Music, Money and Hip Hop Honeys!
I was shocked while watching the X Factor last year at some of the sexualized dancing that was on prime time television for children to see, but I feel there’s a deeper issue here. Recently a friend pointed out a BBC programme, and I’ve just watched it on iPlayer.
It’s about the girls who dream of being in music videos, but there’s a dark side to the industry. The trend in hip-hop music videos has now moved into the main stream, and some girls see appearing in a video shoot as a way of making a big break. Some will spend a fortune on enhancing their bodies, but may not get work or (if they do) not get paid. They may suffer in other ways or even be abused.
One of the most telling comments in the programme came from a man who said you could have a rubbish song, but get it noticed with a sexy and provocative video – shooting himself in the foot comes to mind! Some women believe it empowers them; but, for many, it seems to be an issue of low self-esteem (amongst other things) that drives them. It’s the men who are calling the shots!
When you look at the videos, the women are shown in fragmented ways; like fast-food, a commodity to be used and discarded. Men are represented differently, in positions of power over the women. There are also explicit echoes of pornography. The danger seems to be the cumulative effect, so that the attitudes in the videos become the norm! In today’s world, young people are bombarded with this stuff! It raises issues of equality and attitudes to sexuality. Maybe we should give more attention to the atmosphere in which young people are growing up? What do you think?
From Facebook: I’m no prude but some of the stuff you see on E4 and the like in the morning when children could watch it at weekends or on holiday would probably make me turn for the off switch if I had any children in the house. If it happened to be on and my niece was in my house for example, it’s not the sort of material I would want her to see and think is in any way normal! I’m fairly broad minded and would say live and let live with regards to such material but putting it on telly on a channel that children would often watch at a time when they would often be watching is far from appropriate! (Ed Friday).
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:50 pm
Thanks for joining in the discussion, I appreciate your comments. Yes, you don’t have to channel hop very far to find this stuff.
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:51 pm
From Facebook: Agree with the post! Unfortunately this is part of a much wider issue in a society which sees the objectification of women as the norm. Personally I do my very best to limit how much my 7 year old is exposed to this sort of material on the television. However, how far can I take this? Do I stop her going into an everyday store such as the Co-Op? Tabloid “newspapers” are full every day of women wearing very little. OK, so The Sun limits their naked breasts to page 3 but The Star/Sport and the like very often have bikini-clad women in overtly sexual pages on thier cover. Then we have the obvious issue of Nuts/Zoo etc. OK, so they’re perhaps not stored at eye-level but show me a child that has never looked up before. Taking it a step further, do I avoid certain sections of a high-street shopping area because there happens to be an Ann Summers store? A classicc argument here is that their most explicit merchandise is at the back of the store and away from the windows. So what?? They have life-sized images of women in their underwear, posing in their window. I don’t want my child growing up thinking that being “sexy” is the way forward. I’ve used the example of having a child but the main point of this somewhat rambled essay is this; Until society (predominantly males but of course this applies to both sexes) no longer see the female body as a sexual object which sells whatever product then music videos are not going to change. We need to get out of this mindset. End
(Hannah Winter).
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:51 pm
From Facebook: Oh, PS… good to see men discussing this! (Hannah Winter).
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:52 pm
I think the problem men have with discussing this issue (assuming they are aware of an issue in the first place) is that they have to separate it from their own sexuality, and may feel that to do so would be to diminish or deny the latter. As a heterosexual male, it would be disingenuous of me to deny that I find beautiful women attractive. Yes, the women on Page 3 (for example) are attractive, but that is a totally separate issue to whether they should be there at all – which I don’t believe they should! And ‘enhancement’ for purposes of objectification is always ugly imho!
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:52 pm
From Facebook: Absolutely agree with men having to separate their own sexuality from this type of issue, but that in itself is part of the problem I think. Just because a man refuses to watch p*rn/visit strip clubs/etc they are somehow viewed by wider society as gay. (Not that I personally hold this view, nor do I view ‘gay’ as an insult). Again, men need to stand up and be counted before general societal views are changed. I don’t for one minute suggest that men, or indeed women, shouldn’t find “beautiful” women attractive but therein lies a whole new issue – what is it that makes women “beautiful” in the first place? Blonde hair, blue eyes and enourmous breasts is increasingly being cited as pretty/attractive and therefore the ‘norm’. I’ve hijacked your post with an entirely different issue, I apologise
(Hannah Winter).
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:53 pm
No problem, all related!
John Ager
January 10, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Hi John,
Bit late in coming upon this post, but what you’ve written about here is one of the main reasons, amongst others, as to why we cancelled our TV about a year ago. At first our kids were horrified, but they don’t miss it now. Neither do I. There’s just so much more we can do with our time now as a family, rather than being tied to TV schedules or watching it because it’s on.
wcs53
January 12, 2011 at 2:21 am
Yeah, as a family, we went for quite a few years without TV. The main problem was trying to convince the licencing people!? John.
John Ager
January 12, 2011 at 10:34 am
Not a problem here – no TV licencing in Canada!
wcs53
January 12, 2011 at 11:58 am