# Objectification of Women in Music Videos
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [June 22, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381 "2002-06-22T03:44:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/1 "2002-06-22T03:44:10Z")
I can’t turn on a music video on tv without seeing a bunch of hoochie-mamas jumping around in two bandaids and a piece of string, complete with 5" spike heels, jiggling and sticking their bums out all over the place, and I’m getting very tired of it. It’s degrading and objectifying to women. Men making music videos, for the love of all that’s holy, have an original idea for once in your paint-by-numbers lives.
Women making videos and participating in them, have a little pride in yourselves. We fought for the right to not be treated as property and restricted to sexual objectification; you’re not helping the cause any by making your own videos of yourselves in as little as you can possibly wear. Are you artists/musicians or Las Vegas showgirls? Maybe you should put a little more stock in your musical talents, and a little less in your big fat booty.
I don’t care if sex sells and your video is sure to get airplay if it has twenty-five 99% naked women in it - enough is enough. For every nearly-naked woman I see in a video, I want to see one band member wearing nothing but a bandana tied around his wing-wang. Let’s even things up a little, how’s about that? And female musicians, try to keep your clothes on. Please?
Oh, and the makers of the Li’l Bow Wow videos? Your videos make me sick. What is that child - 10 years old? Why would you want to make such sexual videos with such a young star? Anyone having sex with this child would be guilty of a sex crime. I just find it very disturbing for his videos to have all sorts of nearly-naked adult women in them.
Thank you for your time.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/2 "2002-06-22T04:38:54Z")
Three words: Madonna’s “Material Girl”.
What year was that, anyway? 1985? We were all shocked, I tell you, _shocked_… It was the subject matter–30 years of Women’s Lib, right down the toilet.
Quaint, eh? 😃
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### Author:  [@grendel72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grendel72)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/3 "2002-06-22T04:50:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by featherlou \*
> Oh, and the makers of the Li’l Bow Wow videos? Your videos make me sick. What is that child - 10 years old? Why would you want to make such sexual videos with such a young star? Anyone having sex with this child would be guilty of a sex crime. I just find it very disturbing for his videos to have all sorts of nearly-naked adult women in them._\*
Actually, his videos are more disturbing than that. At least one I’ve seen featured “hoochies” his own age. Ewwwwww…
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/4 "2002-06-22T04:58:21Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t care if sex sells and your video is sure to get airplay if it has twenty-five 99% naked women in it - enough is enough. For every nearly-naked woman I see in a video, I want to see one band member wearing nothing but a bandana tied around his wing-wang. Let’s even things up a little, how’s about that? And female musicians, try to keep your clothes on. Please?
I have nearly the same complaint about most fantasy artwork. Why are all the GUYS dressed in multiple layers of clothes, but the women are wearing a total of six square inches of gauzy material and/or the classic chainmail bikini? If the guys are not unbearably hot in all those clothes, then the women must be freezing (which might explain the nipples) in their scanties. And if a man finds it prudent to cover 98% of his skin with chain mail, I don’t see why a woman would want to prance around in an itsy bitsy teeny weeny grey studded bikini. And in the rare instances that a woman starts off fully clothed in a comic strip, it seems that she almost always needs to strip down to her thong undies for some reason or another. Piffany, of the Nodwick strip, is the only exception that comes to mind.
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### Author:  [@Road\_Rash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Road_Rash)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/5 "2002-06-22T05:08:56Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by featherlou \*
> \*\*
> Women making videos and participating in them, have a little pride in yourselves. We fought for the right to not be treated as property and restricted to sexual objectification; you’re not helping the cause any by making your own videos of yourselves in as little as you can possibly wear. Are you artists/musicians or Las Vegas showgirls? Maybe you should put a little more stock in your musical talents, and a little less in your big fat booty.
>
> I don’t care if sex sells and your video is sure to get airplay if it has twenty-five 99% naked women in it - enough is enough. For every nearly-naked woman I see in a video, I want to see one band member wearing nothing but a bandana tied around his wing-wang. Let’s even things up a little, how’s about that? And female musicians, try to keep your clothes on. Please?
>
> \*\*
Feminism has become just another sound bite by people who want to control other people’s lives. If you don’t wear a mu-mu and have a mullet do, you aren’t a true feminist. The other side is “its my body, and I will do whatever I damn well please!” I certainly see Madonna as being a powerful, in control woman.
You are also looking through some bad focusing eyeglasses if you fail to notice the “band member wearing nothing but a bandana tied around his wing-wang.” How about the Red Hot Chili Peppers? Marilyn Manson? 80’s androgynous hair bands? Ron Jeremy? OK, that may be a bit too repuslive.
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### Author:  [@NightRabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NightRabbit)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/6 "2002-06-22T05:13:33Z")
**feath** , I feel exactly the same way. I think I have complained about this before on this board, in a few of the pop/hip-hop threads in Cafe Society. I like the fact that some of the more recent up-and-comers, like Vanessa Carlton or Michelle Branch- regardless of how cliched their music is, look very classy in their videos. The worst offenders, in my eyes, are the hip-hop videos, which all seem to be the same exact thing- a male artist strutting around in a basketball jersey with random close-ups of almost-naked women doing that weird spastic butt-dance that seems to be so popular now.
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### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/7 "2002-06-22T05:18:25Z")
Mmmmmm…weird spastic butt-dance.
Droooooool.
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### Author:  [@NightRabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NightRabbit)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/8 "2002-06-22T05:19:28Z")
\
**Lynn** , have you heard of Marion Zimmer Bradley? She had a very popular anthology series called “Sword and Sorceress” through which she recognized and tried to alter the growing trend of women as sex objects in the F/SF genre. She was one of the first major influcences to get that sort of artwork and storytelling a thing of the past. Unfortunately, she died from heart problems a couple of years ago. ☹
\
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### Author:  [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/9 "2002-06-22T05:27:06Z")
A woman here, taking the unpopular stance. 🙂 I think women are beautiful and, lordy, if I had the body you can bet I’d be showing it off! The women in these videos are getting paid good money for a marketable asset. The fact that that asset is a great body is no different than if that asset was a particular skill or a high level of intelligence.
I have a high ‘drool factor’ for good-looking men who show off their bodies, too.
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### Author:  [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/10 "2002-06-22T05:46:30Z")
I actually kind of like the videos featuring scantily clad women. I put them on when I’m working out, and it’s excellent motivation. The women are professional dancers, and look pretty ripped up in their “outfits” (I have, in fact, seen barbies wear more). I use them for inspiration. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/11 "2002-06-22T06:04:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by NightRabbit \*
> \*\*\
>
> **Lynn** , have you heard of Marion Zimmer Bradley? She had a very popular anthology series called “Sword and Sorceress” through which she recognized and tried to alter the growing trend of women as sex objects in the F/SF genre. She was one of the first major influcences to get that sort of artwork and storytelling a thing of the past. Unfortunately, she died from heart problems a couple of years ago. ☹
>
> \ \*\*
Yes, I’ve heard of her. I’ve even tried reading her works, but they just aren’t to my taste, for some reason. I do like the _Chicks in Chainmail_ anthology series, though.
Interestingly enough, I’m pretty much a nudist at home. I wear a pair of glasses, a pair of panties, and a pair of sandals when I have the choice. Glasses because I can’t see without them, panties because I don’t care to do the housekeeping to go without them, and sandals because I’m diabetic and not supposed to pad around in my bare feet. I don’t object to women being naked…as long as they are not being OBJECTIFIED for being naked. I want equal opportunity nekkidness!
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### Author:  [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/12 "2002-06-22T06:13:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \*
> \*\*I want equal opportunity nekkidness! \*\*
Ah, perhaps the most eagerly awaited episode of LEXX, at least among the female and gay male viewers, was ep 3.06, “K-Town,” in which the scrumptious Kai, played by the scrumptious Michael McManus, was totally nekked except for a codpiece–and said codpiece, viewed frame-by-frame on DVD, had a tendency to _slip off_. \ 😃
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### Author:  [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/13 "2002-06-22T06:32:42Z")
Have y’all seen the Aphex Twin video for _Windowlicker?_ It’s kind of a parody of all those hip-hop videos with the bootie girls. It has all the cliche hoochie mamas dancing around in bikinis, but with a grotesque twist. You can see it at [ifilm.com](http://ifilm.com).
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### Author:  [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/14 "2002-06-22T06:44:22Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by featherlou \*
> \*\*Are you artists/musicians or Las Vegas showgirls? \*\*
Oh, BTW: Las Vegas showgirls are professional dancers, who work long and hard at what they do.
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### Author:  [@Pathros\_1983](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pathros_1983)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/15 "2002-06-22T06:46:32Z")
I agree with the OP. I think its really degrading to women for images like that to be shown throughout the media, and with music videos being one of the biggest avenues shown to the younger generation, that bothers me even more.
One thing kind of bothers me, though, and if teenagers have such a powerful wallet, why don’t teenage girls boycott these groups? Or would that no be effective?
I don’t mean to hijack this even further… but why would a young woman even LIKE this 10 year old kid if he displays women like this?
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### Author:  [@Squish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squish)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/16 "2002-06-22T06:48:55Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Pathros\_1983 \*
> **I agree with the OP. I think its really degrading to women for images like that to be shown throughout the media, and with music videos being one of the biggest avenues shown to the younger generation, that bothers me even more.**
How is it degrading to have a beautiful, well-toned body and a talent (dancing) for which you are well-paid? 😕
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### Author:  [@Pathros\_1983](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pathros_1983)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/17 "2002-06-22T07:00:38Z")
> [@](#):
>
> bunch of hoochie-mamas jumping around in two bandaids and a piece of string, complete with 5" spike heels, jiggling and sticking their bums out all over the place, and I’m getting very tired of it. It’s degrading and objectifying to women
\*\* Squish, \*\* how come that question was at me and not the OP?
My answer would be because they arent seen as dancers in these videos, they are seeen as sex objects.
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### Author:  [@Pathros\_1983](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pathros_1983)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/18 "2002-06-22T07:02:12Z")
erm… sorry, I didn’t mean to quote that and then imply that question was referencing to the OP.
That was something stated in the OP, that squish could have directed his question towards, but didn’t.
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### Author:  [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/19 "2002-06-22T11:52:07Z")
I’ll I’ve got to say is _Window Licker_.
It’s by Aphex Twin. Check it out.
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### Author:  [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2002, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectification-of-women-in-music-videos/115381/20 "2002-06-22T13:12:32Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by featherlou \*
> \*\*
> For every nearly-naked woman I see in a video, I want to see one band member wearing nothing but a bandana tied around his wing-wang. Let’s even things up a little, how’s about that?
> \*\*
I completely agree with this. It seems defeatist to me, to expect it in music videos, though it would be nice. What bothers me, is that it’s not just music videos. I want to see the fireman sprawled across the hood of a Stingray selling me shampoo, not the cleavage-towel lady in an office cubicle pretending to orgasm. I want a guy rubbing lotion on his chest, not some lady shaking her booty at me rubbing lotion on the backs of her thighs. If you’re trying to seduce me into trying the product, this isn’t cutting it. I’m aware for a lot of people, these commercials may be right up their alley, I have no problem with that, I’d just like to see a few up my alley (heh) too.
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