Video vixen

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For the movie, see Video Vixens.
The performer Nicki Minaj in concert. Minaj has been described as a video vixen.[1]

A video vixen (also referred to as a hip hop honey or video girl[2]) is a female model who appears in hip hop-oriented music videos.[3][4] The video vixen image has become a staple in popular music, especially within the genre of hip hop.[5] The video vixen came around in the late 80s when hip-hop began to break off into its own lifestyle. It popularized in American culture during the 90s and early 00s.[6] Many video vixens are aspiring actors, singers, dancers, or professional models.[7] Women from various cultures have been portrayed either as fragile, manipulative, fetishistic, or submissive within contemporary music lyrics, videos, concert and movie soundtracks.[8] Artists and vixens have been criticized for allegedly contributing to the social degradation of black women.[9][3][10]

The Origin/Creation of the Video Vixen[edit]

The video vixen is believed to have arrived around the late 80s when hip-hop was starting to take over as its own genre in the music industry.[6] At this time women were used to create sex appeal in music videos while still being in the background. It wasn’t until the late 1990s when the women came to the center of many videos.[6] The concept of the video vixen is seen to derive from the historical jezebel stereotype that is typically placed upon black women. The term jezebel is used in reference to a hypersexual woman; she often is someone who is depicted as sexually promiscuous and uses her body to get what she wants.[11][3] The video vixen is believed to be the modernization of the Jezebel stereotype.[9] According to Meagan Ford it is an opportunity for women to use their features and sexuality in order to create wealth.[9]  The vixens were there to complete the male artist persona of having lots of money and lots of women available to them.[6] The women not only had to please the directors and artists as they were also meant to please the audience. This concept sold because “The males wanted to see that and the girls wanted to be that”.[12] This statement is made by Music Video Director Dr. Teeth who in the documentary also mentions how these women “had the curves, she had the face, and she looked like the chick that was around the way that you could get at”.[12]

Social aspect[edit]

The work of video vixens and their portrayal in music videos have drawn criticism. 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.[9][3][10][13] These authors believe that these depictions place male artists in positions of power which they say contribute to the representation of males as the dominant gender. Models are depicted as sexual objects, signs of male power, and the use of derogatory language towards women such as “bitch” and “slut” by artist contributes to the narrative that women are the inferior sex.[14][15][16]

In 2004, Nelly's video for his song "Tip Drill" came under particular criticism for its depiction and sexual objectification of women.[17][18] While some people pointed out that the women who appeared in Nelly's video voluntarily chose to participate,[19] others insisted that male rappers continue to sexually objectify hip hop models[13] while denying that the hip hop artists' career is, at least in part, based on the exploitation of other people.[20]

In 2005, former hip hop music video model Karrine Steffans authored the book Confessions of a Video Vixen, in which she depicts the degradation of women in the world of hip hop. The book's publisher describes it as "part tell-all, part cautionary tale".[21] The book went on to be a best seller in the US.[22] Karrine Steffans was one of a few who decided to share her personal experience as a vixen with the world. Her book was set as the standard vixen experience by society because it was believed to confirm people's speculations about the industry[23]. Steffans is just one example of a vixen and because of this vixens such as Gloria Velez and Melyssa Ford had a problem with her book. They explained how their experience wasn’t the same as hers and how she was essentially a nobody until the book was released. And her referencing of other vixens was an act of forcing her narrative on their experience.[12] Another hip hop model, Candace Smith, said in an XXL interview, "what I've seen on [hip hop music video] sets is complete degradation".[24]

Female rappers as video vixens[edit]

Female rappers such as Lil' Kim and Trina occupy what T. Denean Sharpley-Whiting calls a "peculiar place of cultural antipathy", often accused of selling out and blamed for participating in the exploitation of women.[1] Similarly, Nicki Minaj is arguably[by whom?] a 'video vixen' who is the 'object, subject, and author' of sexually explicit music videos.[1]

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 Princess, Cardi B and many others. The role of women has evolved over time in the hip hop world. Two artists in the early era of hip hop, rapper Roxanne Shante and rap group Salt-N-Pepa, were well-known for rapping about defending the image of women.[8] They were responding to male hip hop artists who habitually degrade women.[8] Rappers Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Trina, Nicki Minaj, and many others are all opposite and seem to accept this hyper-sexuality.[8][25]

Nicki Minaj is known for her overly sexualized music videos. Including women in little to nothing clothes and dressing provocatively. Nicki is believed to use her body with the intent of dominating over the male expression of female sexuality.[26]Author Nicole Heller uses Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda music video as an example of how female artists are reclaiming their sexuality's and power. Anaconda is a song that seeks to embrace large behinds and curvy bodies.[26] Nicki 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. She uses her body in order to establish her dominance and portray how she is in full control of her body and sexuality.[26]

Even artists such as Lauryn Hill and Queen Latifah prided themselves on being strong independent black women. It was heard in their music and seen in their videos.[27]

Heller mentions how Missy Elliot uses her sexuality as power and not her body.[26] This same idea is used by other pioneer female artists like previously mentioned Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, and even Erykah Badu. They wanted men to think of them as equal and treat them with respect. Playing to this stereotype would mean accepting society's negative implications of women.

The Video Vixen's effect on Black Women[edit]

The topic of Video Vixens have created a lot of debate on the representation of Black women, such as author Faatimah Soloman’s argument that it has contributed to the hyper-sexualization of black women. She explains in her article The Exploitation Of Women Of Color In Music Videos Needs To End how black women are deemed sexual beings due to their physical features. Video vixens are believed to be the reinforcement of these negative stereotypes placed upon black women. Often referred to as stereotypical tropes because of their glamorization of embodying the stereotypes typically placed on women of color.[28] 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.[28]

This idea also correlates with Nicole Heller’s explanation of Objectification theory and one- dimensional womanhood. These theories define the portrayal of black women in hip-hop as it aims to separate the female body from her personality in order to focus on just her body.[26] 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.[26][9] The subculture of the Video Vixen represents black women and women of color as objects that can literally be bought with a credit card instead of human beings. Author Amanda Rodriguez however does mention how these women were considered to be a “luxury commodity”.[11] Meaning that the artist and labels gave them a glamourized experience in return for their work. It was temporary for most but for the Vixens who became famous they truly were able to get paid like the artist.[12]

The Video Vixen impacts young women as they are believed to set unrealistic beauty standards. By having a body that seems to have no flaws and a beautiful face to match.[11]It has caused women to feel the need to change themselves in order to fit society's standards. While young girls can be taught to be confident and love themselves the vixen is believed to portray negative images of women that look just like them. These images place limitations on the future of young girls.[3]

Black women in hip hop[edit]

Audre Lorde, who spoke out for black girls who are considered video vixens, said: "If I didn't define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people's fantasies for me and eaten alive."[29]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Aun Qi Koh (September 1, 2012). "'It's Barbie, bitch!': In Defense of Nicki Minaj, Black Female Rappers and Hip-hop Feminism". Political Beanie. Archived from the original on November 25, 2018.[self-published source?]
  2. ^ Shalit, Wendy (2007). Girls Gone Mild: Young Women Reclaim Self-Respect and Find It's Not Bad to Be Good. New York: Random House. p. 72. ISBN 978-1-4000-6473-1. [...] girls of color have a whole aspect of hip-hop with those horrible videos and the rise of the hip-hop honey or video girl.
  3. ^ a b c d e Stevenson, Stephanie (2010). "Scholarship and Empowerment in the Age of the Video Vixen: Promoting Black Adolescent Females' Academic Success". The University of Maryland McNair Scholars Undergraduate Research Journal. 2: 269–286. hdl:1903/10728.
  4. ^ Fitts, Mako (2008). ""Drop It like It's Hot": Culture Industry Laborers and Their Perspectives on Rap Music Video Production". Meridians. 8 (1): 211–235. doi:10.2979/MER.2008.8.1.211. JSTOR 40338918. S2CID 197654934.
  5. ^ Story, Kaila A. "Performing Venus-From Hottentot to Video Vixen." Home Girls Make Some Noise: Hip-hop Feminism Anthology. By Gwendolyn D. Pough, Mark Anthony. Neal, and Joan Morgan. Mira Loma, CA: Parker Pub., 2007. N. pag. Print.
  6. ^ a b c d White, Brooklyn (August 28, 2019). "The Evolution of Hip-Hop's Video Vixen". Okayplayer.
  7. ^ Sharpley-Whiting, T. Denean. Pimps up, Ho's down: Hip Hop's Hold on Young Black Women. New York: New York University Press, 2007, p. 26, ISBN 978-0-8147-4014-9.
  8. ^ a b c d Pough, Gwendolyn D. (2007). "What It Do, Shorty?: Women, Hip-Hop, and a Feminist Agenda". Black Women, Gender + Families. 1 (2): 78–99. JSTOR 10.5406/blacwomegendfami.1.2.0078.
  9. ^ a b c d e Ford, Meagan Dawnavette (2009). Modern-day Jezebel: A social critique on 'Confessions of a Video Vixen', by Karrine Steffans, using Patricia Hill Collins' Black feminist theory (Thesis). ProQuest 304896050.
  10. ^ a b Conrad, Kate; Dixon, Travis; Zhang, Yuanyuan (2009). "Controversial Rap Themes, Gender Portrayals and Skin Tone Distortion: A Content Analysis of Rap Music Videos". Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media. 53 (1): 134–156. doi:10.1080/08838150802643795. S2CID 51858666.
  11. ^ a b c Rodriguez, Amanda (March 19, 2015). "Implications: Negative and Positive". Video Vixens.
  12. ^ a b c d Full Length: How Video Models Changed The Music Industry | VIXEN., retrieved October 31, 2022
  13. ^ a b Stange, Mary Zeiss; Carol K. Oyster; Jane Sloan. Encyclopedia of Women in Today's World. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Reference, 2011, p. 695, ISBN 978-1-4129-7685-5.
  14. ^ Hall, Ann C.; Mardia J. Bishop. Pop-Porn: Pornography in American Culture. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2007, p. 8, ISBN 978-0-275-99920-9.
  15. ^ Jeffries, Michael P. Thug Life: Race, Gender, and the Meaning of Hip-Hop. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011, p. 155, ISBN 978-0-226-39584-5.
  16. ^ Keyes, Cheryl Lynette. Rap Music and Street Consciousness. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002, p. 220, ISBN 978-0-252-02761-1.
  17. ^ "Nelly feels the heat". The Chicago Tribune (April 2, 2005), accessed October 1, 2011.
  18. ^ Arce, Rose (March 3, 2005). "Hip-hop portrayal of women protested". CNN.
  19. ^ "Black college women take aim at rappers". USAToday (April 23, 2004), accessed October 1, 2011.
  20. ^ Rose, Tricia. The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop - And Why It Matters. New York: BasicCivitas, 2008, p. 177, ISBN 978-0-465-00897-1.
  21. ^ "Confessions of a Video Vixen by Karrine Steffans" Archived December 12, 2005, at the Wayback Machine. HarperCollins.com. Retrieved on February 11, 2006.
  22. ^ "Best Sellers: Hardcover Nonfiction". The New York Times. July 24, 2005.
  23. ^ Ladel, Lewis. "The Portrayal of African American Women in Hip-Hop Videos". ScholarWorks at WMU.
  24. ^ Salaam, Khalid and Palting, Joaquin (2006). "Eye Candy: Tastes Like Candace" Archived January 17, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. XXL Magazine. New York: Harris Publications. Retrieved on February 11, 2006.
  25. ^ Levande, Meredith (2008). "Women, Pop Music, and Pornography". Meridians. 8: 293–321. doi:10.2979/MER.2008.8.1.293. S2CID 56296266.
  26. ^ a b c d e f Heller, Nicole (2020). "Black Female Artists Reclaiming Their Sexual Power". Student Publications.
  27. ^ Emerson, Rana A. (2002). "'Where My Girls At?': Negotiating Black Womanhood in Music Videos". Gender and Society. 16 (1): 115–135. doi:10.1177/0891243202016001007. JSTOR 3081879. S2CID 35432829.
  28. ^ a b December 11; Arts, 2016 | Faatimah Solomon |; culture; Feminism; Media; Race/Ethnicity. "The Exploitation Of Women Of Color In Music Videos Needs To End - Women's Media Center". womensmediacenter.com. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  29. ^ Balaji, Murali (2010). "Vixen Resistin': Redefining Black Womanhood in Hip Hop Music Videos". Journal of Black Studies. 41 (1): 5–20. doi:10.1177/0021934708325377. PMID 21117275. S2CID 26320847.

Further reading[edit]

  • Thompson, Bonsu and Huang, Howard (August 4, 2004). "Eye Candy Hall of Fame". XXL Magazine. New York: Harris Publications. Retrieved on February 11, 2006.
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