Pop Music: It's Britney Bitch!

Oops! My underwear shows! "Toxic"

Without a doubt, in our days Media has come to be perceived as a creative and powerful form that has been used through our contemporary society to manipulate the general public in views on politics, law and order. But it doesn’t stay up to that. Media is not only the message but the messenger as well. All the information we need, all the messages that need to be delivered can nowadays be found on the screen of either our TVs or our laptops and not only. News, shows, movies, series, webpages, Facebook and video clips are some of the “formats” this information can be delivered. I will be focusing mostly on video clips (music), as it is one of the strongest “means” to affect people and especially the minds of the young ones.

Watching video clips of different artists, both male and female, in various music genres, it is so striking how women and their bodies get exploited in order to attract the male population in a society that is still patriarchic. Women are portrayed as objects of sexual pleasure and desire, with appreciation shown only to their youth and body, leaving behind skills they possess (physical and mental), their academic abilities or leadership skills (for example) limiting their potentials to the eyes of the general public. Even if we look at video clips in which the artist is a female (you would think that being a female the video clip would have a totally different character and meanings), most of the times the artist is still hyper-sexualized. And then I wonder: why is that?

According to Laura Mulvey’s essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, women are portrayed in the films (video clips as well) as an object of pleasure to the “male gaze”. This is because (according to her) everything is structured unconsciously by a patriarchal society. Everything is created and taken into consideration under the male skeptic and desire. Having a look on pop video clips (pop is one of the most likeable genre of music) this sexualized attitude is pretty obvious. Britney Spear’s (pop music’s most favourited) music and video clips are quite good example. In her song “Womanizer”, Britney is singing about a man who’s been with her and she has discovered as time went by that he is a total womanizer. She might like him, she might find him beautiful (“…You got me goin’, you are oh so charming…”) but she can’t stay with him due to the fact that he is who he is, a womanizer. Thinking about it and trying to put myself in her shoes, I would be mad and disappointed, wanting nothing to do with him. So you would think that the video clip would portray a strong woman, taking her life in her hands and making a stand for her, leaving any pain he might have caused and moving on. But that is not what happens. Britney throughout the video is dancing in around in the office “torturing” her so-called boyfriend by pulling and pushing him around. All this is done in a quite sexy and erotic way, with Britney giving non-stop captivating looks to the camera and dancing by grinding her body on the guy’s. As if this was not enough, there are scenes where Britney can be seen in a kind of sauna (?) completely naked. These scenes are completely incompatible and inappropriate with the general meaning of the song. It is clear that the video is not concerning the female audience (with Britney making an example of moving on from a womanizer) as much as it concerns the male population. It is completely directed towards pleasuring the male eye in a “secret voyeuristic way, in which the pleasure is gained by looking without being seen” (according to Laura’s essay).

Scene From "Womanizer"

"Womanizer" - a nude Britney in the Sauna

Further on, Britney’s “Toxic” is another stunning example. Being a song with weak and  “cheap” lyrics, what make this song a hit were not only its music and rhythms, but its video as well. It is lying exactly between those lines of the whole “idea” of depicting women as pleasure objects for the men to look at. In the video clip, in specific scenes, Britney is almost naked wearing sparkling costume revealing most of her body while at the same time she is on the floor in some really sexual and provoking positions. As far as it concerns the scenes on the plane, Britney is wearing her airhostess costume, with the latest being short enough to expose her underwear. Adding to that is the clumsy moment where she spills alcohol on a man’s groin area ending with the singer wiping of the liquid in an erotic way (her giving sexy looks on the camera once more). Even at the very end of the video, where Britney is out of her so-called fantasy and she is back to normal, her posture and clothes are evoking sex and pleasure, not for her or any other woman but for men and men only.

A revealing Britney in "Toxic"

“Everytime” is one of Britney’s saddest songs with the video clip, up to a generic volume, being sad and upsetting one could say. But again, we can see a half naked Britney, wearing only a shirt running in the corridors of what it seems to be a hospital, passing by her bed where doctors are trying to bring the dead Britney back to life. So the running Britney is her spirit. Why would one dress a spirit in a sexy and provoking way? Not only this but at the beginning of the clip Britney is dressed quite sexy as well, with her siting in a limo and the camera focusing on her nude legs. The video ends with Britney waking up in her bathtub, apparently having a bad dream. The whole angle of the camera is focusing on her upper body, obviously an angle which if desired otherwise could be different (the capture could be done sideways with the sides of the bathtub covering Britney’s body, showing just her head for instance).

Coming fresh out of the bath...

So my question is why so much over-sexualization of the female in general and why so much exploitation of the female figure? Why the depictions of men being sexy, sexual and evoking are so scarce? Aren’t women sexual beings too? Aren’t they attracted to the exposed male body? Well that is the tricky part. One of the reasons that the female body is so exposed is not only because we indeed live in a man-controlled world, but also because it sells. And it sells a lot! Producers and men in high places in the film and music company take into advantage the male’s population strong desire for pleasure. Men are more likely to pay for their pleasure than women are, with pleasure being not just direct sex but any kind of sexual pleasure even if it is just a look. That is where patriarchy comes giving a hand on the completion of this purpose. With men having neuralgic places in the media and society in general, this sexualization and misuse of the female is much easier to achieve. For example Britney was “used” in way to achieve such levels of eye pleasure in order to sell, with no-one standing up to this, not even her. As a result women are set aside, or even worse pushed back in the background only coming at the front to pleasure the dominant male. Women are perceived weak in their nature, with no-one (concerning the male population) caring about their true worth and potential rather than just a few exceptions to the “rule”. The identity of the female is constantly getting deformed and deteriorated. According to Butler “ […] Femininity and masculinity are not expressions of ‘nature’, they are ‘cultural performances in which their “naturalness” is constituted through discursively constrained performative acts.”  In a way femininity is affected by the way it is performed and portrayed. So having in mind the above and recalling representations of the female in videos and films (but also in every kind of media) one can say that femininity and the female in general is there to please the man. So how do we put an end to this or how to we reduce it? I believe that women should make a stand for it. Female celebrities could give the strongest example by changing the way they agree to be portrayed and focus on the true nature of women and what they actually worth. Artists like Pink (who you can read more about in my co-writers Charlottes blog) give new meaning to women. Even when she is in a sort of lave; portrayed sexy she has that feminine power and potential that every woman has. Beyonce is another example. Though in quite a few occasions she is plain sexy and provoking, there are those promising songs and videos where she clearly shows the female empowerment. 

Reference List:

Storey. J. 2009, Cultural Theory and Popular Culture an Introduction, 5th ed, Harlow: Pearson

Sturken M. and Cartwright L., 2001, Practises of Looking: an introduction to visual culture,

New York: Oxford University Press Inc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOZuxwVk7TU - "Toxic"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMqayQ-U74s - "Womanizer"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YzabSdk7ZA - "Everytime"

http://www.metrolyrics.com/womanizer-lyrics-britney-spears.html - "Womanizer" lyrics

 Women in Rap/Hip Hop Videos

In many rap/Hip hop music videos is misogyny and women are sexually objectified, subordinated and marginalised.      Gotti et al, (2007) mention that Women are the both the source and subjects of provocative rap lyrics. Critical consideration of that statement evidences that women are extremely exploited in the rap/hip hop music industry and it would be not where it is without them. The evidence of this can be seen in many of the Rap/hip hop videos and lyrics of rap songs.

Sexual objectification, Subjectivity and Misogyny

Sturken and Cartwright’s (2009) notes mention that there is a long tradition in art of understanding the female nude as the project and possession of the male artist. Despite times changing and feminist revolutions women are still portrayed as attributes and possessions of men in Rap/Hip hop and music videos. Particularly good examples of this are 50 Cents ‘pimp’ and Ludacris’s ‘Area codes’ music videos. Apart from the women in these videos wearing clothes that leave very little to the imagination and dancing in very sexually provocative manners they are rapped about as possessions to the male artists. The women in these videos are rapped about and portrayed as adornment for men.   

http://youtu.be/cvrKzmkdBTI Ludacris ft Nate Dogg- Area codes

http://youtu.be/UDApZhXTpH8    50 Cent - P.I.M.P. (Snoop Dogg Remix) ft. Snoop Dogg, G-Unit

With the lyric “I’ve got whores in different area codes” one can gathers what that the rapper Ludacris is saying he as a lot of different women in different areas and that all these women are his whores. So apart from the women being in his possession they are also his whores. Whores are untrustworthy for monogamous relationships and therefore hated. Many other rap/hip hop artist call women hoes and bitches and promote misogyny in their music videos.

Rap/Hip hop artist Bizzare’s lyrics and imagery in the video for D12’s song on you is the perfect example of not only misogyny but also degrading and controlling women. Hip hop like many other places in society is very patriarchal and any women involved normally are subjected. Yet despite all that treat rappers like Talib Kweli are mentioned ( Crunktastic, 2013) to say that a woman’s first place in Hip hop is to love them. This implies that women should just be quiet and love the men and accept all the sufferings and harm men do to them without voicing their opinions.

http://youtu.be/_Bm_yxsMCpE YG - Bitches Aint Shit feat Tyga & Nipsey Hussle

Video vixens: their side of the story

However despite the general image some of the women (video vixens) in Rap/Hip hop music videos have a voice. One of the most popular and controversial video vixen who voiced the reality of hip hop women imagery is Karrine Steffans. She did this by writing a book entitled ‘confessions of a video vixen. In the book Karrine talks about what happens behind the hip hop video scene with particular exposure of the reality of hyper sexualised video vixens.

 A model/ video vixen states (Gotti et al 2007) that there are more girls in videos now than in previous years and that creates a competitive arena for the video vixens who have to fight for the attention and popularity in the music video scene.This competition is said (ibid) to provoke the women in the videos to be sexually promiscuous so that they can get better positioning such as being the main girl/woman in a video and overall popularity on the video vixen scene. Karrine Steffans is also known as ‘super head’ because of her reputation to give good oral gratification to men before she got permission to be the main girl/woman of a rap/hip hop music video. Women who wear fewer clothes and act more promiscuously in the videos are said to get paid more as well (Gotti et al 2007).

Scopophilia is a term Sturken and Cartwright’s (2009) reveal to mean the pleasure in looking and exhibitionism- taking pleasure in being looked at. Irv Gotti et al (2007) spoke about how some women in the videos get a pleasure and therefore enjoy what they are doing. Does exhibitionism therefore justify the hyper sexuality in the music videos?   

Female Hip-hop artists/rappers

Despite the rap/hip hip music videos having many artists there a few female rappers and most of them have had a male counterpart to enable them to succeed as it is still a very patriarchal industry. Examples of this are Lauryn hill with the fugees, Lil Kim with Biggie, Foxy Brown with Jay Z, Missy Elliot with Timberland, Eve with the Ruff riders and Nikki Minaj with Young money. The very few female artists with out male enablers are Artists like Queen Latifah and Azealia Banks are the very few if only the female artist without male rappers as counterparts.  

Even though female rappers/ hip-hop artists are empowered women with the freedom to express themselves and have a lyrical voice majority of the imagery videos such as Nikki Minaj these is still an over/hyper- sexualisation.  However this time it is women/female rappers objectifying themselves and in a lot of Nikki Minaj’s videos she is overtly exhibitionist of herself and other females in her videos.

 Unlike most male artists’’ videos portraying the women as being controlled and objectified mainly for the pleasure of men; female rapper artists appear more in control despite the hyper-sexuality. This is particularly evident in Nikki Minaj’s ‘super base’ music video. Other female rap artists that show more autonomous empowerment that is not highly dependant on sexiness are Queen Latifah and Lauryn Hill; however their popularity has not reached that high levels that hyper- sexualised female rappers like Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and Nikki Minaj has. This is because sex eroticism is seen as apart of the part of the dominant patriarchal order (Mulvey 1975).

Rap/ Hip-hop video effects or repeat of history

Storey’s (2009) notes mention that feminists claim that popular culture plays an important role in patriarchal society. In other words patriarchal ideology is widely spread through popular culture that majority of people gather from their news, information and entertainment. What people gather from their popular culture entertainment and news are their dominant culture’s gender roles, norm and definitions of themselves (ibid).

Through entertainment of rap/Hip hop music videos women and men learn that the dominant culture’s delimitation and role of womanhood is sex appeal and subjectivity to men. Hooks (2006) talks about the hyper-sexualisation of the black female body in particular however (Unknown, Dec 2009) mentions that despite hyper- sexualisation of the female body is now apparent in all other colours of wom History of the hyper- sexualised female body dates back to the days of slavery when black woman are stated (Nykol, date unknown) to have offered sex to their owners in return of less strenuous tasks.

Just after slavery was abolished saarjite/ sara Benjamin as known as Hottentots Venus is mentioned ( Maseko, 2011) to be a woman who accepted payment of money for a public exhibition of her naked with particular fascination to her large buttocks. Female rap artist Nikki Minaj and video vixens are also very popular for her big buttocks and curvy body; this is revealing of the historical objectification and representations of black women as sexual savages that are normally scantly dressed because they are immodest and sexually out of control.

In reality many women have been reported to go through great lengths and at times dangerous measures to have the very big buttocks and curvaceous bodies just like the ones they see in these videos. One unfortunate example of this is a buttock implants surgery that went seriously wrong for an aspiring young video vixen. She is reported to have died from the cosmetic surgery.    

Hooks (2006) points out that apart from the hyper sexualisation, colour coding/ the colour cast system is also idealised in the rap/ hip hop music videos. Evidence of this can be observed in the presence of a large amount of black woman with lighter skin tones prefferebly with long and straighter hair in the videos. This is because lighter skin toned black women are viewed as not too different to the white community and therefore deemed acceptable. The very dark skin toned women are mentioned ( Hooks, 2006) to be rarely present in the video and this sadly affects society as it reinforce racial segregation in society as a whole and between the black community itself.

Colour coding in the rap/hip hop music videos is also said ( Blay, 2012) to have an effect on some black men because they are familiar with only seeing the lighter skin toned black women they tend to find the darker skinned toned ones as less desirable and acceptable. This affect some black women tend to think that in order to be acceptable to society they have to be light skinned and with that they resort to skin bleaching so as to attain lighter skin tones ( ibid ). Apart from self hated and colonial mentality skin bleaching is associated with skin cancer.

The future ….

Despite all the negativity of misogyny, subordination, subjectivity and segregation that is evidenced in Rap/hip-hop music videos and all its negative effects. Hooks’ ( 2006) commentary it that the American society’s obsession with transgression is part of the reason for prevalent negativity in the videos. Transgression is said (ibid) to be associated with blackness the young white consumers are like to be associated with. In particular hyper sexualisation of women in the videos as mentioned earlier is consistent because sex sells and regardless of the negative connotations this specifically puts on black women’s image and place in society ( a capitalist society where all that matters is profit and nothing comes in its way). 

Below is a like of a video created to expose the culprits of the imagery and ideology in the Rap/hip hop music industry with a desired flipside to its current state. Its reality is a hopeful and much needed revolution to end the impact of the negative aspects in rap/hip hop music videos. 

http://youtu.be/TWfgj31NFGE Clique the fem redux

Word count 1,680

Reference list

Hooks, B. 2006  Pt 8 cultural criticism (rap music) video clip, accessed in April 2013, available on http://youtu.be/Xtoanes_L_g

 

Maseko, Z. 2011, The Life and Times of Sara Baartman: "The Hottentots Venus" accessed April 2013 available at http://icarusfilms.com/new99/hottento.html

Crunktastic, April 2013, Five Ways Talib Kweli Can Become a Better Ally to Women in Hip Hop accessed in May 2013, available at http://www.crunkfeministcollective.com/2013/04/05/five-ways-talib-kweli-can-become-a-better-ally-to-women-in-hip-hop/

 Gotti et al, Dec 2007, How women are portrayed in rap videos accessed in April 2013, available at http://youtu.be/r2q5zlgkKas

Mulvey, L. Autumn 1975. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. Available: http: www.jahsonic.com/VPNC.html. date accessed April 2013.

Sturken, M and Cartwright, L. 2009, The practices of looking: An introduction to visual culture, Oxford university press

Nykol, A. Date unknown, Blacks representations in the media, Available: http://www.thenewblackmagazine.com/view.aspx?index=176 date accessed April 2013

Unknown, Dec 2009 Sexism and Misogyny in Rap Music, accessed in April 2013, Available at http://youtu.be/q3mGy9LAxJI

 Clique the fem redux, Unknown date, Gangasta rap radically and refreshingly redefined, accessed in April 2013 available at http://fem-men-ist.blogspot.co.uk/ and http://youtu.be/TWfgj31NFGE

Blay, Y. 2012 Skin Bleaching, Self-Hatred, and “Colonial Mentality” accessed April 25 2013 available at http://yabablay.com/skin-bleaching-self-hatred-and-colonial-mentality/

RnB: Nikki Minaj’s Barbie Persona (Liridona Dalipi - 1009481)

Nikki Minaj’s Barbie Persona

Together with the songs' melody and lyrics, music videos are powerful tools that tattoo human minds with images that shape a person's attitude. Throughout the twentieth century, music videos have influenced various perceptions on the images of women. No matter what the women in the music videos are singing about, or what actions they are doing in the videos, there is almost always a sexual overtone. For women to be portrayed in this way has many consequences, for the images that we view in everyday life shape the way we think. Viewing a music video that has a woman being portrayed in an overtly sexual manner once may not have a very serious affect on a person, but seeing many different music videos all portraying women sexually, and seeing these videos over and over, does indeed shape a person’s mind to view women with much less respect than they would otherwise. This therefore, is where the problem lies.

Nicki Minaj and her alter egos are always grabbing the attention of journalists, fans, and other hip-hop artists. As one of the newest members of an elite group of emcees and rappers within the hip-hop genre, Nicki Minaj displays her talent for theatrics by personifying some of her favorite alter egos. While other female emcees (femcees) have appeared throughout pop culture such as Lil’ Kim and Lauryn Hill, Nicki Minaj arguably is the first to obtain this level of fame and notoriety. The release of her debut album Pink Friday in 2010 was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, making her the first artist to have seven singles on the Billboard Hot 100 at once (Iandoli). There is no doubt that Nicki Minaj’s alter egos, especially Harajuku Barbie, have helped establish her as a powerful femcee and have given her a lasting place in hip- hop history.

Throughout Minaj’s time in the spotlight, her audience has seen her morph from one character to the next, all adorned with different outfits, different tonalities, and different postures. Her ability to seamlessly switch from one alter ego to the next then leaves audiences confused and star-struck. While Nicki Minaj’s character Roman might encourage heads to turn, her alter ego “Barbie” is the real attention grabber. As a member of the rap group Young Money, founded by Lil’ Wayne, Nicki Minaj was featured as the female voice on the hit track “Bedrock” in 2009. In the music video, Minaj is featured wearing a black wig with hot pink highlights and a “Barbie” insignia necklace. She established her Barbie persona with her lyrics, ultra-girly body language, and high-pitched flirtatious voice, which successfully prompted audiences to take notice and the media frenzy to begin. The artist herself has almost become synonymous with her Barbie persona: a mix of dramatic wigs, doll-like makeup, stiff plastic robotic movements, and an army of fans she refers to as her own personal “Barbies” (Hawgood). Although the Barbie alter-ego has been used before in pop-culture, most notably by Lil’ Kim, Minaj has given the character a new, hyper-sexualized makeover.

            
Nicki Minaj argues that she intends to push the envelope for women, and to pave the road for female-dominance within not only the hip-hop music genre but society as a whole. Hip-hop has long been associated with misogynistic attitudes towards women, encouraging females to obtain their identity through erotic power and overt sexuality (Weitzer and Kubrin 10). Lewd images of undressed women sprawled on top of luxury cars are common scenes in hip-hop music videos. Women are seldom seen as powerful and intelligent human beings—instead they are portrayed as sex objects with nothing more to offer than their bodies. In an interview with Interview Magazine, Minaj talks about the strengths she wants to instill in her fans and wants “people, especially young girls - to know that in life, nothing is going to be based on sex appeal. You’ve got to have something else to go with that” (Rachel 1). She claims to encourage her female audience to achieve more than a subordinate role in society and to push past the age- old method of achieving power through mere sexuality.

Realizing that Nicki Minaj’s Barbie persona is influential, it is imperative to understand the message as a representation of postmodern feminism. Through this postmodern representation she attempts to empower women by encouraging them to attain a fierce hold over their sexuality and reclaim the power over their bodies, and thus themselves. Minaj’s goal of empowering women and nullifying male supremacy is somewhat achieved by bringing attention to the misogynistic attitudes held in hip-hop society. She clearly states in interviews and in her lyrics that she doesn’t believe there is a decent female role-model within hip-hop culture and hopes to pave the way for women to achieve the level of success and respect male rappers like Jay Z and others have enjoyed for years. While she does attempt to break new ground for women, she ultimately, perhaps inadvertently, promotes the same patriarchal standards that have plagued society for centuries. While her rhetoric might portray her as a hip-hop feminist, Nicki Minaj contradicts her message of female empowerment by using the sexualized Barbie persona and once again encouraging her female audience to use their bodies in order to gain attention and power.

Walker Gibson’s book, Persona: A Style Study for Readers, examines the effect persona and other literary devices can have on a piece of literature. When writing about an author’s persona, Gibson acknowledges the connection between the rhetorical device and Aristotle’s three rhetorical means of persuasion. Gibson notes that the first of these three building blocks of persuasion, the character of the speaker, is most closely involved with persona. After explaining the Latin origins of the word persona, meaning mask, Gibson writes about the effectiveness of “putting on an act” or “taking on a character.” He states that “the means of communication we choose, the roles we play, and the language we use, are creative decisions we make” (Gibson 4). Nicki Minaj undoubtedly uses her persona to develop her ethos as a performer, to boost music sales, while also attempting to send a message to listeners about the role of women in hip-hop and in society. Instead of letting her audience see her natural personality, she incorporates different personae to create interest among the public.

Barbie message is helping to equalize the status of women and men in society or to widen the gap even more. While some might argue that Nicki Minaj's rhetoric denounces patriarchal standards and aims to equalize the status of women and men in society, I believe her goal is nullified with the use of her Barbie persona, ultimately encouraging women to use sex in order to gain power instead of promoting a message of acceptance and respect for women in their natural form.

I examined the history behind feminism and to define some of the key words that are associated with the term. There are three different waves of feminism in the United States. First-wave feminism falls historically between the years 1896-1920 and is signified by the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The authors of the book Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21st Century cite the beginning of the first-wave “in 1848 at the women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, where Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her colleagues wrote the ‘Declaration of Sentiments’” (Dicker and Piepemeir 8-9). The authors continue to discuss the central goal of the wave as “gaining a legal identity for women that included rights to own property, to sue, to form contracts, and to vote”. The abolitionist movement also played a significant role during first-wave feminism. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony were both influential leaders of this wave. Once the right to vote was obtained for women, feminists like Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan took the stage and began demanding economic and social equality culminating into second-wave feminism. In this movement, lasting from the 1960’s to the present day, feminists tackle a wide array of issues ranging from female reproductive rights to equal rights within the workplace. Literature such as Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique as well as countercultural and civil rights movements helped ignite the second wave encouraging heightened feminist awareness and activism (Dicker and Piepmeier 9).

The wave focused directly on “equal opportunities in employment and education, access to child care and abortion, the eradication of violence against women, and the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment”. The efforts of second-wave feminists helped begin closing the gap between men and women in the professional world and also legally with the Equal Rights Amendment. Although second-wave feminism is still ongoing, there are certain feminists who have broken off to form the third-wave feminism movement. After experiencing the effects of first and second wave feminism and realizing its emphasis on the white, middle-class women, women of color and lesbians began voicing their experiences, thus mobilizing the third wave.

This wave, which encompassed a larger demographic of the female population in America, “called for a recognition that identity is intersectional- in other words that gender, race, ethnicity, class, and sexuality are interlocking and that oppression is not experienced simply along one axis” (Dicker and Piepemeir 9). This wave began in the early 1980’s and was a result of a growing population of minority women who wanted to address race and identity equality within society as well as a combination of many other causes. This third wave of feminist ideology came as a result of the conservative Reagan and Bush administrations, leading to the formation of organizations like the Third Wave Foundation and the Riot Grrrls who “used their punk rock sensibilities to create music that proclaimed their defiance of sexist norms and confining gender roles”. Although it is true that many goals of the second wave are carried through to the third wave, feminists from the third wave are responding to “a world of global capitalism and information technology, postmodernism and postcolonialism and environmental degradation… therefore concerned not simply with ‘women’s issues’ but with a broad range of interlocking topics”. Third-wave feminism attempts to take a step away from gender, using ambiguous language that strongly discourages female or male roles within society. Feminists associated with this wave “use beauty, sex, and power strategically” (12) examining pornography and other sex work either with a sex-positive stance or an anti-pornography position.

All three waves of feminism share the goal of breaking down the sexist restraints of

patriarchy, or male dominance, within society and encouraging equality among genders. From this stems many different tactics or devices used to equalize the playing field. Sex-positivity, a movement encouraged by postmodern feminists, “criticizes the restrictions on women’s sexual behavior and denounces the high costs imposed on women for being sexually active” (Vance 35-36). Disidentification, the contrast to identification, is a term studied by Diana Fuss in her book, Identification Papers. In it she writes that “what at first may appear to be a refused identification might in some cases more accurately be termed a disavowed one – an identification that has already been made and denied in the unconscious” (Fuss 62). By understanding the use of disidentification we can come closer to understanding what widens the gap between genders and what can close it.

Nicki Minaj’s Barbie persona can most clearly be seen with her outward appearance.

When Minaj performs on stage or is seen out in public, she is always wearing a wig. Her hair is the first to make a statement, whether it is a large neon-green beehive or a black and white polka dotted bob, her wigs are always shocking. Oftentimes Minaj can be seen wearing a platinum blonde wig cut with bangs that frame her face. This look is very iconic of the Barbie persona. Minaj is also famous for her dramatic doll-like makeup. She will always be seen wearing incredible amounts of eye makeup, false lashes, bubblegum pink lipstick, and flawless skin. Her nails are always painted bright neon colors, while her clothing is loud and over-the-top. Her outfits heighten her sexuality by drawing extra attention to her breasts and her backside. She will usually be seen wearing a corset top that accentuates her breasts and tight, shiny pants that leave little to the imagination. She dramatizes her curves and contributes to the hyper-sexual image of the Barbie persona. Almost nothing about Minaj’s outward appearance is real: from her nails to her clothes to her eyelashes, everything is fake and exaggerated.

The rhetoric Nicki Minaj uses in her music and interviews express her desire to “play

with big boys” and show other women that they can be just as powerful as men, yet her Barbie persona does just the opposite. The persona she adopts follows in the same footsteps women have been resisting for centuries: a highly sexualized, unintelligent female will change her hair, clothing, nails, and makeup simply to attract a man. The problem with the persona Minaj adopts stems from the connotations and the history it carries with it. The image of Barbie’s “blond hair, blue eyes, wasp-thin waist and improbable curves have embodied American culture’s ludicrous yet deeply harmful beauty standards. These beauty standards are grounded in racist notions that associate whiteness with virtue and loveliness”. By creating a “Black Barbie” Nicki Minaj hopes to reappropriate the image but “given this history, the lure of Barbie for [Nicki Minaj] might seem to reflect an internalization of white beauty standards” (Todd). Instead of reappropriating the image, Minaj simply seems to use this persona in order to gain mainstream acceptance.

Minaj’s goal of female empowerment is real, yet her method of rejecting patriarchy seems to be more concerned with pushing a persona, which will in turn encourage sales of her album and her merchandise.

While Minaj’s goal of encouraging women to strive for the same level of power and success as men is indeed valiant and important, her method of achieving that goal is ultimately harmful to women. Nicki Minaj’s Barbie persona fails to reach the point of female empowerment and instead encourages women to gain power through the use of their bodies.With millions of fans watching the young star, Minaj has a major platform to raise consciousness, defy the objectification of women, and reject patriarchy—thus setting an example for women all over the world. Rather than encouraging females to rely on their intelligence and ability to equalize the gap between men and women, Nicki Minaj parades standards of plasticized sexuality as a means of garnering media attention, financial success, and power.

Bibliography:

-       Dicker, Rory, and Alison Piepmeier. Catching a Wave: Reclaiming Feminism for the 21^st Century.

-       Fuss, Diana. Identification Papers.

-       Gibson, W. Walker. Persona; a Style Study for Readers and Writers.

-       Rogers, Mary F. Barbie Culture

-        Claytor, Stephanie. "Black Women Embrace Their Kinky, Curly, Hair in Natural Hair Movement."

-       Caramanica, Jon. "Gaining an Edge In Female Rap Race."

Pop/Rock- Charlotte Scott (1005806)

Music changes and grows with us, but what has been constant throughout the years of music is how women are usually portrayed as accessible commodities, whose purpose is to fire the passions of the (generally male) artist. In acquiring these over-sexualised ‘roles’, women may feel that they cannot achieve above these ‘video model’ statuses, ‘The Man-made world or Our Andocentric Culture...men have monopolised, managed and masculinised human activities, excluding women from many spheres of creativity, forms of amusement /leisure activities’ Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1911). What Gilman talks about is how the male population has taken control over certain types of outlets, and in having control, they are able to disallow women from taking part or, as some music videos portray, use them as a means of entertainment for their own benefits. 

In some music videos, especially around certain genres, it clearly shows that the main purpose of women appearing in these videos are to look sexy and promiscuous, whilst wearing almost next to nothing, all this reverts back to patriarchy in which men have all the power and so can ‘adjust’ the music industry to meet their own personal needs. As Mulvey mentions in her essay, ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, ‘...mainstream film coded the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order.’ (1975 p. 965). So in the sense of looking at music videos such as ‘Kanye West: Gold-digger’, this is a prime example of what Mulvey mentions, in that these type of videos/films where women are portrayed in an erotic manner, whether that be by how they’re dressed or their stance (seductively), has allowed erotica to be turned into something that’s dominated and controlled by men. 

However, music has changed a lot throughout the years, in that there are more female artists around then there were before, women now commodify and objectify themselves through their own means and not that of the dominant order. One artist who is an example of this is Alicia Beth Moore, commonly known as pop/rock musician Pink. Her type of music has been described as being similar to other artists such as Britney Spears, ‘Tired of being compared to damn Britney Spears, She’s so pretty that just ain’t me...’ (Pink’s lyrics for her song ‘Don’t let me get me’); whose music personifies the over-sexualised concept which can be shown in music videos such as ‘Hit me baby one more time’, where she parades around in a school girls uniform, making herself an object to be gazed upon by the dominant male audience. Thus the reason why Pink wanted to separate herself from this kind of genre, in my opinion, Pink’s lyrics and videos reflect on how she feels women should be portraying themselves, not as sexual objects, but as independent and strong women who have head strong ambitions. 

One particular song, which I think illustrates her message, is the music video ‘Stupid girls’, which looks at how tasteless other videos can be and questions whether young girls these days aim to become what they see on TV or, by having the right role models, wish to be more then these glamorised women. At the beginning of the music video, a young girl is sat in her living room and on each shoulder are two different versions of Pink, similar to the notion of good and evil, who try to convince her that their type of lifestyle is the better one. The ‘evil’ Pink represents the glamorised lifestyle of women; all about appearance, how men perceive them and what the next trendy object is to buy, whereas, the ‘good’ Pink represents empowerment that all women should possess and questions why girls’ aspirations have turned from wanting to become a girl president to being rich or famous.

The impact, I feel, this perception has on its targeted audience (young girls), is important as it highlights how by watching certain music videos which depict women in a sexual nature; wearing revealing outfits and fawning over the male artist/s, moulds young girls way of thinking and in their way of understanding that this is what they should aim to become. We are constantly bombarded with videos containing sexual content, majority of the time surrounding women, and with this regularity of these type of videos we not only become accustomed to its content but at the same time we always seem to be ‘sucked into’ them, should we call it fascination or good commercialism?  Again reverting back to Mulvey’s essay, she argues that ‘...fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work.’ (1975) What Mulvey means, in my interpretation, is that we continue to watch these videos which show women in a sexual light because we are fascinated by them, this lifestyle which is projected into these music videos maintain our attention in that although we understand that ‘normal’ women don’t look or act like that, it gives us a sort of window to how the ‘over-half’ live. And it’s this constant fascination, that has always existed, that aids male control over the music industry, in that they will always feed the enthralled party, us. 

What Pink tries to do is feed our fascination through other means, rather than objecting women, she concentrates on women’s differences and imperfections, highlighting that they should embrace them and accept them for who they are. Her lyrics for her song ‘Raise your glass’ demonstrates this idea, ‘So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways, all my underdogs...’, what Pink’s message is within these lyrics is inviting those who may seem ‘wrong’ to some people (popular kids) but are ‘right’ in a sense to others (other so-called ‘underdogs’) to ‘raise their glass’ in a toast to celebrate them differences. Comparing this particular music video with Britney Spears’ ‘Hit me baby one more time’, the main difference is the content, where Britney Spears and her ‘peers’ are clad in school uniforms and surrounded by young, model-looking men, Pink’s ‘Raise your glass’ video includes groups of people who don’t usually get included in the music industry, such as a mixed minority of people from different races and religions, her video looks at gay marriage, at controversial situations (bull fighting) and shows role reversal; showing her ‘milking’ a row of women to feed a calf. Pink’s different approach can be related to the ‘Queer Theory’, ‘Queer theory is a set of ideas based around the idea that identities are not fixed and do not determine who we are. It suggests that it is meaningless to talk in general about ‘women’ or any other group, as identities consist of so many elements that to assume that people can be seen collectively on the basis of one shared characteristic is wrong’. (Gauntlett, 2011) Pink, I believe, is proof of this theory, in that what Gauntlett says about it being ‘meaningless to talk in general about women...as identities consist of so many elements...’ is the epitome of Pink, she may be classed in the same genre as Britney Spears or Jessica Simpson, but they have based (majority) their music around over sexualising themselves for the benefit of attracting the patriarchal order. And so, these two female artists have similarities in not only their lyrical content but their video content also, but just because they have similarities does not mean that we can identify all female pop/rock artists as representing or portraying the same idea, which Pink proves as she drifts away from this typical stereotype and represents a completely different message from the others.

Although it has been highlighted that Pink’s main message in her music has been about celebrating differences whilst portraying herself as an independent, strong woman, that’s not to say that Pink’s music is not versatile in that she doesn’t show herself as being sexy, two particular videos I looked at not only continues with her idea of women being in control and having the upper hand over men, but also allows her to reveal some of her glamorous side. Such videos are ‘U & Ur hand’ and ‘Lady Marmalade’ which features other artists from different genres who also represent that female solidarity of independence. The initial feeling I get from ‘U & Ur hand’ video is how women shouldn’t let men use them as objects of entertainment and within the video she dresses in a variety of attires to prove to men what they’re missing.

The other music video ‘Lady Marmalade’, I believe, concentrates more on exploiting the sexualisation of the artists featured which includes Pink, Mya, Lil’ Kim and Christina Aguilera, although Pink does appear more promiscuous in this particular video it still promotes the idea of independence and sister unity and I feel that there being no men in the video only proves that point even more, as usually men would be the ones to be surrounded by women, making them in control.

A  student’s video essay: Sexism and Misogyny in Rap music on YouTube, looks at how women, are continuously being perceived as video models, they made points on how these type of videos portray women as ‘glamorised strippers’, so much so that it has now become acceptable within society, whereas, traditionally it would have been frowned upon. As mentioned before, Pop/Rock music, especially coming from a male artist’s perception, do try to persistently render women as desirable sexual objects, though with solo female artists such as Pink emerging and changing the views of women in the music industry, this idea of all women in music grouped as ‘video models’ is shifting, as the YouTube essay says, ‘...music reflects the culture of the time, the role of women in music should change as well.’ (8:32, December, 2009). I believe that the role of women in music is changing, although in some genres women are still continuing to be used as attributes, by men, more and more female artists are surfacing to take back some of that control and switch it to themselves in order to empower the image of women everywhere.

References:

• Cultural theory and popular culture- John Storey (2009)- Chapter 19 pg. 199
• Practices of looking: an introduction to visual culture- M. Sturken, L. Cartwright
• Visual pleasure and Narrative Cinema- Laura Mulvey
• Pink’s music videos: ‘Stupid Girls’- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR4yQFZK9YM  ‘Raise your glass’ lyrics- http://m.youtube.com/watch?v-6LqrulrO-R8
• ‘U & Ur hand’- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUtHjOuPKTO
•  ‘Lady Marmalade’- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQa7SvVCdZk
• ‘Student video essay: Sexism and Misogyny in Rap music’- http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q3Gy9LAxJl