Gender Representation Theories: Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey

- Women in the media don't have a human identity and are only referred to as objects to be admired

- Mostly all music videos are from a heterosexual mans perspective as they all show women in a sexual way



- In some media texts the woman doesn't matter, she only exists in relation to the male she's with which Suggests that men are more superior to women


- Camera angles are used that only show the female in a sexual way, for example only filming certain body parts

- She states that even songs that are clearly aimed at women still have a video that portray the perspective of a heterosexual man meaning women also have to view other women as objects





Another part of the theory suggests that there are two different ways women are identified:

1) A virginal innocent character
Common features of this include a woman that is distant from the camera, dimmer lighting and the character not being shown in any revealing clothing and no camera angles that only show particular body parts




2) The "sexy whore"
This includes images of females in an explicit way, the character performing in a sexual way and close ups of the female herself and her assets



This theory has been particularly relevant in recent years as it has been noticed that this is what gets the most views and publicity. For example Miley Cyrus has release many controversial videos that show her as a "sexy whore" and because of the controversy and publicity she received she has millions of views on Youtube and millions of album sells. The main artists that represent women in this way are males who include these women in their videos but also young female artists like to represent them in this way in order to stand out. However older artists are less likely to have young women in their video in a seductive way and also artists such as Adele who have in the past received comments about her body image haven't been known in this way and finally some artists such as Taylor Swift choose not to portray themselves in this way as they're likely to be considered as a role model for young girls and whereas Miley Cyrus went against this most artists want to keep that representation up.