Contextual Essay Lana del Rey epitomizes what Gill calls "postfeminism," which consists of seven core features. First, postfeminism is qualified by an "obsessive preoccupation with the body," as the core feature of femininity as opposed to nurturing or motherhood (Gill 149)
The problem, as Michael Unger points out, is that it does not work. According to Judith Bulter, such representations as that of Cyrus or any of the other popular (and sexy) female singers today perpetuate the depiction of women from a "phallic-centric" point-of-view (Butler 30)
e., the woman is no longer the object of the male gaze, rather the male is the subject of the female's desire to dominate sexually) (Gill 147) -- yet the depiction of eroticism that women in music today offer to their audience is one that overtly and explicitly reconfirms them as objects of the male-gaze even as the women display a dominant tone of sexuality
Ironically, what happened after the Thicke/Cyrus performance only served to complicate the issue: Cyrus was hailed for her depiction of rebellion -- the idea that "sexual liberation" can make one great (Jones 2). Thicke on the other hand saw his marriage to Paula Patton fall apart and he was viewed scornfully as a "womanizer" (Holson)
They promote their tours and the women come onto the stage in little more than bathing suits, some flaunting their bodies in all manner of sexually-explicit representations that audiences are sometimes astonished at the level of vulgarity to which these female performers degrade themselves (the performance of Miley Cyrus with the male singer of "Blurred Lines" Robin Thicke at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2013 was perfect example of the female singer's dual-role as sexual aggressor and sexual object: Thicke was dressed in tuxedo, while Cyrus came out in nude underwear and sneakers and "twerked" on Thicke as he gratuitously ogled her body). Ironically, what happened after the Thicke/Cyrus performance only served to complicate the issue: Cyrus was hailed for her depiction of rebellion -- the idea that "sexual liberation" can make one great (Jones 2)
, the woman is no longer the object of the male gaze, rather the male is the subject of the female's desire to dominate sexually) (Gill 147) -- yet the depiction of eroticism that women in music today offer to their audience is one that overtly and explicitly reconfirms them as objects of the male-gaze even as the women display a dominant tone of sexuality. As Michael Unger for instance notes, "the K-pop girl group music video is a paradox of (re)presentation" -- the performers are celebrated and empowered, as Unger states, but at the same time they are "objectified and reduced to a commodity of idealized beauty" (Unger 25)
Handy. Makes things work" which is sarcastically describing women as being intellectually inferior to their male counterparts; the final example the essay wraps up with, "Then it comes to him: he's lost the Female Body! Look, it shines in the gloom, far ahead, a vision of wholeness, ripeness, like a giant melon, like an apple, like a metaphor for "breast" in a bad sex novel" (Morran, 2007)
The husband makes a statement that the female body, "does not merely sell, it is sold" which represents a common perspective of men. Sociocultural standards of feminine beauty are presented in almost all forms of popular media and advertising and the standards presented are almost completely unattainable for most women, and in most cases, even unhealthy (Serdar, N