Black Women in Music Videos
Two-sentence summary of findings:In the 10 music videos that I viewed women were used as objects of affection, none were seen in positive roles. Mostly were dancing suggestively, partially clad and always gazing into the camera.
Summary of the previous study:
The previous study by Rana A. Emerson (Spring 2002, Gender & Society, “Where My Girls At?”: Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos) supports the literature in Black Feminist theory. (Black Feminist Theory by Patricia Hill Collins) Black women in music videos are depicted as sexual objects and Jezebels. In her study through some of the videos that were viewed some black women were able to show other themes such as: self- valuation, self-determination, and a critique of the interlocking nature of oppression.
It’s most important foundation literature and how it relates to your own project:
The main source I used for my study were the videos on BET’s 106&Park. The coding system I used was: 1. the way the women were dressed, 2. The Camera’s gaze and viewpoint and 3. Gender roles in the video how the men and the women were portrayed in the videos.
Corpus and Method:
My corpus is comprised of 10 music videos seen on BET’s 106& Park recorded on Tuesday June, 2007 between 5:00pm CST- 6:30pm CST. The method I used was qualitative content analysis. I coded the women in the video first. I coded first the women in videos, their placement in the video, next I coded what they were doing and lastly how they were dressed.
Findings:
Nine out of the 10 videos were all recorded my male rappers or singers. Two videos did not meet the criteria although 2 women were used in one scene separately dancing, they were scantily dressed but there screen time was about 1 second. One other video that did not meet the criteria was mostly about partying like a rockstar so the video did not really included the normal woman who stares in the camera or who appears partially clad. The other 8 videos one included two female artist singer and rapper the other 7 videos were all recorded by male artist. In all 8 videos the women starred into the camera for about 3-5 seconds, all videos included women in partially clad clothing. The women in all the videos were dancing suggestively, waiting for men; undressing the men and one video featured a woman in the backseat of the car giving a lap dance. One video featured women in lingerie and wearing mask. Although this item was not coded but the videos did not feature women in a positive way, all were thin, and most black females cast as the main girl in the video were lighter- skin with long hair.
Conclusion:
Although the first study was published in 2002 not much has changed since then it may have gotten worse. Much of the way black women are portrayed in music videos remains the same. Their bodies are seen as sexual objects and are rarely seen doing something positive in a male’s video. In Rana’s study she found some videos that included women taken control of their bodies and themselves the videos but of the 8/10 videos women were used as objects to surround themselves around men either sitting next to them and gazing into the camera or dancing. I’m sure there have been numerous studies done on this subject and lately there has been a lot of talk about music videos particularly African-American due to the portrayal of Black women in them. Hopefully, in the future artist will be conscious of the messages they are sending through their videos and young black women should seek other avenues if they want to become actress or entertainer.
