Music Videos: Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes

As outlets such as MTV and VH1 are becoming more obsolete, You Tube, Facebook, smart phones, and other media devices have taken their place, allowing society easy access to videos from all music genres. In Cara Wallis’ article, “Performing Gender: A content Analysis of Gender Display in Music Videos,” she addresses this and explains that whether or not the artist is aware of it, stereotypical depictions of male and female interaction and the characteristics of each sex are strongly reinforced. Although some positive portrayals exist, “the ubiquity of stereotypical and highly sexualized gender images in the media, including music videos, can have negative consequences for the mental, emotional, and sexual health of youth, especially adolescent girls and young women.” (161).

In a number of studies, the outcome that consistently was reported is that 1) men are always taller than women, insinuating strength and power for the man (masculine traits), 2) women are typically beautiful, skinny sexualized creatures (feminine traits) 3) men are shown in occupational, dominant settings (the “manly man”), and 4) women often avert their eyes and seem to be psychologically distanced (the “emotional woman”). In music videos, men are shown as having power, dominance and self confidence, where women are precious, fragile and sexual creatures; relating masculine type qualities to men and feminine type qualities to women.

These videos relate certain qualites to certain gender in our society. Since many kids idolize music videos, these artists are most definitely promoting the “ideal” traits for each gender to have- men should be masculine and women should be feminine. Rarely do popular music videos sway from these stereotypes.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JItFEGl2W7I

In this video you see the man with lots of money, power, and strength (at one point he does a push up with a woman on his back). The women are very feminine with their girly clothes, hair, hanging all over the man, and being sexualized.

Performing Gender: A Content Analysis of Gender Display in Music Videos

Authors: Wallis, Cara¹ cwallis@tamu.edu

Source: Sex Roles; Feb2011, Vol. 64 Issue 3/4, p160-172, 13p, 4 Charts

Karate will solve your femininity!

A Miami-based agency released a local ad that caused quite a stir within the community.  The ad was for a local karate school; a boy putting on his mother’s high heels and lipstick and parading around while playing dress-up was featured in the first part of the commercial. The second part of the commercial shows the boy wearing a karate suit, implying that in order to stop his feminine actions and perceived weakness, he needs to take karate lessons. Only in karate would the boy learn to use his masculine traits and become more aggressive and powerful. I tried to get the video itself but the links for it has been removed. Nevertheless, I did find one, still-shot that depicts the boy in these opposing scenarios. He appears to only be about 6 years old.

Reading the article, Research in the Psychology of Men and Masculinity Using the Gender Role Strain Paradigm as a Framework, I agree with their definition of gender roles not being biologically determined, but rather psychologically and socially constructed definitions that can change. Masculinity is a social ideal which creates a depiction of manhood that differs based on social class, race, life stages, and sexual orientation. In agreement with the article, society has a strong need to identify themselves in a positive manner, in the proper gender roles, and any way of achieving this acceptance if welcomed.  What type of parent would ignore an opportunity to influence the perception of their child in a socially accepted way? This television commercial, and local karate school, offers a way to do just that because “failure for men to achieve a masculine gender role identity was thought to result in homosexuality, negative attitudes toward women, and/or defensive hypermasculinity (787).

In addition, although there are no female characters in this advertisement, gender stereotypes for women are still present. When the boy plays dress up and puts on makeup, these actions are portrayed as being feminine; accepted only for women. This insinuates that girls need to be concerned with beauty and appearance. Then, depicting the boy in a karate class, emphasizing his strength and masculinity, is indirectly pointing out that girls should show more concern with avoiding conflict. Girls should not be in karate class as they should not show aggression and focus more on beauty and manners.

We are analyzing how intelligent adults could perceive this commercial and these theories, but what about how children perceive them? Should a boy, who may spend most of his time with his mother, feel ashamed for experimenting with her makeup and shoes? Is it possible that he is just trying to emulate her because, although it is not completely apparent to him, he has a lot of respect and admiration for her? What if you are a girl watching this advertisement? Is this commercial teaching you that girls should not participate in physical activities, as those are for boys only, and should spend time playing dress up and doing feminine things?

Regardless of whether or not we see this commercial as a positive or negative way of portraying accepted sexual roles, any source of media that a child or adult is exposed to will inevitably emphasize the more tolerated gender perceptions.

Levant, Ronald F.Research in the Psychology of Men and Masculinity Using the Gender Role Strain Paradigm as a Framework,; American Psychologist, Vol 66(8), Nov, 2011. pp. 765-776. [Journal Article]