I was recently talking to a class about the sexual nature of most of the music videos they're watching. We were discussing how most of the current pop and rap songs have the same basic element to their videos. They often feature one man dancing around large groups of women or a few men with an even larger group of women. In the majority of these videos the men are almost always in control and it is clear that women are only there for the men's pleasure. (For one example - out of so many - watch Katy Perry's California Girls video.) I asked them if there were any videos that they could think of where men outnumbered women. Or if they could even name a video where the woman was controlling the man or sexually in power. Immediately someone shouted out "Gaga", which led to everyone calling out the names of different Lady Gaga videos where she was the only woman clearly dominating one man or a lot of men. I'm sure that there are a lot of videos out there where the woman is in control, however, off the top of my head I can only think of Gaga videos and a few Britney videos.
The best example I can think of is the Alejandro music video. She is absolutely in control (what with many of the men being chained and all :) and all of the men are clearly submissive to her. I know that in some places it is a very sexual video, however, I see videos all of the time that are just as sexual - only sang (or rapped) by men. So I think it's really interesting that a lot of t.v. stations and websites banned the Alejandro video... but still play equally sexual videos by male performers. I suppose it could be because of the chains (and some people might see parts of it as sacrilegious)... but I wonder if some of that fallout is because it's shocking to people to see a woman being so sexually aggressive? Personally I would love to see videos where no one is in "control" or has power over another person. In a healthy relationship neither partner should have control over the other... and I really think that the youth in our nation are constantly getting the message that "when it comes to sex men should be in charge." However, since it's clear that music videos and television shows are going to keep portraying that image I love that there is someone out there, like Lady Gaga, showing the opposite. In my opinion she's showing young women - and even women my age - that females can not only be sexual but that they can also voice what they want and take control of their own sexual needs and desires. And of course, that message I love.
Disclaimer:
I love pop music & I love Gaga.
I think she is so sexy & powerful - and I love any music I can dance to!
I think that the Alejandro video is one of the greatest videos ever...
however, a lot of people will vehemently disagree.
If you love Gaga as much as I do and haven't watched it yet, check it out:
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