Video vixen
Meagan Ford, Stephanie Stevenson, Kate Conrad, Travis Dixon, and Yuanyuan Zhang express concern on how video vixens are placed in subordinate and submissive roles while often depicted as sexual objects.
Historically, black women have faced distinct challenges within the industry, where their portrayal often reinforced negative stereotypes or hypersexualized images.
These portrayals frequently depict black women in roles that emphasize exaggerated sexuality, submissiveness, or aggression, aligning with historical stereotypes deeply rooted in societal prejudices.
[26] These portrayals set unrealistic beauty ideals and narrow standards, often emphasizing physical attributes over other qualities, leading to the marginalization and erasure of the multifaceted identities of black women.
[27] Such portrayals not only diminish the diverse identities and experiences of black women but also contribute to the normalization of these damaging stereotypes within broader popular culture.
[30] Consequently, these representations can negatively impact the self-perception and self-worth of black women, as they navigate societal expectations and confront the pressure to conform to narrowly defined beauty and behavioral norms perpetuated by these portrayals in music videos.
[33] She expands her argument by mentioning how these stereotypes lead to exclusion of Black women in relation to their "social and intellectual contributions", often because they are only praised for their bodies.
[34] Heller mentions how Nelly swiping a card through the rear end of a vixen in his Tip Drill music video visually represents the ideology of the Black woman's body being a commodity.
[11] Black women in hip hop music videos are often portrayed as the "jezebel" stereotype but presenting them as light skinned and thinner.
[35] Women or female rappers such as Lil' Kim and Trina have been criticized by T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting who called them a "peculiar place of cultural antipathy".
[1][36] Female rappers who have shown themselves off as "video vixens" include Nicki Minaj, Trina, Eve, Rasheeda, Foxy Brown, Remy Ma, Da Brat, Jacki-O, Shawnna, Gangsta Boo, LoLa Monroe, Diamond from the hip-hop group Crime Mob, and many others.
[1][34] Author Nicole Heller uses Nicki Minaj's Anaconda music video (2014) as an example of how female artists are reclaiming their sexualities and power.
[34] Minaj samples Sir Mix-A-Lot's "Baby Got Back" with the intent of transforming the objectification of the female body and how curvy women specifically are objectified in the hip-hop industry.
Other artists such as Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, Erykah Badu and Queen Latifah advocated being strong independent black women.
