Media and Music The Negative Side

authors AB and MR

Do you think that female music icons in the music industry are a bad influence on young women? Are you concerned that music Divas have turned women into sex objects? It cannot be denied that these pop singers have changed the way that women are viewed these days. Many studies have been conducted in recent years to find a connection between the words within the music as well as the music videos of female icons and the negative effects on the young teenagers who watch them with interest. The statistics and results of these videos are shocking, but not surprising. It is time to think about this issue seriously before it ruins the moral values completely in the young women who are to be the mothers of society in coming years. Here is an analysis of media and music the negative side.

The overwhelming and ever increasing influence of the media on those who see it cannot be overlooked. Along with the music industry, today’s media is playing a brutal role in depicting females wearing nothing more than a skimpy outfit at the least. If you tune in your TV or if you browse the internet for some time, there is a constant flow of sexy young females in every ad. No matter what they are promoting via their advertising, be it consumer electronics, professional training videos, forex trading courses, music and movies, etc. you will see women in provocative clothing promoting them. Is this what females are born for? Do you believe that this is the best image for young adults to grow up with? Also, do you think that the way that these images influence the young guys who see them is beneficial for either guys or girls? What is the outcome of an image like this and how does it affect the way women are treated? These are very concerning questions that are worth taking some time to ponder over.

As in other businesses and industries today, the music industry is looking for a marketable product. Music today has become more about the look than the talent itself, and about how many gimmicks the public want to see. Producers have compromised the quality of the sound, in many cases, since we have so much modern technology in our studios to compensate for poor talent. Instead, the music industry is turning out products like Lady Gaga who bombards popular culture with images and fashions that make a huge impression, and yet she doesn’t have any semblance of a magnificent voice. All of that gets fixed with AutoTune though.

In order for musicians to make money, they must create video clips that go with their songs, and the handlers of these Divas use esoteric symbolism in everything that is contained within the clip which (at a subconscious level) has a huge influence on the young people watching. This is when those who have the intention of creating division within the minds of young people about what is the most healthy way to approach life and what is deemed acceptable by society have the best chance of influencing young people today. Symbols and icons create a yearning for something that isn’t necessarily good for those that are watching. Healthy behavior and values versus what is presented by the music industry and the media are often two very different things.

With regards to the actual recording, the trend is to record everything loud. There are no highs and lows, only highs. Music isn’t produced in stereo anymore, and there is no subtlety. No longer are tracks produced for a large room where some sounds come through one speaker and others come through another. Now music is produced for headsets that get listened to at point blank range on MP3s and iPod-style playback systems, directly into the ear. Much of it is synthesized. “Real” music seems to be something they haven’t produced much of since the late seventies/early eighties when they made more original music with regard to lyrics and instrumentals. YouTube has become a way for artists to promote themselves, however, due to the high number of illegal downloads of the artists’ songs it is difficult for them to make money purely from their recordings. They must do live performances now in order to make the same kind of money that they used to make 30 years ago and beyond. Listeners want their everyday music to be available quickly so that they can store it on their computer and tune into it from there.

No doubt, music has revolutionised various cultures around the world. Every generation is greatly inspired and influenced by the music trends of the day and those trends greatly affect the way people dress, look, what to wear on different occasions and how to wear it, what to say and how to feel about themselves. There are some various trends within the industry; Classic Rock, Hip-hop, Jazz, Rock, electronic, Carribean and Latin American. Depending on what you are drawn to will determine who gets to influence you, but the question here is not about the choices that adults are able to make. The question here is about the music that is freely available to children and young adults if they don’t live in a home where their parents monitor what they watch and what they listen to.

Hip-hop is one of the trendsetters that has been guiding young people since 90s. Unfortunately, female artists are portrayed in the videos in a vulgar and sexy way. They tend to look sexy, erotic and wear half or little dress only to attract more audience and increase their sales. The handlers behind these female artists have succeeded in their mission, but unfortunately, the whole image has changed the perception of women in everyone’s mind. Artists are manipulated to act in a way that will gain more listeners and viewers – their dress, the offensive lyrics about women and the way these women treat men in their music videos has changed the way people think about women, and has also changed the way young teenage girls think about themselves.

Due to the influence of these artists, women have lost respect in society and are confused about what it means to act in a healthy manner and to view themselves with respect, and how to relate to guys in such a way that they can establish a proper relationship. Especially, young teenage girls are badly influenced by this trend. They think that their role as women is to be no more than sex toys and objects. Let us have a look on some of the recent statistics about the influence of female artists on young teenage girls.

• 9 in 10 girls say that media and music industry place an intense pressure on them to look thin and smart. That is why many of these girls go starvation in an attempt to look thin and smart, even without realizing that they are destroying their health.

• 31% of young girls admit that they refuse to eat only to lose weight. You know what the worst part is; many of these girls go crazy about weight loss and lose their weight quickly.
• According to a recent research, the more a girl watches music and videos, the more she becomes sexually active.

The sexualisation of women has become a fundamental part of the media. Marketers use it in advertisements, magazines, TV promos, movies and music videos. These sexually provacative ads tell young girls who don’t look the same as the women in the ads that they are not so thin, beautiful, and/or attractive, and these ads and videos always challenge them and force them to do more and more to look thin and pretty. The young girls that grow up watching the music videos of popular female artists start comparing themselves with the women they see. The suggestion is that the only way to look beautiful is to look and be sexually provocative. Moreover, young girls think that to be more attractive to men, they have to dress, look and behave in the same manner. This is a very bad role model for them.

Medical studies have shown that going crazy for weight loss and diet plans have so many negative effects on the people who follow them. Also, female artists are expected to have plastic surgery to ‘correct’ perceived flaws in their beauty (which often aren’t flaws at all), therefore the girls who idealise these icons do not hesitate to go for plastic surgery. The sexy, almost naked and so-called ‘perfect bodies’ of the music stars become a dream for young and innocent children, giving them an unreal expectation of who and what a woman is supposed to be.

Relationships are also affected by the constant bombardment of these images. Unless there are strong role models that counter the effects of the media and music industry, both young and adult men see women as nothing more than someone to have sex with. Unless there is a spiritual influence or teacher around young men, or unless they see their own parents in a happy relationship and they see their own mother behaving normally, they will grow up expecting women to look and be a certain way. They are not taught how to relate to a woman from these examples, so they learn nothing from what they see apart from becoming indoctrinated with a brainwashed view of what to expect. They do not learn how to approach a woman in a healthy manner, they do not learn how to open up and talk to a woman. Plus, women themselves aren’t taught that to develop a relationship they must make a man wait for sex in order to open his heart chakra. If they have sex with him straight away, he never opens his heart to them. Madeline’s article here discusses this in more detail.

To sum up the discussion, the media is using women as a major source of profits and multiplying the sales. Media has become a necessary evil in our life and we cannot escape it by any means. The marketers and advertisers keep finding new and innovative ways to target the potential audience via this tool and this trend never seems to stop. We are exposed to ads on a daily basis, whether we read newspaper, magazines, watch TV shows, live concerts, use our smartphones, browse the internet, or travel across the city, almost everywhere you see ads displayed on digital or iron boards.

All ads, TV and fashion shows and music videos portray women like sex toys and all these ads and videos tend to hit people psychologically. The advertisers and music producers want to grab the attention of the public and their secret weapon to attract the public is ‘women’. In-fact, music videos of today are not about the music, instead, they are all about encouraging shallow sexual relations through the song’s lyrics, through the sexy dressings of the female artists and dancers, and by the often vulgar dance act and performance on the stage. Isn’t it safe to say that these role models are a bad influence on people today? What do you think? How would you approach minimising the affect or influence of these images on you or your children? Is there any other way to cut out their influence in your life? Do you believe that there is a way to play our part against this ever-increasing sexualisation of women? This trend has influencing young guys badly and seems to continue to affect them if left unchecked. It is time to stand up against it! Please share your valuable insights and inputs on this issue below in the comment sections.

By the way, check out this video here for a further perspective on the agenda of the music industry:

http://youtu.be/ep-DPhElNic

References:

1. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/26/women-running-music-industry-feature

2. http://a2mediastudies1995.blogspot.com.tr/

3. http://www.mhlearningsolutions.com/commonplace/index.php?q=node/3792

4. http://www.123helpme.com/new-woman-view.asp?id=168878

5. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1302594/Lady-Gaga-IS-poisoning-childrens-minds.html

6. MacRae, F and N, Sears. (2007) The Little Girls Sexualised At The Age Of Five. Mail Online, [Online] 20 February. Available at: <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-437343/The-little-girls-sexualised-age-five.html> [Accessed 23 February 2012].

7. Marcuse, H. (1964) One- Dimensional Man. London: Routledge.

8. Metrolyrics, n.d. Ayo Technology lyrics, 50 Cent. [Online] Available at: <http://www.metrolyrics.com/ayo-technology-lyrics-50-cent.html > [Accessed 1 March 2012].

9. Mills, C.W. (1959) The Sociological Imagination. Oxford: University Press.

10. Rossi, M.J. (2005) Outdoor Pornification: Advertising Heterosexuality in the Street. In: Paasonen, S., Nikunen, K, and Saarenmaa, L., 2007. Pornification: Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture. Oxford: Berg Publishers, pp.129.

11. Rush, E. (2006) What are the Risks of Premature Sexualisation for Children? In: Reist, T.M., 2008. Getting Real: Challenging the Sexualisation of Girls. Australia: Spinifex Press, pp.41-49.

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