first draft

"…her lovers read like a Who's Who of rap."

To what extent does the sexualised representation of women in hip hop videos reaffirm Mulvey’s theory of the “controlling male gaze”?


Since the birth of the media the ideologies and messages has been very parallel with the spirit of the time, for many years this has meant that the media was focused very much on addressing a male spectatorship and catered more so to fulfil the needs of a male dominant society. Men have always assumed dominant roles and females have always been featured in a subordinate light. Gunter (1995) provided a guide too many content analyses carried out in the early 1970s on television, which revealed the inequalities and stereotypes of a passive and traditional woman are still very much alive and showed that it is indeed factual that women have always been underrepresented. However, due to the second wave of feminism that occurred during the 1970s, it is possible to suggest that females have taken positive steps towards equality. A study carried out by Cumberbatch in 1995 on the content of advertisements present in the 1990s revealed that advertisers on television were becoming increasingly wary of representing women in a traditional domestic role, which led to men instead being shown in these typically feminine roles. Recent texts such as “Kill Bill” and “Eastenders” also both reinforce this new representation of a stronger woman taking central roles in an active manner. Therefore, it would seem that due to the second wave of feminism that women have been empowered and allowed to progress towards a state of more equality. However, the subordination of women is not only present in the sense that they typically conformed to the passive and traditionally domestic roles, according to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the “controlling male gaze” women have been further held back as far as positive representation is concerned, as Mulvey argued that women appearing in the media, specifically on screen, are merely objects to satisfy the male spectatorship. Mulvey argued that on screen texts were created primarily to satisfy the male audience and its sexual needs. The male spectatorship is the idea that the man is the bearer of ‘the look’, which is the way in which the male audience receives what appears on screen. Mulvey went on to differentiate between the two ways that the male spectatorship saw women; these were defined as either voyeuristic or fetishistic. Voyeuristic or voyeurism has been said to be associated with the idea of sadism, where the male audience gains pleasure over punishing and ascertaining forgiveness over the guilty. Fetishistic looking, in contrast, involves ‘the substitutions of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous. This builds up the physical beauty of the object, transforming it into something satisfying in itself. The erotic instinct is focused on the look alone’. In more recent years, this theory has come under criticism and is believed to be less relevant to today’s media, however, some industries continue to explicitly sexualise representations of women and seem to be regressing rather than progressing in its representation of women. The hip hop music industry in particular has always been famous for its controversial messages and ideologies about political correctness and as far as it being misogynistic by nature is concerned. With an industry where women are commonly referred to as “bitches” and “Hoes” ,it is evident that both the verbal and non verbal constructs created by this industry has to some extent dehumanized women and transformed them into mere inferior devices for the males within the industry to exert their power over. One must look in to why these ideologies are allowed to exist so overtly in the hip-hop industry and to what extent does this reaffirm the relevance of Mulvey’s theory of the “controlling male gaze”.

Through analysing various texts it has become more apparent that the hip-hop music industry has in fact experienced a somewhat regressive movement, when looking at how women are represented. When one compares this industry against another, such as the Hollywood film industry, a more clear contrast is created. With titles such as “Charlie’s Angels”, with all its displays of “ass-kicking female empowerment”, the dynamic female protagonists and villains presented in “Kill Bill” and Tomb Raider’s very own Lara Croft all being successful due to their atypical characteristics as a female on screen, it was evident that females were becoming successful for their attributes rather than their sexual uses of the male audience. However, since then it has seemed that the hip-hop music industry has remained ignorant to these changes occurring in other areas of the media and continues to further degrade women and represent them as purely sex objects. The leading male figures of the industry are notorious for their use of women in their videos in order to appeal to a vastly male populated audience. Music videos such as Fat Joe’s “Make it Rain on these Hoes” and 50 Cents “P.I.M.P” are both shown to conform to Mulvey’s theory and appeal to both aspects of the male spectatorship. Where in the “P.I.M.P” video, there are compositions which include scarcely dressed females on dog leashes and in the “Make it rain on these hoes” video, there are numerous shots of women in very vulnerable positions. These examples exemplify the relevance of Mulvey’s theory in today’s media, as men are shown exerting their strength and dominance over females. It can also be argued that the extremity of female degradation in the industry has worsened, which in some respects can prove that Mulvey’s theory is most relevant to media today.

Furthermore,when looking into why misogynistic values in hip-hop are allowed to exist, it is important to consider historical trends. It has been suggested that historically speaking, whenever progressive feminist movement has occurred, there has been an uprising and backlash from males in order to regain and assume the dominance that they had prior to any feminist movement. This idea was first recognised through the female role in the Great War. Women were essential in providing and upholding the services required for the British war effort to continue, as well as keeping the economy from collapsing. Women were most noted for their work in the munitions factories as well as filling other typically non-feminine positions of that zeitgeist. Some propaganda of that time really reflected the extent of change that was undergoing as far as the role of women were concerned, an example of this being a famous poster which stated "If you've used an electric mixer in your kitchen, you can learn to run a drill press". Therefore, it was evident that the traditional roles for women were being broken and women embraced the empowerment and the new conjugal roles that society had allowed them to create. However, when the war was finished and the men returned to resume their normal life, it became evident that women wanted to be valued as they were during the war. However, oppressive forces, ideologies and values created by the rich aristocrats were strongly indoctrinated into society and therefore a backlash effect was present, where women were morally forced into resuming passive and nurturing roles in society. A study carried out in 2001 revealed that of the 17.5 million women of a working age, 70% of women are in work. Although, this number was still lower then the proportion of men in work, which was 80%, this is still a drastic increase in the amount of women in employment. If one extrapolates the trend which these statistics reveal, this statistic is likely to be even more equal now. Therefore, it can be suggested that the male dominated hip-hop music industry is threatened by this new idea of an active and independent woman and therefore depicts females in a derogatory manner. By releasing records and synonymously releasing equally degrading videos to accompany them, hip-hop is attempting to preserve its male dominance that society initially based itself upon. Titles such as Akon’s “Smack That” and 50 Cent’s “Ayo Technology” are abundant with examples of women in roles such as erotic dancers. Thus creating the idea that women must rely on the way they look in order for them to be recognised in society and that their main value lies within the sexual pleasure they can inflict on the male audience. Therefore, by the hip-hop music industry fetishising and degrading women it can be said that they are rebelling against the positive change in the media’s representation of women. By increasingly representing women in an undermining and sexualised way, hip-hop as an industry is very much reaffirming Mulvey’s theory of the “controlling male gaze”.

The misgoynistic values that are represented and portrayed through the hip-hop industry can not all be rooted and traced back to be caused by the insecurities of men and their assertion of dominance. It must also be considered that a lot of what is shown to the public is with consent from the females that appear to be degraded.

The hip-hop industry is very much afrocentric and is highly dominated by the African-American male. Many more ethnics are represented in the hip-hop industry and the same can be said about the females that appear. Hip-hop has always been seen as a creative outlet for ethnic minorities in America to boast their collective consciousness of their history and uprising as people. However, when looking into the history and considering the brutal relationship that used to exist between the black female and white male in particular, other causes for the sexualised representation of females can be drawn. “During slavery the black woman was often forced to have sexual relations with any male (slave masters, overseers, and slaves) that desired her. Black women were sometimes used as breeding instruments to produce more human property” is a description of what the use of black female slaves were at that time. However, it is still unclear how this has resulted in a heavily sexualized representation of black women. There are two possible approaches to this debate, one of which is the idea that the dominant black males in the industry represent their fellow African-American females in this way in order for them re-assert their dominance over the white man after numerous years of racial oppression or it may be that the black woman is boasting her freedom of sexuality in a provocative manner after being freed from the grasp of sexual slavery. Either way, this argument suggests that the hip-hop industry has created a statement through African-American women against the oppression that they experienced in countless years during the slave trade. Therefore it is unclear if it is a macho statement by black males who wish to assert sexual dominance over their ex-oppressors or is it a statement of the black female, who wants to be recognized for her freedom. However, both approaches have lead to the black female being looked at by the male spectatorship both voyeuristically and fetishistically. Therefore the affirmation of Mulvey’s theory via the hip-hop music industry is further strengthened.

Although seldom, there have and continue to be female artists in the hip-hop music industry, which are highly regarded and been recognized as pioneers of the industries development. However, this must also mean that as well as creating originality within their music and sound that they also contribute to the morals and values being communicated to the audience. Without considering the new wave of female singers within the industry, which have only recently come under the classification of hip-hop artists, popular female artists in the industry have all had very sexualized representations and are the vast majority of the time shown to willingly fulfill the male sexual fantasy. Lil Kim amongst many other names in the industry has all claimed popularity through affiliations to larger male dominate forces in the industry. The subordinate and sexualized representation being inflicted upon themselves creates the illusion that these women are in control and secure with their representations, however, in a sense a false consciousness is created as the women are still conforming to the male expectations of women and are aiding men in satisfying their “controlling gaze”. Therefore, instead of breaking away from inferiority, the females of the industry are conforming to what men expect of them in order to succeed, therefore hip-hop once again exemplifies that Mulvey’s theory is highly relevant still.

In conclusion to this analysis, it is evident that women in hip-hop are very much still being exploited in both ways that Mulvey defines in her theory of the male gaze. Historical influences have helped to create a false consciousness amongst black females about their sexualized representation and thus reinforce the idea that women are subordinate to men. It is evident that factors such as race and oppressive forces in the past may have been factors, which have lead to this representation being protected and allowed to exist. Hip-hop due to the consistency of its artists and diversity of culture is a very protected genre and politically exempt from the rules set by the aristocrats. Therefore, hip-hop will continue to communicate women to its audience in a certain way and remain ignorant to any forwardly moving culture for female empowerment.



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