Representations of Sex and Gender

Theories

Desensitization: Constant exposure to media such as sexual music videos causes the normalisation of the content, thus audiences will not find things that would otherwise be shocking as bad anymore.

Hypodermic Model: This theory suggests that people's beliefs are directly injected into their minds through the media. This theory is outdated however, as it people would not go out and hit a person because the media 'told them so,' as it would go against their values and beliefs.

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Ideologies

Radical Feminism: This ideology believes that women are objectified in music videos, and are therefore simply shown as objects for men to use.

Post-Feminism: This ideology is the complete opposite of radical feminism, and believes that women use their bodies to empower themselves, and exploit mens sexual desires to get what they need, and are therefore in full control.

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Conclusion

From the two videos above we are given two similar, but different representations of women. Firstly, the video on the left (Blurred Lines) shows three men dressed well and singing, with women in the background almost naked (nude in the original video) which shows objectification of women as they are not shown as individuals, but are instead showing as objects as parts of their bodies are shown, but rarely are they put in focus or shown with their face in frame. This shows that the video is objectifying women as viewers cannot empathise with the women due to the lack of faces to show expression. This therefore supports the radical feminist view of music videos, as they believe that women are all objectified by the media.

On the other hand, the second video on the right (Anaconda) has a more complex representation of women as the characters are shown in a sexual way which would support radical feminist views on music videos, however the women are empowered in the video as even though their bodies are on show, we see the women's faces throughout, allowing audiences to empathise with the characters. This therefore supports the Post-Feminist view on media and music videos, as the women are using their bodies to empower themselves by making men (who are part of the audience) desire them, but also respect them as they are not shown as servile and obedient to a male figure.

However, many people, especially parents, are worried that content like this will desensitise audiences, especially children, as they are much easier influenced by others, especially the media as they have not developed their own values and beliefs yet.

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