Many studies have been done to see just how great of an effect music videos have on different groups of people, such as adolescents, men vs. women, and different racial groups. Some studies explored how men and women viewed women and sexual violence after watching certain music videos, such as Kistler and Lee, who conducted a study to analyze the short-term effects of hip-hop videos with varying sexual content on a group of undergraduate students, consisting of both men and women. Majority of the participants were white, ranged in age from 18 to 30, and came from either middle class families or high income families.

The study analyzed the subjects’ attitude toward the objectification of women, gender attitudes, sexual permissiveness and rape myth acceptance before and after viewing five hip-hop music videos. Rape myth acceptance is attitudes and beliefs that act to question victims and justify male sexual aggression against women. The study showed that the group who watched the more highly sexual videos exhibited a higher level of objectification of women, more traditional gender attitudes and greater acceptance of rape myths than the group that watched the less sexual videos, which was expected, except there wasn’t a significant effect among the female participants. Something the authors found concerning was how significant the effect that the videos had on the male participants was. In the highly sexual videos, men were portrayed as powerful and sexually assertive, while the women were portrayed as sexually available and not wearing much clothing. The authors believe that, “This might have served as a cue to male participants that sexual coercion is more acceptable and that women exist for the entertainment and sexual fulfillment of men.” (Kistler & Lee, 83)

Another study by Burgess and Burpo explored how exposure to sexualized music videos affected how college students rated the guilt of a male in a scenario involving date rape between a high school boy and girl. For both men and women, the more highly sexualized and objectifying video had a greater effect on the participant’s rating of guilt for the high school boy and empathy for the high school girl. The more sexual of a video resulted in less empathy for the victim and victim blaming.

In the same vein of the study done by Burgess and Burpo, Rich and Woods analyzed patterns of violence and victimization and portrayals of gender and racial stereotypes in music videos from popular television networks, such as MTV, VH1, CMT and BET. The study analyzed how these music videos affected adolescents and the stereotypes that were projected to these viewers. The study found that “attractive role models” were aggressors 80 percent of the time and males were three times more likely to be the aggressor in the video. They also found that blacks were overrepresented as aggressors and victims and white females were most frequently victims. The authors said that, “These observations raise concern for the effect of music videos on adolescents’ normative expectations about conflict resolution, race, and male-female relationships.” (Rich & Woods, 670)

Other studies have explored the effects that music videos have had on women and their self-esteem and perceptions of their own bodies. In class, this subject was extensively discussed while analyzing advertisements that objectify and fragment women’s bodies, and photos in magazines that project the ideal female body but are mostly unattainable because majority of photos are photoshopped. How the media affects women and their views of their self-worth and bodies is directly related to sexual violence, because women who are in a cycle of emotional and physical abuse are not only told by the abuser that they are worthless or deserve the abuse, they are also told by the media (including many music videos) that they are only valued for their bodies. The media has one of the most significant effects on women and how women interact in relationships and how they view their own self-worth.

Baaren and Engels studied how sexually objectifying music videos affected women’s perceptions of their own bodies and how self-esteem, whether it was low or high, played a role in their perceptions. As expected, women with low self-esteem were negatively affected by the music videos and perceived themselves as bigger when they were compared to the “ideal” body size.

Bell and Dittmar explored cause and effect in their own study that analyzed the impact thin models in music videos had on the body dissatisfaction of 16 to 19-year-old girls. The girls who watched these music videos reported higher levels of dissatisfaction with their bodies than those who only listened to the songs. Greater body dissatisfaction could be linked to higher likelihood to be victims of sexual violence, since they are more susceptible to self-deprecation and emotional abuse.

Conrad, Dixon and Zhang performed a content analysis of rap music videos and examined the body images of 258 females (most of whom were black) featured in those music videos. Results showed that overall, “thin” women were overrepresented, but body size varied among different video themes. If the music video were more about sex, the models were thinner. If the video was about political awareness, the women were bigger.

Reviews of these studies and articles show that music videos directly affect not only how men view women and violence, but women as well. Men and women who were exposed to highly sexual videos were most accepting of gender stereotypes, such as men as aggressors and women as submissive and constantly available and willing. Racial stereotypes are also portrayed in music videos quite often, such as black men being aggressors against white female victims. These studies show the negative impact these videos have on viewers and how stereotypes and domestic violence is portrayed as “normal” by the media, and the artists encouraging these messages to their fans. These causes and effects can greatly impact how the younger generation views themselves and each other, and how they could possibly become involved in the dangerous cycle of self-deprecation and emotional and/or physical abuse because it is so often represented in the media.

References:

1. Baaren, R. & Engels, R. (2013). Thinking Big: The Effect of Sexually Objectifying Music Videos on Bodily Self-Perception in Young Women. Body Image. 10(1), 26-34. November 29, 2014, http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/science/article/pii/S1740144512001106

2. Bell, B. & Dittmar, H. (2007). The Impact of Thin Models in Music Videos on Adolescent Girls’ Body Dissatisfaction. Body Image. 4(2), 137-145. November 29, 2014, http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/science/article/pii/S1740144507000332

3. Burgess, M. & Burpo, S. (2012). The Effect of Music Videos on College Students’ Perceptions of Rape. College Student Journal. 46(4), 748-763. November 11, 2014, http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=2ab73106-505c-491b-8420-31c4233bc39a%40sessionmgr4004&vid=0&hid=4214&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#db=aph&AN=84271972.

4. Conrad, K., Dixon, T., & Zhang, Y (2010). Female Body Image as a Function of Themes in Rap Music Videos: A Content Analysis. Sex Roles. 62(11/12), 787-797. November 29, 2014, http://web.a.ebscohost.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=4ca612ef-d7e6-4501-b349-9761c541c5fc%40sessionmgr4003&vid=1&hid=4212.

5. Kistler, M. & Lee, M. (2010). Does Exposure to Sexual Hip-Hop Music Videos Influence the Sexual Attitudes of College Students?. Mass Communication and Society. 13(1), 67-86. November 11, 2014, http://www.tandfonline.com.libproxy.uoregon.edu/doi/full/10.1080/15205430902865336#tabModule.

6. Rich, M. & Woods, ER. (1998). Aggressors or Victims: Gender and Race in Music Video Violence. Pediatrics. 101(4), 669-674. November 11, 2014,http://pediatrics.aappublications.org.libproxy.uoregon.edu/content/101/4/669.full.pdf+htm