as sexual objects of desire is just a refelction of the male gaze. Women are extremeley commodified because sex sells and the videos only enhance that illusion of a fantasy, and like you said the competition is only increasing. As we know men are the main consumers of hip-hop, there is no doubt that women are finally being given the recognition for being talented female artist thanx to artist such as 'Da Brat, Lil Kim' thou it is still highly saturated with men.
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