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We conducted a partial replication of a study conducted by Rita-Somners-Flanagan, John Sommers-Flanagan, and Brita Davis(1993) on power relationships and gender

roles in music videos. This study analyzed 40 Music Television (MTV) music videos across gender role based content categories.The study found that (a) men appeared nearly twice as often as women; (b) men engaged in significantly more aggressive and dominant behavior; (c) women engaged in significantly more implicitly sexual and subservient behavior; and (d) women were more frequently the object of explicit, implicit, and aggressive sexual advances. Sommers- Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, and Davis (1993) showed that 90% of the 30-second intervals from 40 videos featured implied images of sex. It is our goal to examine how generationally, music videos have impacted societal values, and gender relations with respect to attitudes towards women and defining sex roles. Based on the Cultivation theory we have great reason to believe in the impact of the music videos on social construction of beliefs. According to this theory, exposure to televisions distorted and repetitive images gradually shapes viewers normative beliefs and attitudes about the real world, such that these perceptions reflect the world portrayed on television(Ward, 2002). We especially want to take a closer look onto its impact on

the younger generation, which it seems to target more frequently.The primary target audience of music videos is adolescents to young adults. Teens watch up to 30 minutes of music videos each day, and American children from 5 to 13 years old spend more time watching television than any other waking activity(Ward, 2002).This evidently plays a large role in the formation of their values and can be portrayed in their actions. In many instances in these music videos, patriarchial themes of aggression and female objectification are resonated. Somers- Flanagan, Somers Flanagan, Davis (1993) found that men were more aggressive than women in music videos as well as the fact that women were more frequently recipients of sexual behaviors over men. There was also a great deal of emphasis on womens appearance and sexual appeal (Sommers-Flanagan, Sommers-Flanagan, & Davis, 1993) Although sexualization and objectification are common in media culture, music videos provide the most potent examples of it(Stevens & Frisby 2011). However how much is too much, and why has society become increasingly accepting of more explicit degredation of women as appose to men? Although sexual themes exist for both genders, women seem to be the majority of the target, and men increasingly the dominant agressors. More than one-third (37%) of female characters in one study of MTV wore revealing clothing (Greeson and Williams 1986), and a total of 26% of female characters were either pursued or pursuing sexually, compared to 9% of

male characters (Greeson and Williams 1986). This has a great impact on what is sexually expected of women and defining gender roles. Among female participants, heavier consumption of music videos led to stronger endorsement of the view that women are sexual objects( Kalof, 1999). Among male participants, heavier consumption was related to stronger endorsement of sex-role stereotypes, stronger support of dating as recreational, and higher estimates of the prevalence of sex among male peers( Kalof, 1999). Thus leading to a more hypersexualized society that is prone to unsafe sexual practices and violence. Kalof (1999) found that among college students it was more likely that women who watched music videos were likely to accept interpersonal violence than those who did not watch music videos. The feeling of subordination might cause these women to become more passive about their sexual desires and needs. These unsafe sexual behaviors place them at a heightened risk for contracting a sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancy (Zhang et al 2008).Thus linking stereotypical sexual attitudes to unsafe sexual behaviors. In regards to adolescents it tends to increase the acceptance of sexual permissiveness. Greeson and Williams (1986) exposed seventh- and tenth-grade adolescents to videos from MTV. They found that the adolescents were more likely to approve of premarital sex than their randomly selected peers who had not watched MTV for less than an hour (Greeson and Williams 1986). If they are more accepting of it than it

is safe to imply that they will engage in it as well, and adhere to the gender schemas set forth in the music videos. A longitudinal research demonstrated that listening to music with sexually explicit lyrics was associated with a greater likelihood of initiating intercourse and advanced sexual behaviors among a sample of 1242 adolescents (Zhang et al 2008). And additional results from survey research show that the more people watch music videos, the more likely they are to have high frequency estimates of sexual behaviors in the real world (Ward, 2002) Hansbrough, and Walker (2005) found that a single exposure to videos with sex-role stereotypic images resulted in higher endorsement of traditional gender roles and stereotypical view of sexual relationships.(Stevens & Frisby, 2011).Thus highlighting the effect of music videos on the younger generations view on sexuality, and reinforcing the cultivation theory Generationally, the ways in which women are objectified has taken a shift from male to female portrayals. A female artist who portrays herself as a sex object in her own music video sends a considerably different message than a male artist who sexually objectifies female extras or actresses in his video.(Stevens and Frisby, 2011)This shift in portrayal implies that women have owned up to the patriarchial labels placed upon them. Objectification theory proposes that sexual objectification of womens bodies by the media teaches women to internalize an outsiders perspective on the self such that they come to see themselves as objects to be evaluated by others,a tendeny called self

objectification.(Stevens & Frisby, 2011). This is another area of concern because women who self-objectify have been shown to be at greater risk for negative feelings toward their bodies and for mental health problems such as depression and eating disorders (Stevens & Frisby, 2011).Some might view the shift of the objectification as womens attempt to empowernment it can be argued that that the artists por-traying themselves as sex objects serves to undermine and disempower them (Oware, 2009). While these ideas are being perpetuated from both the male and femal spectrum it has caused a higher level of immunity towards unhealthy acts of sex and aggression. Based on our review of literature we hypothesized that we men would commit far more dominant acts of sexual agression than women, and that women were more likely to be the recipients of these acts than men. The medium for which these music videos are portrayed have also taken a a shift.Showing music videos is not the central programming strategy of MTV and BET, therefore videos are readily accessible through MTV.com, MTV2, iTunes, and YouTube(Stevens & Frisby, 2011). These variety of mediums makes these videos more accessible and less prone to restrictions and censorship. Because of this we also hypothesized that the videos from the time of the Somners-Flanagan(1993) would be male just dominant but much less sexually explicit than the videos of today.

Greeson, L. E., & Williams, R. A. (1986, December). Social implications of music videos for youth: An analysis of the content and effects of MTV.

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Jennifer Stevens Aubrey & Cynthia M. Frisby (2011): Sexual Objectification in Music Videos: A Content Analysis Comparing Gender and Genre, Mass Communication and Society, 14:4, 475-501

Linda Kalof. (1999). The effects of gender and music video imagery on sexual attitudes. The Journal of Social Psychology, 139(3), 378-385.

Oware, M. (2009). A mans woman? Contradictory messages in the songs of female rappers, 19922000. Journal of Black Studies, 39, 786802.

Sommers-Flanagan, R., Sommers-Flanagan, J., & Davis, B. (1993). Whats happening on music elevision? A gender role content analysis. SexRoles, 28, 745753. 0

Ward, L. M. (2002). Does television exposure affect emerging adults attitudes and assumptions about sexual relationships? Correla- tional and experimental confirmation. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 31, 115.

Yuanyuan Zhang M.A., Laura E. Miller M.A. & Kristen Harrison Ph.D. (2008): The Relationship Between Exposure to Sexual Music Videos and Young Adults'Sexual Attitudes, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 52:3, 368-386

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