discussed, is music. From trends like dances and genres to social
acceptability, musical lyrics have shaped our culture for generations.
Why then are they one of the most under criticized and overly sexist forms of
media? Too often we get into the idea that a visual aspect is necessary
for a woman to be portrayed as an object or an inferior.
While there may not be a literal male "gaze," both of these lyrics, purposefully
from different genres, show how women can take on the form of an object, to be
used and forgotten. The Eric Church lyrics on the left show the
implication of the "bad boy" with the "good girl." Clearly, he doesn't care that he is bad for her, he expects her to not only put up with his darker ego, but to help control it as well. Not only must she look past it, but she must clean up after it and help to save him from his own
problems.
The way he describes this woman, a lady of power and authority, is sickening. He plays off the fact that she is a police officer, as if being a woman totally overrides whatever authority a policeman should carry. He sees her as a sexual object, and can not take her seriously as a woman police officer.
As Ziesler talks about in chapter 3(pages 84-85), the music video industry is huge as
well. Now, these artists are telling women not only how they should act, but showing them very sexualized dancers as objects. Women in these videos are all too often underrepresented as artists and overrepresented as objects able to do nothing more than dance with no clothes on. Girls who see these videos and listen to these songs get influences of women with no
values, whose faces and names are not important, and seem to be willing to throw themselves without inhibitions towards these men just to please them. Is this the influence we want young girls to see? There are no strong women characters as background dancers, nor can they be viewed as role models. When one considers the traditional background dancer, one can see where the problems arise. She is one of many, none standing out, and she has no name, or at least it is not important. She is scantily dressed, and has a very sexualized body. She is there in every sense of the word, as a piece of meat, to be stared at by both men and women, as a sexualized object.
Even with all of the newfound “media literacy ,” it is still hard to watch these videos and listen to this music and not get caught up in all of the hype and forget for a minute the damage this is causing towards many girl’s futures, and many women to lose credibility and their earned status as equals in this world. These songs are just a window into the world of music that is shaping an ever oppressive culturte for women in our world and our youth. How bad must it get before something is done?
