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Lasana Trawally
U of U Writing 2010
Erin Rogers
3/06/2016
Female Objectification in Music Videos
Music Videos are a great way for us to usually interact act with the artist of the song and
something see the interpretation of the lyrics, we get the feel for why the artist wrote that song.
Sexual objectification is very common in the media today, and kids are exposed to it every day,
especially with music videos. Each music genres (Rap, Hip-pop, etc.) uses different ways to
show sexual objectification in their music videos. In most of these music videos, females are
usually the one being objectified, and with young men watching those music videos, their
perception of women are usually altered and a lot of that has to with female objectification in
music videos, especially in Rap videos.
Female objectification can be seen in almost every music genre, but Hip-pop and Rap artist are
usually the one that uses in sexual objectification in their music videos. An example of female
objectification can be found in the music videos of Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke, where in the
original video all of the females are completely naked, which caused a protest at the University
London College to ban the music. In September Edinburgh University Students Association
banned the song, "It promotes a very worrying attitude towards sex and consent," explained
Kirsty Haigh, EUSA's vice-president of services. "This is about ensuring that everyone is fully
aware that you need enthusiastic consent before sex. The song says: 'You know you want it.'
Well, you can't know they want it unless they tell you they want it." (Dorian). For young men

watching the music videos of Blurred Lines might something get the wrong idea of women, and
in many of these music videos females are usually treated as sexual object that must to be
controlled. For young men watching the videos, they sometimes can get the wrong idea about
sex and the female body, women are seen as sex symbols that simply must have sex and will
submit to any fantasy that a man may have. Cultural and industry expectations motivate female
artists to participate readily in their own sexual objectification (Aubrey, Hopper and Mbure,
2011). This kind of brings the question of rape into the conversion, because for any young men,
some may thing that women are there to stratify the males need and fantasy. Some of those
young men grow up with those ideas, which sometime leads to rape and they feel like they have
a pretty justify reason. As Aubrey states, women are usually seen as a sex object that needs to be
controlled.
You males are not the only affected by objectification, young females are also deeply affect,
especially young black girls. Body image is a big thing in rap videos, what the females are
wearing, their skin color and their body figure. In rap music African American women are
usually portrayed in a negative way. Rap music is very popular and an assertive aspect of
American culture. Rap has had much success not only in our culture but also globally. The
problem is that a vast majority of rap music contains lyrics that degrade women. (Rocha, 2015).
According to Rocha all rappers talk about in their music videos is sex, the body and their size.
Big booty girls are seen more worthy, as prove by 2 chainz in you his song Birthday Song
featuring Kanye West. In the music videos he talks about what he wants for his birthday and says
all I want for my birthday is a big booty hoe and according to Rocha the video primarily
focuses on the females body parts and pays attention only to her body parts. The song only
focuses on the females physical feature and not on anything else. The women in this music

video are used for pleasure. To some it may seem that the portrayal of women in rap music is the
new Jezebel and Hottentot Venus. In the videos, the girls are usually the ones with big booty. In
the music videos, the black girls are describes as hoes, gold-diggers. An example of this would
be in the book Why White Kids Love Hip Hop by Bakari Kitwana where Eminem is quoted
saying Girls I like have big butts No they dont, cause I dont like that nigga shit Blacks and
whites, they shouldnt mix But black girls only want your money Cause they be chicks (p.
136).(Lewis, 2011). To rappers black girls are just money grabbing hoe. This stereotype of
black women being big booty hoes common in mostly all rap videos, where the females are
usually half naked and always around the rappers.

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Lewis, Ladel. "White Thugs & Black Bodies: A Comparison of the Portrayal of AfricanAmerican Women in Hip-Hop Videos." Viewcontent. Sept. 2011. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.
Lynskey, Dorian. "Blurred Lines: The Most Controversial Song of the Decade."The Guardian.
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