project 5

Introduction

In Katy Perry's music video for "California Gurls", women sexualization comes into play several times. The video starts off with Katy traveling through candy land making friends with various types of candy (also known as people). The women in the video are wearing revealing clothes and eating candy such as lollipops and ice cream cones. Also, the lyrics of the song are quite sexual. Throughout the music video, the girls are dressed as different objects like candy. The video also shows women trapped in objects like bubblegum bubbles and gooey candy.

What it means

A majority of this video is objectifying women. The very first scene is of Snoop Dogg placing a cardboard cutout of Katy Perry onto a candy lane game. The public is almost became used to seeing things of this nature. Ads and television commercials are quiet often turning women into objects. In a piece by Kilbourne called Killing us Softly 4, Kilbourne states, "We all grow up in a culture in which womens bodies are constantly turned into things, into objects".(Killing us softly 4) This statement is unfortunately very accurate, and Katy's music video is an example of it. The actors in the music video are dressed up as objects pretty much the entire time. Kilbourne also states, "Turning a human being into a thing is almost always the first step towards justifying violence against that person" (Killing us Softly 4). The music video is also very seductive in a way in which the actors are being objectified. At one point in the song, Snoop Dogg says, "kiss her, touch her, squeeze her buns". This lyric is made to be very sexual and with the actors dressed as candy, it makes it even worse. Kilbourne also stated in her article called Three Ways a Women can get hurt, "All women are vulnerable in a culture in which there is such a wide spread objectification of women's bodies".

Image one Katy squeezing whipped cream as if it is coming out of her breast

It gets even worse!

Towars the end of the video, Katy is holding bottles up against her breast, squeezing to make white liquid come out. Even though Katy is doing this to herself, it is still in a way sexualizing women. The example she is putting out on social media makes the media think it is okay to portray women this way. This music video also gives contains gender inequality. Snoop Dogg, of course, is fully clothed and is portrayed as if he has some kind of control over Katy Perry.

Image two Katy and her dancers wearing objectifying costumes

The truly sad part..

The worst part about this entire concept is that Katy Perry is idolized by so many young children. Kids adore her all over the country. This unfortunate fact causes young girls to think that this is okay. A report by the American Psychological Association (APA) on the sexualization of girls in the media found that girls are depicted in a sexual manner more often than boys; dressed in revealing clothing, and with bodily postures or facial expressions that imply sexual readiness. The actors in this music video also use intense photoshop and makeup, creating an impossible

Image three Katy laying on a cotton candy cloud naked

Conclusion

Through Katy Perry's music video there are several accounts of sexualization, gender inequality, sexism, and beauty standards that are impossible to reach. The actors use photo shop, tuns of make-up, and ridiculous costumes that cause sexualization towards women. Snoop Dogg is portrayed as the "leader" of the video. He places a card board cutout of Katy onto a board game and rolls the dice, as if he is controlling her.

Works Cited

Killing Us Softly 4. Perf. Jean Kilbourne. Dir. Sut Jhally. Media Education Foundation, 2011.

Kilbourne, Jean. "Three Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt." Rereading America. Eds. Colombo, Cullen, Lisle. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's P. 2013.

"Katy Perry- California Gurls (Official music video) ft. Snoop Dogg", uploaded by Katy Perry June 14, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4

https://www.unicefusa.org/stories/not-object-sexualization-and-exploitation-women-and-girls/30366

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse