Music Video Research Project

For my final project, I conducted a study that examined the difference between the way men and women were portrayed in music videos across four different genres, and if the genre of music had an impact on how women were depicted in the video.  The results of this study showed that the genre of music did indeed play a role in how women were portrayed.  In rap/hip-hop and pop music videos, women were significantly more often dressed in clothing that was considered suggestive or partially clad than men were.  The difference between genders was much smaller in country and alternative music videos, with alternative videos having the highest percentage of men and women dressed demurely, as well as the most equality between genders.  Similar patterns emerged when I looked at sexual dancing and behaviors as opposed to nonsexual dancing and other movements.

Above are screenshots from Nicki Minaj's music video for her song Anaconda and P. Reign's music video for his song DnF.  There is a clear difference between the way men and women dress in their music videos.  There is pressure from society for women in the entertainment industry to be not only talented at singing and dancing, but to also dress in a way that flaunts their bodies.  This pattern was most apparent in the rap/hip-hop genre, which is where both of the above songs fall.  

The music videos in the above screenshots were both from the alternative genre.  The women in these videos were dressed demurely for the majority of time, and the focus was almost always on their music and the story they were trying to tell, and not their body.  Even though this pattern was not universal, and there are still many music videos that objectify women and treat them as sexual objects, we can see that in some genres women are gaining the respect that is commonly given to men without having to show off their body in revealing clothes.