When considering media that defines gender or sexuality, the first object that comes to mind for me is popular music videos. Ever since the rise of MTV and the internet, music videos have moved to the forefront of our modern music culture as the best way for artists to advertise their own musical work. An excellent support to the rise of music videos is the fact that when I searched "Lil Wayne Lollipop" all of the first several links in the search results were to his music video for the song, seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IH8tNQAzSs
The video begins with, quite literally, a truck full of half naked women. The sole purpose of the women in the video is to be a sex symbol and make the rappers look as if they are constantly surrounded by women who want to be with them sexually. This trend in music videos seems to suggest that you're not a real man unless you hook up with large amounts of women and treat those women as objects for your own pleasure.
This same trend in a completely opposite way can also been seen in music videos primarily featuring women:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JipHEz53sU&ob=av2e
Here Nicki Minaj is the main artist in the music video and should be in control of the men in the video based on the previous trends as seen in Lil Wayne's music video. However, Nicki Minaj only continues the trend of being a woman and being half naked in a music video. In order to get what she wants in the music video Nicki uses her sexuality to convince the men in the video to be with her. Not only does she confirm the trend of masculine power over her seen in Lil Wayne's video, she almost takes it even further by volunteering herself to be put in a position of inferiority.
You bring up a good point, but I think that pop stars like Nicki Minaj and Lil' Wayne are using their sexual qualities as a power hold over the opposite gender. Their strong sexualities and visual aesthetics are showing that they are comfortable with themselves and feel authoritative. They project an image of self-confidence and uniqueness. Sometimes people get so distracted by looks, they forget that these rappers are actually witty artists making accurate observations about the world around them. They are not subjecting themselves to appear inferior; they are just trying to make it in a business sector where “sex sells”.
ReplyDeleteI definitely have to agree with you when it comes to the girls in rap videos such as Lollipop where they are strictly there for being a sex symbol and don't really serve any other purpose. When it comes to Nicki Minaj however, I don't really know what she represents she just seems odd to me.
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