As a society, social media impacts our daily lives in ways that we could have never imagined. Nowadays, social media such as music videos has a big influence in the way modern values are being formed in the family, especially when dating. For the purpose of the analysis, there will be three different sociological resources. Herd (2014) compares literature related to sexuality and gender in rap music from a variety of perspectives such as feminism, and sociology as well as from health and behavioral research in order to understand lyrical content that may influence sexual attitudes and behavior.
In addition, a study that came from a survey of 312 college students (Chia and Gunther; 2006) indicate that students believed that their peers were significantly more sexually permissive than was actually the case. The data suggested that they formed a wrong impression based in part on their perceptions of media influence on peers. Evidence indicated that these misperceptions produced a significant impact on male college students, making them more likely to say they would engage in a casual sexual activity and engage in it at an earlier stage in dating (Chia and Gunther; 2006).
Additionally, two experiments provide different information. The first one provides a conceptual of the media priming research testing how sexual depictions influence the way people perceive others (Carpentier, Northup, and Parrot; 2014) and the second one illustrates how sexual media content tends to code sexual depictions based on the degree of explicitness and emphasis on sex in order to gauge the overall extent of sex being presented in the media content. Observing music videos can help analyze how media reflects and shapes modern values about family.
In this case, I decided to analyze music videos because nowadays it has become a modern trend. Also, is interesting because people are not taking seriously the magnitude of the problem, so it can be helpful to be more aware of the consequences that social media could bring into society. Analyzing music videos were interesting since it gives me more knowledge about the issue. It was also easier to capture the main concept when you observe images and ompare them with sociological analysis because it gives you a better understanding and idea in how real is the problem.
Is important to carefully analyze music videos since the majority of people don’t take the time to see beyond the images presented on music videos. In fact, it was fascinating that many sources of information illustrate the same patterns relate to how social media influence and shape our ideas and behaviors in society. Music Videos may represent a new art form, but it’s one that often contain an excess of sexism, violence, substance abuse and inappropriate behavior. An analysis indicates that up to 75% of concept music videos contain sexually suggestive material.
More than half contains violence, which often includes acts against women (Chia and Gunther; 2006). In addition, (Herd, 2014) studies indicate that music videos may have a significant behavioral by desensitizing viewers to violence and by making teenagers more likely to approve premarital sex. Effects of media messages that trigger the concept of sex vary based on the contextualization of the sexual prime. For example, stereotypical sex roles in music videos seem to lead viewers to form their first impressions of real men and women in line with those stereotypes (Carpentier, Northup, and Parrot; 2014).
In addition, music videos suggest stereotypical images of black males as angry, violent, and dangerous because the majority of companies want to increase sales of songs and music videos. Herd (2014) asserts that rap music promotes and reflects a “rape culture” that “is a complex of beliefs supporting a continuum of threatened violence against women. It was found that music videos define sex with three different attributes: insatiable sexual appetite—usually on the part of males, objectification-usually of females and “sexual value placed solely on physical characteristics”(Herd, 2014).
In fact, rap music degrades the meaning of “sex” more than in other genres such as Country or Hip Hop music. The role of masculinity in rap music has generally emphasized misogyny and violence. On the other hand, social and cultural construction of sexuality and gender in the music influence structural factors such as patriarchy and corporate practices in shaping how gender relationships and sexual content are portrayed in the music. In contrast, there is a considerable body of health-related literature examining the impact of music lyrics and music videos on adolescent sexual norms, attitudes and behavior.
First, Herd (2104) asserts that negative portrayals of sexual and gender relationships (e. g. objectification, degradation, or stereotypes) promotes unhealthy sexual attitudes or behavior among youth. It was also found that watching music videos with highly objectified women artists predicted oppositional sexual beliefs, acceptance of interpersonal violence and trends towards tolerance of sexual harassment among male college students.
Indeed, Herd (2014) illustrates that youth listening to “degrading” sexual content were more likely to start engaging in sexual intercourse or participate in higher levels of sexual activity. Another study (Chia and Gunther; 2006) found that adolescents who perceived more sexual stereotypes in music were more likely to have more than one sexual partner and have a negative body image. Cognitively oriented theories such as Priming Theory and Social Cognitive Theory emphasize the effect of media on sexuality through perception and learning by shaping belief systems (Herd 2014).
The author theorizes that stimuli in songs and music activate cognitive schemas and reinforce and strengthen them through repetition. From this perspective, stereotypical descriptions of gender roles can promote the development of conforming stereotypical belief systems. Finally, a research applied sexual script theory (normative frameworks for making sense of sexual behavior) to music influences on sexual behavior. The first video being analyzed is called, “Eres Mia” by Romeo Santos.
According to the feminist approach “power is a critical element in a male-female relationships. Because women are often subordinated to men, women generally have less power than me. ” This video reflects this principle because the man is portrayed in a powerful and expensive car symbolizing that he has a high SES status. Also, it is the men who initiate and decide when to have sex. In a second video called “Gasoline” by Daddy Yankee, men are also portrayed strongly. They are using powerful motorcycles and are wearing expensive clothing and jewelry.
Also, according to the gender role theory, one of the male sexual expectations is the following: the men always want sex and are ready for it; in this video men are who say the majority of phrases with sexual content like “she likes the gasoline,” she turns on the turbines,” “she fills her tank of adrenaline. ” However, women just repeat the phrase “give me more gasoline” during the whole video. Chia and Gunther (2006) states that unlike men, the expectations of the traditional female gender role are very different.
The following are some of the female sexual expectations: women are sexually passive, waiting to be aroused, sex is performed by women for men and woman should look like models. The woman in the first video is por ed as subordinate and passive and willing to please the man because even though she is married she falls into his seduction without arguing about it. In the second video, the beautiful women are dancing to sexually attract men. They are playing the role of pleasing men; also, they are portrayed as young, with perfect bodies, no pimples, or wrinkles.
It gives an oversimplified image of how women should look, where men are always completely covered. In addition, although the exact link between popular music and dating violence may be hard to prove, it’s hard to avoid seeing some connections. However, when we listen hip-hop or rap stations we often hear lyrics full of misogyny, which are words laced over danceable beats that call women “bitches” and “hoes” and talk about dominating women and even hitting them. In the song “Can U Control You Hoe? ” by Snoop Dogg raps: “Can you control your hoe? You’ve got to know what to do and what to sav) You’ve got to put that bitch in her place, even if it’s slapping her in her face. ” But rap isn’t alone in cherishing violence against women; however, it catches the most blame. Some rock music glorifies extremely destructive relationships and obiectifies women. For the lyrics of the song “Bitch” by industrial metal group Dope: “The one I love I hate. I could suffocate … I love to hate you. I love to hate you Bitch”. In one scene in Dope’s video shows the singer grabbing a woman’s hair to whip her head back.
For this reason, music videos instill young people to capture wrong gender roles behaviors, which might have an impact in early relationships or even after marrying. In general terms, music videos reflect stereotypical and unequal gender roles. Stereotypical because they portray how men and women “should look”; women must be beautiful and wear skimpy clothing whereas the physical shape of men does not matter and they do not need to show any part of their bodies.
It also unequal because they portray how gender roles “should be”, men having more power (e. . better SES and they are who control and take the decision regarding sex in relationships) and women are seen as sexual objects that are meant to sexually please the men (e. g. sometimes only parts of their bodies are shown in the media). “Women do not have to be intelligent, just beautiful”. These facts can bring consequences to adolescents that are frequently exposed in media. The young men can adopt the same attitude towards women as they see in the videos, they can learn that they are who must have power and money, and they can subjugate women.
Also, the young women can learn that they have to look like models in the media. These beauty standards can be very difficult to achieve, and women can get depressed or have low self-esteem. In addition to that, through the exposure to these sexual imagines and messages, young men can learn that being promiscuous is acceptable, and this turn can lead to unwanted pregnancies. Eventually, I learned that throughout society, men and women have been expected to live by guidelines consisting of media generated ideas and ways of living out life.
Both men and women’s thinking process are being altered the negative effects of society’s mass media. For both sexes, this repeating negative exposure is causing a constant downfall in self-image and creates media influenced decisions that lead to unhealthy lifestyles. It is shocking how music videos stereotypes are affecting the “dating” stage in adolescent’s relationships. However, it doesn’t stop there, but it continues in long-term relationships such as marriage. It was interesting to analyze how media affects the thinking process of both men and women in negative ways; therefore, media needs to be heavily regulated.
