1. Sexuality in Music Videos
March 20, 22, 24

2. Business
Quiz #2!
Attendance

3. Where My Girls At?
Premise
Sociological Studies of music and music
videos, particularly music that is identified
with Black culture, has focused on the role
of men.
BUT, women are also significant
producers of music.

4. Where My Girls At?
Research Question
What roles do Black women play in music
and music videos?
How do Black women conform to gender
stereotypes and how do they challenge
them?

5. Where My Girls At?
Method
Content Analysis of 56 music videos
featuring Black female performers (not
necessarily as primary artist)
“Theoretical Sampling”: A form of
sampling that is driven by an emerging
theory. The goal is neither universal
generalizability nor statistical overview, but
rather discovery and conceptual
clarification.

6. Where My Girls At?
Stereotypes and Controlling Images
 We might define these types of videos as “the
same old thing.” These images reinforce
standards of patriarchy and place women in
subservient or demeaning positions.
1. The Body: Unusually thin. Objectified. Divided into
parts. (cf. Killing Us Softly)
2. One-dimensional Woman: Complex identities are
reduced to the woman’s role as an object of male
pleasure.
3. Man Behind the Music: A male is presented in a
controlling position.
For Instance: “Love Will Never do Without You”

7. Where My Girls At?
Black Women’s Agency
 These videos offered a challenge to patriarchy
and the “same old thing.” They presented
alternative ways of thinking about Black
femininity and Black female musicians.
1. Signifiers of Blackness: Racial identity becomes a
source of empowerment.
2. Autonomy, Vocality, and Independence: Performer
asserts her agency in living life on her own terms and
in setting the terms of a relationship.
3. Sisterhood, Partnership, and Collaboration: Illustrate
women’s reliance on one another (interdependence)
For Instance: “Rhythm Nation 1814”

8. Where My Girls At?
Ambivalence and Contradiction
 These videos and images are complicated and
nuanced, but also at times self-defeating. They
assert a challenge to patriarchy, but also reinforce it.
1. Black Male-Female Collaboration: Males are presented as
equal collaborators
2. Multi-dimensional Sexuality: Female artist is sexualized, but
in a way that seems to (in part) assert her own sexuality,
rather than that of the male viewer (often involving a
contradiction between the lyrics and the imagery)
3. Returning the Gaze: Videos featuring sexualized men.
4. The Indeterminate Gaze: Neither the male’s nor the female’s
perspective is privileged, but both are included
For Instance: “Alright”

9. Conclusions
 Patriarchal representations of women are
reproduced through the structure of the industry,
not through the actions of men.
 That means that women in the industry often participate
in these representations (and some men do not).
 Black female artists are also actors with agency
—not just passive victims of structure. They act
back and they resist.
 But sometimes their resistance is weakened or
subverted by the repeated structural pressures
to conform.

10. Critiques
 We don’t know how these representations affect the
audience.
 It may be that they do not internalize the negative
representations
 It may be that they do not notice the resistant representations
 It may be that they form their own interpretations of the music
 We don’t know the intentions of the artists
 Some may deliberately reproduced patriarchal views of women
in accordance with their own beliefs about gender
 Some may be intending resistance that is not noticed or included
in these categories
 Some may reject such political conceptions of art altogether and
prefer a purely aesthetic approach to the music