Feminine Representation in some Music Videos

We had a look at how females can be represented in music videos; and decided to focus on two different representations- females as only sex objects to be gawped at and the opposite; females shown in an empowering way.


We looked at three videos; two for empowerement and one for objectification.

Rihanna represented as empowered

This video, S & M by Rihanna, is empowering to females, although it is not immediately apparent. She takes the dominant role, displaying an ‘I’m hot and I know it’ attitude, and despite the sexual nature of the video, does not objectify her.


The scene of her being interviewed by the press is representative of critics reactions to her over suggestive sexual nature; this video is her response- she disregards the suggested ‘reasons’ for her attitude (‘daddy issues’), and puts it down to simple enjoyment of sex and liking being in a position of power. She is saying she enjoys her body and her looks, and is happy to show it off. This video; while easily misinterpreted as simply selling sex, is actually very empowering to females.

Fergalicious - Fergie


This video can be interpreted in conflicting ways. One way is that she is conforming to the gender stereotype of women being nothing more than sex objects. She lies around in skimpy outfits looking hot, and the video is not much more than that. This could be seen as demeaning to women; suggesting their looks are their most valued trait; or could be seen as empowering to women; in that Fergie enjoys her looks and enjoys the attention she gets from all these guys.


I think it is the latter; the boys in the video are shown with a lower status than her; they chase after her and 'come and go like seasons', only for her to dismiss them all, while enjoying the attention she recieves. I'm sure some women would say that she is only shown as being desirable because of her looks (the boys in the video don't want her because of her personality, i'm sure), but i think it is empowering to females as it puts her in a position of power over men.

Pitbull - I know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)

This is 'I Know You Want Me' by Pitbull. This video is the total opposite kind of representation of women; it objectifies them totally as nothing more than sexual objects to be looked at. This video is nothing more than Pitbull rapping with lots of attractive women dancing around him and running their hands over him while he describes how much they want him. The women in this video have no personality or visible positive traits except for their looks; the lyrics of the song further this objectification. Most of them are wearing bikini's or skimpy outfits, and are dancing in a suggestive way.

In my opinion, this video is the epitome of everything which is wrong with the music industry these days. The song is just awful, and the video is highly degrading to females. In Rihanna's video she sings about her own empowerement and strong personality; here Pitbull sings about how many women he gets, seemingly only interested in them for sex. The thing which makes this video slightly worse than other objectifying videos is the large number of different women involved. At least in other videos rappers will sing about a woman and it will be just that one woman in the video; some sense of true feelings are portrayed; in this video it is irrelevant who the women are or what they are like or how they feel- they are simply sex objects to be exploited by Pitbull and to be enjoyed by the viewer.


While our video will be absolutely nothing like any of these videos i have discussed (it will be a totally different genre), i still think it is important to acknowledge how objectifying females has become too common within the music industry and stereotypical portrayals are something which need to be avoided.