Race or Gender?

This week in class we discussed how African Americans, females especially, are at times forced to put their bodies on display in order to remain successful in the media industry. And while I think this is true for many African American women, I do not think the problem is with race issues but with gender instead. If you compare the amount of women musicians to male musicians, the women, no matter what race, undress a substantial amount more.

Take for instance Britney Spears and Madonna. Both musicians are not African American yet are known for their outrageous sexually explicit outfits and behavior. Ironically enough both have made out with each other at an Award show performance, something male performers have surely never done. When compared to John Mayer and Jay Z, it is clear that it is not expected of men to undress during performances. Not only is it acceptable for women to wear close to nothing during music videos and performances, it is most often expected of certain singers like Shakira, Christina Aguilera, JLO, and the others I mentioned before. So it is my opinion that while in the past African American women’s bodies were many times put on cruel display, in the present date our issue is not with racial discrimination but with gender expectations in the media. It is almost always expected to see exciting and outrageous outfits on our favorite females musicians, and would come as a complete shock if Justin Timberlake and Kanye West decided to make out on stage at next years VMA’s.