Sexism in Pop Videos

Sexism in Pop Videos

In 2013, "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and "Wrecking Ball" by Miley Cyrus sparked controversy between different groups of people due to the sexual undertones of the videos.

Lily Allen's "Hard out Here" video parodied  black music video s that reduce black women's bodies to Lurid props.

Thanks to videos like these there are often many questions that can be asked such as:
Are Pop Videos Sexist?
Are women objectified and viewed merely as sexual objects?

Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory

The Theory suggests that the male gaze denies women human identity, relegating them to the status of objects to be admired or for physical appearance.

The theory suggests women can more often than not only watch a film from a secondary perspective and only view themselves from a man's perspective.

However the presence of a woman in mainstream film texts is something that is vital.

Often a female character has no real importance of herself, it is how she makes the male feel or act is the importance.

The female only exists in relation to the male.

The male gaze leads to Hegemonic ideologies within our society Hegemonic= ruling or dominant in a political or social context.

Mulvey states that the role of a female character in a narrative has two functions. 

1. As an erotic object for the characters within the narrative to view.
2. As an erotic object for the spectators within  the cinema to view.

Gender Roles in Film

The characters that look at others are seen as the active role. (male)

The characters are to be looked at are passive (female) They are under control of the males gaze and only exist for visual pleasure,

Females often slow the narrative down, they act as inspiration for men to act.

Males on the other hand, push the narrative  forwards and make things happen and are seen as active.

Mulvey also discussed the term Scopophilia

Female objectification 

Objectification is related to the Gaze.

The persons gazed at are objectified, treated as an object whose sole value is to be enjoyed or possessed by the voyeur.

Objectified characters are devalued and their humanity removed.

Patriarchal society= Men Dictate the rules.

Mulvey argued we live in a Patriarchal society in which men set  the majority of rules and construct and  represent the ideal visions, roles and male dominance over women.

Sexism in Pop Videos 
Miley Cyrus  "Wrecking Ball"


This video caused outrage from may people for various reasons mainly all of the obvious sexual undertones of this video. This was a stark contrast from the Hannah Montana image which was supposed to be the good little girl. It could be argued that Miley Cyrus made this video to prove that she is now a woman who can do what she wants rather than the little girl that she once was. Sinead O'Connor warned Miley "Not to let them prostitute you!". I think that Miley wanted to do this video to prove to the world that she has grown out of the old Hannah Montana image.

Lily Allen "Hard Out Here"




This video was claimed to be a feminist video what with its lyrics and themes, but equally it can be argued that it is not a feminist video due to the imagery such of the women dancing around in very little clothing. This video was an attempt to a parody of music videos but in the end it still sexualises women too. This video defeated Allen's objective as it objectified women.

Robin Thicke "Blurred Lines"



 This song was banned in 20 Student Unions due to the explicit nature of this song. The lyrics of this song also backs this up which mainly objectifies women and has incredibly sexual themes in it. There is also a different of this song which features the girls seen in the video are topless. Women are portrayed in an incredibly objectified and sexual way.