Back That Sexism Up: An Analysis of the Representation of Women’s Bodies in Music Videos

Abstract

Music videos typically are used to entertain the public, but the effects of music videos can be much more far-reaching than just entertainment. In many types of music in general, and music videos in particular, there are themes of objectification, sexualization, and control of women. This study seeks to examine the representation and the objectification of women using a longitudinal content analysis of music genres and associated music videos. This study, to our knowledge, is the first to fill the gap in literature, in that it concurrently analyzes a variety of genres and eras at one time. Four major themes emerged in the research: implicit aggression, explicit aggression, aggression with sexuality, and objectification, and were prevalent in all music genres studied. It is our belief that these themes are potentially problematic as the media is one of the major agents of socialization; as such, if these stereotypes of women are prevalent in the media, there may be deleterious effects on young women and girls’ self-esteem and self-efficacy.