Women in the music industry can have a difficult time being themselves without critique or blatant discrimination.
In Madonna’s recent acceptance speech at the ‘Woman of the Year Awards’, she highlighted how she stood before the crowd as a human who had succeeded her career “in the face of misogyny, sexism, constant bullying and relentless abuse”. She spoke of how her job as a female entertainer has been met with the backlash of media, and commentators on her what her most controversial acts have been, which in her mind is the fact she has ‘stuck around’ for 34 years. Representations of women and men in the music industry have been biased for a long time if not forever, its ‘sexy’ if a men strips down for a music video at the side of a pool in Miami, but if a women sits in lingerie in a hotel room for a music video, she’s exploiting herself and encouraging people to give her a negative and promiscuous reputation. Why is that? In my opinion women are expected not to pride their sexuality and sex appeal to an audience unless they want a backlash and lecture of opinion. This example is one of the many things Madonna refers to in her empowering acceptance speech, as she reminds generations of the importance of not allowing other people’s ideas and perceptions of you, engulf the real you. Madonna spoke of how great legends such as ‘Bowie’ ‘Prince’ and ‘Amy’ had gone; yet she is so thankful she is still standing and able to repeat again and again and again that she believes women shouldn’t have to stand for the inequalities she represents in her speech, and if in 34 years she believes she has been used as a ‘musical doormat’ then what hope do we have of illustrating gender equality in the media.
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AuthorEllie Georgia "Colts". Archives
April 2021
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