DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Here is my last essay before the final in my English Composition 1 Class. I spent all of Thanksgiving break working on this paper during the Fall of 2015. It was about four pages long in my Word document! It's probably the longest essay I've ever written and will write during my time at Chattanooga State. It was a big achievement for me since I earned a 95% on this paper and that was my highest grade throughout the entire class.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Evidence of Learning

Published on Oct 24, 2016 at 07:07 PM UTC

Learning Outcome: Written Communication

Reflection:

Emma Allyn

 

ENGL-1010

 

28 November 2015

 

Huddleston

             Stereotyping Men: Negative Depictions of Men in Music Videos     

       Media has a huge impact on America as a culture. One of the most popular forms of media today is music videos. Music videos have caused many controversies over the decades. The most well-known issue is that women are often depicted negatively by this medium. Many will argue that men are depicted in a more positive light in music videos than women. However, men have also dealt with negative depictions of their gender through music videos. Although there are some positive depictions of men in music videos, men are primarily negatively depicted by this medium in American culture today.

            It often seems that in the world of today’s popular music videos, all men are animals – showing off their abs and surrounded by women – but there are still decent videos with men properly clothed and treating others with respect. While many are used to seeing a half-dressed male sitting on a fancy car accompanied by many women that have even less clothes on, the number of videos that don’t display men negatively is growing. There are several male artists that didn’t follow the typical formula of sex and women in their videos. One example being J. Cole’s video for “Crooked Smile.” The video portrays Cole as a father to a young girl. They are celebrating her birthday and appear to have a happy family life.  However, the video ends in tragedy with the death of the girl and her father grieving. It is stated at the end that the video was dedicated to Aiyana Stanley-Jones. This video shows the side of men that most don’t: the love of a father. Another example is Five Finger Death Punch’s video for “Wrong Side of Heaven,” where the video ends with a man in a suit helping a homeless veteran. Unfortunately, these kinds of videos that depict men of being capable of showing love and care to others are rare. Research shows that music videos have “recorded high occurrence of misogyny when there were numerous beautiful and highly sexualized women dancing provocatively, often wearing revealing clothing and acting submissively to the men. This included women being reduced to body parts rather than a whole person, or used as props in the video” (Conrad et al. 142-143). This meaning that men objectifying women is far too common in music videos. While there may be videos that display men in a positive way, the ones that display them negatively strongly outnumber the positive.

      The number of music videos that display men objectifying women is overwhelmingly large. These videos depict men as having no other interests other than women and sex, while that is not what all men think about. Sir Mix-a-Lot’s video for “Baby Got Back” is one example of a video that portrays men this way. Throughout the entire video, girls are dancing around and sticking their rear ends out, while he raps about how he is attracted to women with big backsides. He is also shown standing on a hill that is shaped like a butt. A second example is Lil Wayne’s video for “Lollipop,” showing him surrounded by inadequately dressed women dancing with him in a limbo. These are two songs that are considered popular in American culture, and these videos have received millions of views just through YouTube alone. Due to the lustful attitudes of men in music videos, researchers have made an “assumption that sexual objectification in music videos activates a schema of women as sex objects, which subsequently affects young-adult men’s sexual beliefs and attitudes about sexual aggression” (Aubrey et. al 363).  Media is often tied to the social problems that go on around us. It has been linked to the ongoing issue of sexual violence, especially through the objectification of others. That being said, the attitude that men display towards women in music videos, like the ones described above, are unhealthy for our society.

     With the concern of women being objectified in music videos, one might think that men don’t experience the issue of their gender being sexualized by this medium. However, there are a lot of cases where men are objectified. In a lot of music videos, you will find half-naked, muscular men being treated as sex objects by women. These images set unrealistic body expectations for men. Mary Pritchard and Brooke Cramblitt have found that “exposure to different types of body images correlate with different types of body dissatisfaction. For example, collegiate men who report comparing themselves to athletic male images report more dissatisfaction with their level of muscularity, whereas those who report comparing themselves to general media images do not” (210) and have “hypothesized that societal pressure to have the perfect body and using media as a source of information would mediate the relation between media exposure [. . .] drive for muscularity in women and men” (216). At the beginning of Nicki Minaj’s video for “Super Bass,” the footage focuses directly on a man’s abs and lips. This video also shows several men acting submissively to the females’ dancing on them. Another video where a man is objectified by a woman is “Rude Boy” by Rihanna where she strokes a man’s chest down to his torso and then intentionally looks down his pants, as if she’s checking to see if he meets her standards. Lastly, Carly Rae Jepsen’s video for “Call Me Maybe” pokes fun at the assumption that all muscular men are straight when the lead singer’s love interest turns out to be gay. Oversexualizing men in music videos can pressure men to look a certain way and can make them feel that they aren’t attractive enough compared to the men shown throughout the media.

      Another negative depiction of men in music videos is the act of violence. Many videos show men acting violent towards others. The victims are predominantly women. A study on violence in music videos tells us that “males, often the stars of these videos, were more than three times as likely as females to be aggressors [. . .] White women comprised the largest group of music video victims. This finding indicates to the researchers that the videos may be perpetuating and reinforcing false stereotypes of aggressive black males and easily victimized white women” (Cromie “Music Videos Promote”). False stereotypes of aggressive black males is most commonly seen in hip hop and rap videos. In 50 Cent’s video for “Many Men (Wish Death),” the storyline starts right away with a man being shot down. The video is made up what seems to be gang violence. Two to three men are shot down throughout the course of “Many Men (Wish Death).” Hip hop and rap videos are also most commonly known for victimizing women. Rap artist, Eminem, is famously known for showing violence against women in his videos. One of these videos is “Kim,” where Eminem is shown threatening a woman throughout the entire course of the five minute video, until he stabs her at the end. In “3a.m.,” Eminem is guilty of ripping people to pieces and at one point in the video, he is even seen bathing in their blood. One of his victims in this video was a white woman who is shown to be a nurse at a hospital. Another example of violence against women is “I Love the Way You Lie,” which starts off with a man beating his girlfriend. That scene follows a disturbing fight between the man and the woman that goes back and forth from kissing each other to the man trying to beat her up and her trying to fight him back. These videos portray men as violent and seemingly promote gang and domestic violence. This creates a misconception for viewers that violence is acceptable and that a majority of men participate in violent acts against other human beings.

      Although positive depictions of men in music videos exist, men are primarily depicted in a negative light throughout this medium. Men are shown as animals, as if they are nothing more than their muscles and their desire for sex. They are shown to be willing to go to violent measures to get what they want. They appear to have no emotions. Not enough videos in American culture today show men as what they are: human beings that can feel love and affection towards others. For the better of music video viewers and for men as a gender, the media needs to consider creating more videos that depict men as people, not animals.

 

Works Cited

Aubrey, Jennifer Stevens, K. Megan Hopper, and Wanjiru G. Mbure. “Check That Body! The 

            Effects of Sexually Objectifying Music Videos on College Men’s Sexual Beliefs.”

            Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 55.3 (2011): 360. MasterFILE Premier. 

            Web. 22 Nov. 2015.

Conrad, Kate, Travis L. Dixon, and Yuanyuan Zhang. “Controversial Rap Themes, Gender                          

Portrayal and Skin Distortion: A Content Analysis of Rap Music Videos.” Journal of  Broadcasting & Electronic Media 53.1 (2009): 134. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 21 Nov.

2015.

Cromie, William J. “Music Videos Promote Adolescent Aggression.” The Harvard University 

            Gazette 9 Apr. 1998. Web. 28 Nov. 2015

Pritchard, Mary, and Brooke Cramblitt. “Media Influence on the Drive for Thinness and Drive 

            for Muscularity.” Sex Roles. 2014. Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 21 Nov. 2015.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.