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Representation within a music video - Gender

How gender is represented

Gender is represented in many different ways when it comes to music videos. If you were to pull a music video apart and look at the stereotypes that are represented you would find that both men and women are presented very differently.

Stereotypes
The stereotype that is used for women when they are featured in music videos evolves from the 1920's when show girls used to appear in silent movies and from burlesque shows that occurred even earlier on.

Women
Women are often sexualised when featured in music videos. They are made to appear attractive, with their          revealing clothing, layers of make up, pouting, twerking and toned bodies. Suggesting that this is what the          ideal woman should look like and that women are only there for the satisfaction of men, i.e. male gaze. This        has led to low self esteem of young girls and has decreased their body confidence.

An example of a music video that this has occurred in, is pretty much every music video in today's society. A few include, Britney Spears 'Toxic' music video, which was filmed in 2003,  Beyonce's 'Crazy in love' music video which was filmed in 2003, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj's music video 'Side to Side', produced in 2016, and Rihanna's 'Work' music video produced in 2016. 

In fact over the years women have been portrayed in a more intimate way. The music video for 'Blurred lines' is one of the most famous music videos for being explicit and women being associated with sexual connotations. They are portrayed in an animal like way especially with how Robin Thicke, the artist, grabs on to one of the models by her hair. The video is very much used for the male gaze, as the girls are wearing revealing clothing and are often paired with objects that are associated as being of interest to the male eye.

 Often artists such as Beyonce, Rihanna and Nicki Minaj write songs that are to do with the rights of women, but the music videos produced for these songs juxtapose the song by the use of male gaze.

Men
As for men they are often associated with having dominance, especially over women. This is especially apparent in music videos for the genre hip hop.You will often see the males all blinged up with gold chains, quite muscular and cars around them. Their opinions on girls are within the lyrics of the song, they are usually to do with them being able to get any girl because of their control and power. 
Men are often depicted as having all the glory, luxury and money, whilst the women as depicted as being much lower down the hierarchy. This is why women are portrayed as being gold diggers in hip hop music videos. 

Then there is also the idea that men are seen as being violent and rough. However, from a women's point of view they will often associate men as 'tools' in music videos. Especially in the stereotypical break up songs, such as the song 'Leave( Get Out)' by JoJo. Lyrics include 'Tell me why you're looking so confused when I'm the one who didn't know the truth'. Men are often portrayed as being in the wrong when in most music videos. You'll often see that in a lot Rihanna or Taylor Swift songs. 

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