Sexuality in music videos

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Sexuality in music videos has been evident since the 1980s. Sexuality refers to how people experience and express themselves as sexual beings. Music videos have been an integral part of popular culture and media consumption. From the early days of music on television in the 1980s, to the rise of social media in the 2010s to the present, music videos have used methods (dance, fashion, imagery, etc.) to explore sexuality. The concept of objectification vs reclamation of sexuality in music videos reflects tension between exploitation and empowerment, specifically for women and black individuals.^[1]

On August 1, 1981, MTV, the first 24-hour music video channel, began broadcasting.^[2] The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Michael Jackson, and Guns N' Roses were significant musicians featured on MTV.

In a 1992 study posted in the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, where characters' behaviors in 182 MTV music videos were looked at, the authors argued that MTV promoted sexuality through video content and advertisements.^[3] The study concluded that in music videos, the male characters were portrayed as more dominant, professional, and aggressive, while female characters were submissive, performative, and emotional. A 1987 study that analyzed 30 hours of MTV content had similar arguments that music videos released in the 1980s typically depicted women as alluring objects.^[4] The results suggested: 57% of music videos displayed women being objectified, 17% accounted women's talents for the sexual roles they were highlighted, 14% did not align with typical stereotypes and 12% acknowledged women's independence.^[4] In addition to these results, physical contact was displayed in over 50% of music videos and women were often seen wearing seductive clothing.^[4] Young adults, one of the main audiences of MTV, were heavily affected by the prevalence of sexuality in music videos as it changed the way they viewed their roles in society.^[5]

The concept of sexuality in 80s music videos is evident in Olivia Newton-John's music video for "Physical". The video's cinematography emphasizes the naked male body.^[6] Another example includes Culture Club's music video "Karma Chameleon," in which the cameras are paned underneath women's skirts and zoomed in on cleavage.^[7]

At the dawn of music videos, sexuality, and gender stereotypes were already prevailing, with the younger generation being an important audience.^[8]

In the 1990s, music genres transitioned into alternative and hip-hop, while music videos continued to be popular.^[9][10] MTV continued to air music videos to the public while influencing how people view themselves in society.^[11] As music videos grew in cultural prominence, researchers began to look at representations of femininity and masculinity in music videos.^[12][13][14] Meanwhile, MTV became more careful with what is allowed to be in music videos and claimed to censor music videos with explicit content on nudity and violence.^[15]

For example, in the 1990s, MTV rejected Madonna's "Justify My Love" video due to its explicit content. Still, some argued female artists like Madonna, who chose to present her sexuality in music videos flauntingly, were impressive and ground-breaking.^[16]

Despite people’s growing attention to sexuality in music videos, studies show that those videos often reinforced gender stereotypes and impacted youth’s self-perceptions.^[17][18][19] For example, the study Sexual Objectification in Music Videos: A Content Analysis Comparing Gender and Genre, which was conducted to analyze the centrality and depiction of women in the 100 most popular videos of the decade, revealed that the popular music videos on MTV continued to underrepresent women and portrayed them in a manner that emphasized their physical appearance rather than musical ability.^[20] This study first sorted men and women into the categories of leading or supporting figures in music videos, and this showed that men outnumbered women in lead roles by a five-to-one margin.^[20] Secondly, the study categorized the lead roles into seven main portrayals: artist, poser, comic, actress, superhuman, dancer, or crowd-pleaser. The analysis found that most women in lead roles were portrayed as either posers (35%) or dancers (29%), while men in lead roles were equally dispersed among the seven categories. Another study by Susan Alexander looked at 123 music videos from varying genres that aired in the summer of 1995;^[21] 44.7% of the videos failed to feature females in central roles, and 31.7% of the videos portrayed women as either objects or sensory props to romantic male desire.^[21] In addition to this gender role analysis, nonverbal sexual cues in music videos were also considered in another study, proving women could be depicted as more subliminally sexual than men.^[22] For example, in videos analyzed by this study, only 1.24% of men touched their hair compared to 38.35% of females. Additionally, only 26.80% of males danced suggestively in their videos compared to 74% of females.^[22]

Although the genre of music changed in the 90s, sexuality in music videos remained predominant, and women are often sexualized more than men.^{[citation needed]}

Music remained integral to cultural life in the 2000s, with only a few new genres, indie-related and electronic. Teen Pop had a heavy influence over the 90s and into the first part of the decade. Artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were extremely popular in the early 2000s. By the mid-2000s, Contemporary R&B had become the most popular genre with artists like Usher at the forefront.^{[citation needed]}

A 2008 study by Industry Ears discovered that sexual content is increasing throughout music.^[23] In 2011, a study by Jacob Turner hypothesized that traditional African American music videos—hip-hop, rhythm and blues—would feature the most sexual content and more females dressed in provocative clothing.^[24]The study found that 73% of all music videos had some sort of sexual content. The study also found that 90.09% of mixed Hip-Hop and R&B music videos contained sexual content, followed by Hip-Hop with 79.7% and R&B with 76.9%. The genres that contained the least amount of sexual content on their music videos were Rock with 40% and Country with 37%.^[24] The study also looked into how African American and white background characters were dressed in music videos. It found that African American background characters were three times more likely to dress provocatively than white background characters. The study also found that while African Americans were not underrepresented in music videos, it proposes this is because videos featuring African Americans contained significantly more sexual content than videos that featured whites.^[24]

In 2004, many family groups and politicians lobbied unsuccessfully to ban Eric Prydz's "Call on Me" video for containing women dancing in a sexually suggestive way.In 2005, the music video of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", which featured Jessica Simpson in character as Daisy Duke, was controversial for featuring Simpson in "revealing" outfits and washing the General Lee car in her bikini.^[25]

The increasing sexualization of music videos reflects broader societal trends and continues to spark controversy over the portrayal of women and the influence this content has.

Into the 2010s, artists continued to create content with sexual themes and began to explore sexualities outside of heterosexuality. An example of this continuation of sexual content is in Rihanna's music video for the song "S&M", in which she simulates sex with a life-sized doll and wears bondage gear, generated much media attention and was banned in 11 countries. YouTube required its users to verify they were 18 years of age before being able to view the video.^[26] The video's director, Melina Matsoukas, responded to the controversy by saying she felt it was a success because the provocative imagery created a dialogue around the video.^[27] Conversely, Ariana Grande's "Everyday" video which depicts several couples beginning to have sex in various public places, such as on a bus, was praised for its sex positivity and inclusion of different races and sexual orientations. Sexual content in the 2010s has continued, but there have been varied responses to this content.^[28]

These varied responses have incited further research into the effects music videos that sexually objectify women have on women's body image perceptions. A study of college students found that young women with low self-esteem were more likely to view their body in a negative light after exposure to a sexually-objectifying music video. The same study found exposure to sexually objectifying music videos lessened the extremes of young women's concepts of an ideal body weight.^[29] A 2017 study found a relationship between sexual content in dance music videos and negative attitudes toward sex and sexuality among young adults in the United States and Australia.^[30] This shapes the conclusion that sexual content in music videos has a negative impact to self esteem and perception of sex.

Another angle to look at sexual content in music videos is within the realm of sexuality. Some scholars have noted that sexualized content in music videos rarely depicts non-heterosexuality. Frederik Dhaenens has pointed out that when music videos feature gay content, it often involves a "heteronormative shaping of gay and lesbian identities", citing Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' "Same Love" as an example.^[31] Carly Rae Jepsen's music video "Call Me Maybe" demonstrates the heteronormativity in music videos. Its scenes portray stereotypical heterosexual figures who emphasize a heterosexual relationship.^[31] Music videos like Disclosure's "Latch" and Citizens!' "True Romance" emphasize homosexuality subtly. It is presented in small amounts to include sexual diversity and attraction.^[31] The artists' music videos depict heterosexuality but also include homosexuality to embrace social change. The 2010s music videos' included an increasing amount of non-heterosexual content. These various examples portray the various depictions of sexuality in music videos through the lense of sexual content. Overall the 2010s experienced a continuation of sexual content in music videos, but, it included new themes of sexuality and various debate over these concepts.

As technology continues to grow,^[32] more people have access to watch music videos through platforms such as TikTok,^[33] and the cinematography in music videos has become more advanced.^[34] Sexual content in music videos has also evolved. Many female artists are choosing to reclaim their agency in sexual relations and become bolder when expressing themselves in music videos.^[35] On the other hand, some artists continue to depict sexualization and imposition of violence on women in music videos.^[36][37] Additionally, in this decade, many artists are exploring beyond the gender binary and pushing boundaries with political and divisive content within their music videos.^[38] In general, the evolution of sexuality in music videos has been steered by technological progress, growing inclusivity of artists' expressions and genders, and increasing female sexual representations.^{[citation needed]}

Transitioning into the 21st century, social media platforms such as Facebook and MySpace grew in popularity, this allowed users to share music videos quickly with one another. This had an impact on the societal normalization of sexuality in music videos. Due to the increased accessibility of music videos online, there was an increased perception of normality with respect to sexual themes in music videos.^{[citation needed]}

In particular, YouTube was a major contributor to this trend. The platform, launched in early 2005, grew rapidly—with its videos amassing one billion daily videos by October 2009 and became the largest video sharing site on the internet. Although YouTube's success in the 2000s was relatively limited compared to its explosive growth in the 2010s, it was nevertheless one of the most popular sites on the internet. Naturally, it became a hub for music videos as many content creators and fans flocked to the site to post content. Increased exposure to this sexual content, has fabricated the idea of media sexualization. This media sexualization causes the user to increasingly self-objectify and a greater belief in sexism towards women.^[39]

YouTube continued to grow in the 2010s after a successful half-decade since its launch in the 2000s. Sexual themes were explored in videos that grew to enormous popularity on YouTube. Meghan Trainor's 2014 single "All About That Bass" is one example of this trend, although a milder one, as the sexual themes were very subtle. Nevertheless, the video amassed over 2.3 billion views on YouTube as of November 2019.^[40] Also in the 2010s came the rise of music streaming platforms such as Spotify, which reached 248 million active users by October 2019.^[41] The site is possibly creating a countermovement to the increased acceptance furthered by YouTube's growth by de-emphasizing the video itself in favor of the sound.

The rise of social media platforms like YouTube and Facebook contributed significantly to the normalization of sexual themes in music videos, as increased accessibility allowed for broader exposure^{[citation needed]}

Studies have shown music videos featuring African American characters tend to feature significantly more depictions of sexual acts than videos featuring white characters.^[42] For example, African American women are more likely to be depicted as engaging in sexual behaviors and wearing provocative clothing. A study in the American Journal of Health Education attributed music videos' "frank sexual messages, objectification, and overtly sexual images" to apathy toward these behaviors in African American girls. The journal considered this dangerous in light of the heightened HIV risk for African Americans.^[42] It has been suggested by scholar Jacob Turner that white-run corporations like Viacom (which owns MTV) are more willing to pay for music videos from African American artists who perpetuate racial and sexual stereotypes, thus explaining why African Americans videos are disproportionately sexualized compared to white videos.^[24] Implications include the idea that Black women may internalize video messages about beauty and sexuality, and that Black men and White individuals may form inaccurate and harmful ideas of Black femininity because of music videos.^[43]

Asian artists, like BoA, have been accused of presenting Western stereotypes of Asian female sexuality in their music videos in an attempt to gain popularity in the United States. Japan's Koda Kumi and AKB48 also present sexuality in their music videos. Male K-pop star Rain's music video for his song "Rainism" has been credited with helping to refute stereotypes of Asian men as effeminate and weak depicting an Asian man in various sexual situations, primarily with white women.^[44]

In the article "Sex and the Spectacles of Music Videos: An Examination of the Portrayal of Race and Sexuality in Music Videos", Jacob Turner studies the sexual behavior portrayed in music videos by two races. His study argued that African American women were more likely to portray sexual content than white women in music videos that were televised in the United States. This included both the use of provocative clothing and sexual acts in the videos, which ultimately showed how gender roles and race play a part in the amount of sexual content in music videos.^[24] In Erika VanDyke's article "Race, Body, and sexuality in music videos", she argues that men appear more often in music videos than women. Men are usually portrayed as "powerful" and "aggressive" characters. Consequently, women occupy stereotypically female roles in these music videos and are usually seen as passive and are objectified in this manner.^[43]

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