Women In Music Videos

The Representation of Women in Music Videos

In music videos women are often used as sexual objects flashed towards the camera in some vague attempt to seduce the male audience. For many years this has been the case so here I will look at 2 videos. 1 that sticks to this trend and another that instead seeks to empower women.

Blurred Lines - Robin Thicke

*censored version*

*uncensored version*

How could I talk about negative representations of women without talking about this controversial video.

Above I have included both the censored and uncensored versions of this video. They're essentially the same except in the uncensored version the women are topless. Why are the women topless you ask? Because Robin Thicke is a sex pest and wanted to not only show off but to also slobber over some topless girls.

The way women are represented in this video is by no means "empowering" it isn't even remotely respectful. They waltz around with little or no clothes on whilst the men leer at them. The women are barely treated as human which goes along with the degrading lyrics of the song.

Its clear that as far as representations of women go this is far from respectful or empowering. I also think that its important to note that the uncensored version has 10 times the views of the uncensored version as well as a higher like to dislike ratio which I think only promotes this kind of thing happening in the future.

Alicia Keys - Girl On Fire

Comparing this video to blurred lines there is an immediate difference. Firstly Alicia Keys remains fully clothed throughout the whole video. At no point do they try to use nudity or sex as a means to bring in viewers and it works as it has almost 5 times the views of the censored blurred lines video and a higher like to dislike ratio than both versions of blurred lines.

The video instead portrays women as beautiful rather than sexual objects. It shows her caring for her children and elderly mother. The song is about the power of women and it might not portray women in a career which would be good but it does show women to be strong and respects them.

Sex is not a must have when it comes to music videos and I believe the sooner this is realised the better.