Female artists and performers generally have a disadvantage in the music industry. Singers and pop icons often use their body and sexuality as a means to promote their work. Some critics have argued that the purpose behind the general nakedness of female singers is in an effort to conform to the “sex sells” mantra, rather than a progressive feminist statement. Their nakedness happens largely in the context of a cultural industry that is predominantly run, filmed and produced by men. Be naked, or be unemployed, is the message. In many cases, female artists rise to fame because of their beauty or sexual appeal to their audience. (Bedford) That is not to discredit their artistry, and talent, but instead to criticize the industry’s practices to …show more content…
Despite the considerable skill possessed by many female artists, many of the ones who rise to prominence often do so through their sexualization. Pop culture as a global complexity is an industry that relies almost entirely on visuals such as video broadcasting, which is where the sexualized images of women come into play.
The type of female sexualization present in a society differs regionally, and racially. Black woman for example, are commonly portrayed as fierce, with a sort of untamed sexuality, which mechanically reduces them to something subhuman, and no longer rational beings. This form of sexualization has been consistent since European colonialism of the African continent, when African women were exhibited as foreign exotic objects through Europe. Now it is used as a way to suppress the influence and power of black women. East Asian women on the other hand, are glorified when they are petite, and pale, in essence, a European fetish that has transcended into Japanese culture. For example, the Japanese sex industry is based largely in ideas centered around pedophilia and male supremacy. The idealized Japanese woman from a sexual standpoint is expected to be impossibly childlike features. One of the major