By Pia Ocvirk
When Rita Ora announced her new single “Girls” earlier this year, the song was initially intended as an anthem celebrating both bisexuality and female empowerment. However, when the song was released in May, it proved to be the complete opposite (Kheraj, 2018). Both the lyrics and the music video were yet another example of pop culture misrepresenting women, queer women in this case, while fueling the male gaze. While both the song and Rita Ora quickly received backlash, Ora is not the person to blame. The entire music industry has been fostering hypersexualization and objectification of female artists for decades.
At midnight on August 1, 1981, MTV was born and music suddenly became a visual medium. Aware of the degree to which their sexuality was being evaluated in music videos, female artists started to create powerful hypersexualized personas in response to male domination (Donze, 2011).
The 1980s saw the rise of multiple pop divas, many of whom owed part of their success to their appearances in music videos (Miller, 2008). Madonna is a perfect example of the hypersexualized image combined with power and control. While Madonna was celebrated for her sexuality, others were condemned for it. Janet Jackson, who often showed off her dancing talent in her highly successful music videos, made headlines after the 2004 Super Bowl performance with Justin Timberlake when a wardrobe malfunction exposed her bare breast. The incident was not only much more talked about than her singing, but it also virtually ended her career (Miller, 2008).
Another pop diva turned into a tabloid star despite her extraordinary vocals was Whitney Houston. While she remains one of the best-selling music artists of all time, she is primarily remembered for numerous scandals she had throughout her career. Her sex appeal was a significant part of her persona, and her alleged drug abuse and marriage to Bobby Brown often seem to be more remembered than her successful career in the music industry (Miller, 2008).
Women in pop music are often portrayed and used as objects by the press in the name of higher ratings and exposure (Donze, 2011). Whether it be hypersexualization, the perfect girl next door image or a demonized drug abuser image, women in pop music are constantly being used as a source of entertainment for the masses. They are often unable to express themselves and voice their opinions. This has, however, started to change in the recent years when female artists started to reclaim their sexualities and use it to start feminist movements in the industry.
During MTV’s Video Music Awards in 2014, Beyoncé ended her performance by projecting the word “feminist” with its definition in glowing lights into the homes of 12 million Americans. In the 24 hours following the performance, she became the subject of two-thirds of all tweets about feminism. She may not be taking the activism to the streets, but her performance challenged millions of mainstream music fans to think about feminism as something powerful, important, and attractive (Bennett, 2014).
While media and the music industry often sexualize women, female artists need to reclaim their sexuality in order to use it as a tool of empowerment and not to fuel the male gaze. Beyoncé’s sexuality certainly is a part of her image, but it doesn’t overshadow her vocals and her voice of empowerment. Others should follow her example. Female pop artists should celebrate their sexuality, use it when and how they want, but they should never let it be the focus of their music career.
References
Bennett, J. (2014, August 26). How to Reclaim the F-Word? Just Call Beyoncé. TIME. Retrieved from http://time.com/3181644/beyonce-reclaim-feminism-pop-star/
Donze, P. L. (2011). Pop stars and gender: The relation of representation, promotion, and listener preferences to artist success. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (900577464)
Kheraj, A. (2018, May 17). In Defense of Rita Ora's 'Girls': What the Controversy Overlooks About Sexuality. Billboard. Retrieved from https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8456418/rita-oras-girls-controversy-cardi-b
Miller, A. (2008). Women in popular music. Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304363918)
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Pia,
ReplyDeleteApart from some minor formatting errors in your post (font size/style) and your references (use of CAPS in APA citation) this is a first rate effort.
You've covered quite a bit of pop music history in this short post, from the beginnings of MTV to today. More important, you've located and productively deployed scholarship that examines female pop stars from feminist and critical perspectives.
Finally, your writing is clear, concise and engaging. Just the thing we're looking for in these posts. I look forward to reading your work again in the near future.
In the meantime, I implore you to speak up in class. We could all benefit from your insights and perspectives. Please consider doing so.
28/30 pts.
Pia,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post. Hyper sexualization and the objectification of women are both issues that need to be discussed more often. Although you didn't mention the role that race plays in sexualization specifically, the examples you chose bring up this point. The fact that Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, two extremely talented Female Black artists, were condemned for their sexuality, while White musical artist Madonna was celebrated, speaks volumes. Last year during Day of Dialogue one of the session speakers emphasized the hyper sexualization of Black Women in Media. During her presentation she showed that a couple of years ago a google search of Black Women brought up pornographic images. However, when the search was done for White Women the images were largely positive with no sexual connotations. This situation just further demonstrates that not only is hyper sexualization of women an issue in general, but especially for Black women.
Pia,
ReplyDeleteI also really enjoyed reading your post. The sexualization of women in our society, especially in the music industry has been evergrowing problem. Women's bodies are often seen as a commodity, an object as you say, something that is for someone else. But as you stated, female artists are starting to use their sexuality as a source of empowerment, and they are starting to take control of what is theirs and nobody else's. I also find it interesting that you bring up Beyoncé, because specifically African American women are more times than not, being sexualized in hip-hop and rap. I just read a spoken word poem by Aya De Leon, called "Cellulite" for a different class of mine. She took a hip hop song that was very popular by LL Cool J in the 90's and redefined what he was saying to take the power of her body back as an African American woman. It was interesting comparing your post, specifically Beyoncé to that of other artists not in the music industry.