Gender and Sexuality in Music Videos

1. The music video to Sorry, by Beyonce, was quite a bit different than the other music videos we watched. Instead of men being front and center, demeaning women with their words and actions, Sorry's music video featured only women. What's more- the women in the video were all women of color, portrayed as strong and powerful. Their motions matched the words - lyrics such as, "I ain't sorry", "I ain't thinking 'bout you", and "middle fingers up, put them hands high. Wave it in his face, tell him boy bye." As they sang, they raised their middle fingers in unison, shook their heads, and generally appeared to celebrate girl power. I appreciated that there were no men in the video. For while she was singing about a man, not showing a male character helped prove that she was not hung up on him, or allowing him to dictate her actions. If I were to watch a video without sound, I wouldn't know it was about a man at all. Using only women was a creative choice that I really enjoyed, as I believe that if I had no sound, I would assume the song was about female empowerment, and that the story was about Beyonce's character finding herself. Sorry tells a story about female sexuality that is much different than the story we are being told by most musicians today. Male artists and female artists alike often perpetuate dangerous gender stereotypes by portraying women as weak, overtly sexual, and as playthings for men. Beyonce's Sorry, on the other hand, is about not allowing men to treat you poorly. It features a character who will not stand for being cheated on and taken for granted, and who leaves once she has had enough. She is challenging harmful stereotypes through her lyrics, which suggest that she's going to take her child and leave, due to his philandering, which is a far cry from the lyrics of many hip hop artists today that normalize affairs and side chicks. Also, in the video, the women are all on the same team, and are comparatively covered up. The other women in the video are referred to by Beyonce as "my ladies." They are not overly sexualized backup dancers, but friends. And they are not in competition with one another. In fact, which "Becky with the good hair" is referenced as a "side chick" she is not the cause of Beyonce's wrath - the man is. The target audience here (adolescents) can learn valuable lessons from this music video. Young man might watch it and see that they cannot treat women poorly and just expect them to stay. This can help them understand that women have self respect, and expectations about how they would like to be treated. Young women can see that even their idols have been neglected by men, and it does not make them any less strong. Songs and videos like this one may even help impressionable young people leave bad relationships, and see that standing up for themselves can be empowering.