Research Paper on Hypersexualization

In today’s world, the way a woman is treated differs immensely from that of the treatment of men. Women in the media have struggled and continue to be mistreated. They are seen as objects, inappropriate impositions are placed on them, and their talent becomes underappreciated, while their body and appearances are spoken on more, this is known as hypersexualization. This concept is evident in both the article, Why have Pop Stars become so Hypersexualized, and the text, Women’s Realities, Women’s Choices. Both have explicitly described what it is for female stars to feel and be sexualized in their life in front of the media. Behind the facade of female pop stars, hypersexualization is an issue that persists to move forward without many improvements, thus women struggle to maintain a true image, are displayed sexually instead of their talent, even with some stars defying the continuous role of women, does this horrific act continue. 

Hyper-sexualization is much more than the development of more appealing clothing, as there comes a line between artists and degrading them, thus female artists stand up for themselves. It is tough on women as they have to face the division of sex positivity and the demeaning gaze a man holds on a woman, which female performers sadly, all have to live with. What may be the solution for bringing down hypersexuality in female pop stars? Authenticity, as the author, from Why have Pop Stars become so Hypersexualized summarizes, and stated with an example, on how Beyonce is a clear role model of what it is to be authentic, she makes her own choices acting out the idea that she is who she wants to be. Furthermore, the writer was focused on the way personas are formed, their blueprint enables them to throw away their sense of self in order to create an image for themselves. 

In the text, there is a fair amount of arguments stating the way women are treated unfairly in the music industry. “Music videos produced and reproduced and reproduced sexualized images of women, particularly very young women, and reinforced the idea that women’s sexuality existed for men’s benefit.” (Simalchik n.d, 12) In music videos, women (particularly young women) are presented in a way where the idea that women’s sexuality is used for men’s benefit, is very evident. Moreover, the text also gave examples that provided examples of how there are many female pop stars who do not engage in such ill-mannered sexual presentations, but rather go pro-sex, meaning rather than limiting sexuality explicit images, create their own and embrace it. Instead of being hypersexualized they use that and turn it into something they can love instead of fear, which both authors evidently explain. 

The author addresses gender and race by explaining the many different reasons behind gender and race, and sexualization and the double standards that are clearly evident. In the article and the text, they try to prove the point that sexualization in women is very active and ongoing and is affecting all-female pop stars. In the article we see in the film the author speaks on about, “Beyond the Lights” where they describe the struggle the main character, Noni faces with performing gender and race, and how she is arranged to date her hyper-sexualized rapper and only when she is able to take off her coloured extensions does she also take off her persona (Lauren, 2017). Similarly, in the text much is talked about black female artists and how because of their gender they are cast as the weaker gender, even if they rap the same as male artists, possibly even better, yet receive low record sales. Moreover, the article slightly touched upon this topic but I believe it to remain very relevant to the male gaze. As discussed in the article and the text, the male gaze is the idea of the perceiver and the perceived. So in the text, it is described that this concept is how women are shown through media images, music videos, magazines and so much more.