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Cultural Appropriateness of Music Video Clips in the Middle East
By Ralph D. Berenger and Dalia El Nimr
The American University in Cairo
113 Kasr El Aini Street
Journalism and Mass Communication Department
Cairo 11511 Egypt
[log in to unmask]
Phone: +2-20-797-6955
For Presentation to the
2005 Conference of the
Association for Education in Journalism
and Mass Communication
International Communication Division
Mariott Rivercenter
San Antonio, Texas
August 10-13, 2005
ABSTRACT
The advent of satellite television stations and the proliferation of
transnational broadcasting in the 22-country Middle East region have
spawned dozens of channels offering "glocalized" programming.
Following the success of MTV in the US and elsewhere, Arabic music
videos have become popular with Middle East young people, with
resultant concerns about the effects on the conservative culture's
traditional view of female deportment. This exploratory study
examines how females are portrayed in MTV-style video clips.
Cultural Appropriateness of Music Video Clips in the Middle East
International Communication Division
ABSTRACT
The advent of satellite television stations and the proliferation of
transnational broadcasting in the 22-country Middle East region have
spawned dozens of channels offering "glocalized" programming.
Following the success of MTV in the US and elsewhere, Arabic music
videos have become popular with Middle East young people, with
resultant concerns about the effects on the conservative culture's
traditional view of female deportment. This exploratory study
examines how females are portrayed in MTV-style video clips.
Undoubtedly, music is common currency for youth around the world.
Once the domain of recordings and radio programming, international
television and the advent of MTV-type programming, "glocalized" to
market tastes, has become a worldwide phenomenon. In the Middle East,
where satellites beam independently produced programs, music videos,
commonly known in the region as video clips, have gained considerable
popularity over the past few years, particularly clips for Arabic
songs, whether they be Egyptian, Lebanese, or Gulf songs.
The most striking feature about these video clips is their depiction
of women. Increasingly, video clips of Arabic songs have become
replicas of their Western counterparts, with scantily dressed female
models and singers dancing in a seductive and sexy fashion. These
depictions are considered revolutionary in the Arabian realm, where
conservatism and religion dominate cultural and social life.
Egyptian reactions to the airing of such video clips have been
voluminous. Local newspapers and magazines have taken lead with the
issue, describing these video clips as pornographic clips and as an
offence to moral and religious standards. Head of the state-owned
Egyptian television Zeinab Sweidan announced that up to 700 video
clips have been banned by the television censorship committee because
they were considered "too seductive to be aired in an Islamic
country" (Fayez, 2004). The People's Assembly, Egypt's parliamentary
body, called on Arab satellite channels to ban Lebanese singer Nancy
Agram's video clip Akhasmak Ah because of its seductive implications.
Parliamentary members warned that any station broadcasting this video
clip would face legal charges. Nonetheless, the video clip continued
to be aired on satellite channels, and no charges were filed (Fayez, 2004).
Despite their defiance to traditional social norms, these video clips
have become a favorite pastime for Arab youth. Not only has it become
the norm that entertainment and cultural programs broadcast video
clips as interludes, there are now numerous music channels such as
Rotana Clip, Nojoom, and Melody Arabia that are devoted solely to
24-hour airing of Arabic video clips.
This study aims to examine, in an empirical and quantifiable
fashion, how women are depicted in video clips of Arabic songs. The
portrayal of women in such video clips has outraged many in the Arab
world, including critics, journalists, music professionals, and the
average man on the street. Thus, it is a topic worthy of
investigation. Using the robust system of content analysis, one would
be able to analyze the content of pre-recorded Arabic video clips and
examine their portrayal of women in a systematic, objective, and
quantitative manner.
Depiction of Women in the Media
The way women are portrayed in the media has long been a topic of
debate and controversy, not only in the Arab world but also on a global scale.
As far back as 1990, women's action groups and media organizations
from 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region came together in a
workshop titled "Changing the Images of Women in Media: Strategies
and Action in Asia and the Pacific" to discuss ways of propagating
non-stereotypical and positive depictions of women in the media.
Participants came to a consensus that portrayals of women in TV
programs and print advertisements were "disturbing." Women were
increasingly portrayed in "domestic, seductive, and subservient
roles, perpetuating the notion of women as property or commodities,
available for sexual and other use" (Asia & Pacific, 1990, p. 45).
Several years later, a study was conducted to examine gender
portrayals and stereotyping in a sample of MTV commercials. Authors
of the study concluded, "characters in MTV commercials, like those in
music videos, are stereotyped. Female characters appeared less
frequently, had more beautiful bodies, were more physically
attractive, wore more sexy and skimpy clothing, and were more often
the object of another's gaze than their male counterparts"
(Signorielli & McLeod, 1994, p. 91). In the course of their research,
the authors also found out that the portrayal of women in MTV music
videos (i.e. video clips) was "condescending." Women wore sexy and
alluring clothing, including lingerie and bathing suits, and engaged
in scenes of nudity. Thus, the primary reason for the appearance of
females in MTV commercials was to look attractive and to be the
"object of visual attention" (Signorielli & McLeod, 1994, p. 91).
Another study examined the representation of gender images in
advertising across three decades: the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. The
study showed that women were mainly depicted in subordinate roles and
as sex objects. It stated: "Images of idealized bodies, particularly
female bodies, are some of the most dominant and pervasive messages
produced by advertisers" (Shields, 1997, p. 71). "In their
traditional exhibitionist role, women are simultaneously looked at
and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and
erotic impact so that they can be said to connote
to-be-looked-at-ness" (Mulvey, quoted in Shields, 1997, p. 90).
From Tarab to "Fast Food Music"
The Arab world, particularly Egypt, has a long-standing history of
renowned musicians and singers, from Sayed Darwish in the 1900s to
the late composer and singer Mohammed Abdel Wahab to the legendary
Umm Kalthoum to the romantic Abdel Haleem Hafez. These musicians
comprise what many people term as the "golden era of Arabic music, an
era marked by artistically rich and ingenious musical compositions
and lyrics and impressive vocal talent" (Arab Dream, 1999). Singing
was cultivated as an art, and concerts offered a place for people to
listen to and indulge in creative musical compositions, good lyrics,
and strong vocals.
By contrast, modern times have seen a shift from music as an art to
music "geared toward drawing crowds to dance floors" (Arab Dream,
1999). Critics argue that modern Arabic songs, characterized by
fast-paced rhythms and poor lyrics, have caused a downward trend in
the Arabian music realm. As one critic in Al Ahram Weekly newspaper put it:
The conflict between the old and the new is not restricted to
politics and economics. Indeed, it plays itself out primarily in the
realm of thoughts and feelings. The world of music epitomizes this
struggle with the advent of the faster rhythms and catchier lyrics of
Egyptian pop at the expense of tarab the sense of being transported
in time while listening to music.
It is not surprising that the new music caters primarily to youth.
This music also appeals, in general, to the more affluent sectors of
society that have had closer contact with the Western world and are
more open to the Western way of life. From these sectors would be
drawn the frenzied audiences of pop concerts
Many of the younger
generations of the middle class have also been swept up in the fast
music craze which, after all, illustrates today's take-away era" (Rizk, 2001).
This passage illustrates how music in the Arab world has undergone
significant change. In Egypt specifically, the production of cassette
tapes proliferated in the 1990s, with cassette-production companies
releasing around 9,000 cassette tapes for new singers who emerged in
that time period. Profit-oriented producers focused their efforts on
increasing sales, and hence a huge number of singers both Egyptian
and Arab appeared on the Egyptian scene in the 1990s. Many of these
singers possessed poor voices and sang lyrics void of meaningful
content. Singing in Egypt became a profit-oriented industry, and
cassette companies operating under the slogan "the more, the
better" seemed to offer "a singer for every citizen" (Qabil, 1999, p. 29-30).
With the advent of satellite channels in the Middle East in the late
1990s, Arab youth were exposed to Western music, Western lifestyles,
and Western TV notions of what it means to be "cool." Affected by the
Western culture of rap music and rock and pop concerts as well as the
idolized figures of female celebrities, youth attempted to
"modernize" and become like the West. It is in this context that the
fast-paced rhythmic songs and the daring video clips spread in the Middle East.
Arabic Video Clips
Critiques
While the imagery of Elissa [a Lebanese singer] in her music video
Aychalak ("I Live for You") may be especially bold, the
suggestiveness of her video is increasingly typical of what is
happening in the contemporary Middle Eastern scene. More and more
Arab women singers are presenting themselves in provocative terms, as
figures who express and assert themselves erotically through fashion,
movement, expression, and voice (Freund, 2003).
Video clips of Arabic songs have been dealt with extensively in
newspapers and magazines published in Egypt and abroad. Following are
what some critics had to say about these video clips:
While surfing the channels in search of a little respite from all the
hard news, I saw another little hint of how pervasive US domination
is. On a new Arabic entertainment channel modeled after MTV, I caught
a video called 'Dirty' by pop star Christine Aguiler, where
muscle-bound men surround the scantily clad singer as she writhes and
wiggles to the beat. A few minutes later, on yet another new Arabic
entertainment channel modeled after MTV, I saw a video by Nancy Agram
where muscle-bound men surround the scantily clad Arabic pop singer,
as she writhes and wiggles to the beat
Sometimes, if you pressed
mute, it might be hard to tell whether what you were watching was
foreign or American (Atia, 2003).
Echoing the same sentiment, Hussein Abdul Qader of the Egyptian
newspaper Akhbar Al Youm, said, "It's part of an American policy to
strip Arab cultures of their values" (quoted in Arab Pop Video, 2003).
In Al Ahram Al Riyadi newspaper, writer Mohammed Farouk described
these video clips as a "strong storm that is destroying the beauty
and creativity of art a storm that has taken with it half the
singers' clothes. Stardom is no longer dependent on a singer's good
voice, but on hot dresses and bathing suits and on sleek movements
that any respectable person would be embarrassed to describe" (Farouk, 2004).
Finally, in Al Qahira newspaper, writer Mohammed El Shafie termed
these video clips as "sex clips" and called on both the Ministry of
Information and the Ministry of Culture in Egypt to establish a code
of ethics that "criminalizes" singers whose video clips contain
culturally offensive scenes of nudity and seduction (El Shafie, 2004).
The Other Side of the Story
It is interesting to see what people at the other end of the scale
say. In an interview with Nadine Labaki, the award-winning Lebanese
director who directs video clips for some of the biggest names in the
song industry including Nancy Agram and Nawal El Zoghby, Labaki
expresses her annoyance with some of the limitations Arab society
puts on her. She says:
I do get frustrated at times in this society. I find myself often
facing quite a few restrictions. People these days feel that people
in the media, women in particular, are overdoing it, in terms of what
they wear, in terms of their attempts to seduce. So this is where I
feel restricted because I have to think about people's reactions to
my work. Is the artist wearing the right outfit? Is she acting
appropriately? It's frustrating because I want to create characters
that are even more daring, in terms of what they are saying, in terms
of the message they send (Lebanon's Hottest Music Video Director, 2004).
Also offering another outlook is Charles Paul Freund. As a non-Arab,
he sees Arabic video clips as a sign of modernization and
liberalization in the Middle East and as paving the way for the
emergence of a new Arab cultural identity. In his article "Look Who's
Rocking the Casbah: The Revolutionary Implications of Arabic Music
Videos," he writes:
While they are entertaining and titillating viewers, music videos are
also transmitting new ways of being to an apparently receptive
audience, new and multiplying approaches to being an Arab that
combine traditional forms of cultural self-presentation with forms
borrowed from an array of other sources. The combinations that
promise to emerge would not be mere copies of borrowed foreign
models; they would be new and indigenous cultural creations, just as
is the case in cultures around the world. This syncretism is already
true of the music itself, which not only uses traditional Arabic
instrumentation (nye, oud, qanoon) in new ways, but also borrows
instruments and rhythms from the Caribbean, Europe, India, rock, rap
(including rap in Spanish) and numerous other sources.
What this low, "vulgar" genre is offering, in sum, is a glimpse of a
latent Arab world that is both liberal and modernized. Why? Because
the foundation of cultural modernity is the freedom to achieve a
self-fashioned and fluid identity, the freedom to imagine yourself on
your own terms, and the music videos offer a route to that process
(Freund, 2003).
Banning Video Clips
In response to the public outrage in the Arab world regarding the
seductive portrayal of women in video clips, measures have been taken
by some Arab governments to ban some of these video clips. In Egypt,
the television censorship committee banned 700 video clips that it
deemed inappropriate. These included songs with either singers or
dancers showing their navel, models dancing seductively, or other
forms of female portrayals that "disrespect Egyptian social norms"
(Fayez, 2004).
Among the banned video clips are Inta Aref Leih (You Know Why) and
Leih Beydary Keda (Why Is He Not Open) by a singer named Ruby. In the
former video clip, Ruby wears a belly-dancing costume and dances in
the street, and in the latter, she dances in a seductive manner
wearing a "hot red dress and a revealing training suit that [shows]
most of her body" (Fayez, 2004). As music critic Muhammad Abdul
Rahman told the Cairo Times newspaper, "Director Sherif Sabri wanted
to say that if Nancy Agram is a sex-pot, Ruby is a sex-bomb" (Fayez, 2004).
Ruby, a law student at Cairo University, has been issued several
warnings by the dean of Cairo University to stop wearing short skirts
and provocative outfits on university premises. Ruby has repeatedly
ignored these warnings (Fayez, 2004).
Action has not only been taken in Egypt, but also in the Gulf. The
island-state of Bahrain has witnessed several hundred protesters
throwing rocks, setting fires, and smashing car windows in an attempt
to prevent people from entering a live concert by the Lebanese singer
Nancy Agram. Police arrested several of the protestors, and the
concert went ahead anyway (Arab Pop Video, 2003).
In addition, Afghanistan's Supreme Court protested against the
lifting of a year-old ban that prevents female singers from appearing
on state television, arguing that the practice of females singing and
dancing is "un-Islamic and disrespectful" (Afghan Court, 2004). Also,
in Iran, the commercial distribution of videos or music cassettes
that "corrupt public ethics" and that contain "immodest pictures" is
punishable by law (Quick Hits, 2000, p. 6).
Resistance has not just come from governments, but from individuals
as well. In an initiative unique of its kind, Syrian singer Asala
announced recently that she has created a new organization in Paris
called "Al Iffa Organization" with branches in Europe and the United
States. "The organization calls on women to dress more conservatively
and lead a respectable way of life" (Asala, 2004).
All these activities offer different forms of resistance to the video
clips which have marred Arab societies with depictions of female
sexuality, seduction, and near-nudity. However, with the constant
increase in the number of Arab satellite channels and with youth
captivated by these channels, these video clips will continue to
infiltrate Arab culture.
Research Questions
This study aimed to understand how "seductive" are Arab female
singers presented in their video clips. Content analysis was
conducted, and in the process, the researcher examined female
singers' clothing, body, facial, and dance movements, as well as
their role in the video clips to determine the number of instances in
which the women are presented as "sexual beings." Thus, the study
attempted to answer the following questions:
How are Arab female singers portrayed in their video clips?
What type of clothes do they wear?
Are their clothes revealing?
How skimpy are the clothes they wear?
Do the singers' facial movements connote seduction and sexuality?
Do most of the singers dance in their video clips or do they merely
sing and the models dance?
What types of dances do they engage in? Are they merely swaying
movements or waist-turning belly-dancing?
In how many instances do Arab female singers not dance in their video clips?
In how many instances does the camera zoom in on the singer's face
or body, thus producing an alluring feel?
Do most video clips narrate a story or are they merely made up of
the singer dancing and/or singing?
Does the female singer appear in most of the video clip scenes or
does she maintain a low-profile?
Do most of the female singers' video clips portray close physical
interaction (embracing, caressing, kissing
etc) between the singer
and an adult male? In what way(s)?
According to Wimmer and Dominick, "a hypothesis is a formal statement
regarding the relationship between variables and is tested directly.
The predicted relationship between the variables is either true or
false. On the other hand, a research question is a formally stated
question intended to provide indications about something; it is not
limited to investigating relationships between variables" (2000, p.
28). Since this study is exploratory in nature seeking to examine
the portrayal of female singers in music videos research questions,
not hypotheses, were formulated. Hypotheses would necessitate
developing relationships between variables, and that is not in line
with the purpose of this study. This study looked at how female
singers are portrayed in music videos; thus all the research
questions aimed to gathered information about this "portrayal" and
whether or not it is as seductive as the literature suggests it to be.
Method
Since this study aimed to investigate media content, content analysis
was used to "assess the image of particular groups in society and to
establish a starting point for the study of media effects" (Wimmer &
Dominick, 2000, p. 137). That is precisely what this paper aimed to
accomplish in this study: to assess the image of female singers in
Arabic video clips as a starting point for the study of how these
media images of women affect youth in the Arab world.
Content analysis is a method of "studying and analyzing
communication in a systematic, objective, and quantitative manner for
the purpose of measuring variables" (Wimmer & Dominick, 2000, p.
135). Systematic means that sample selection was based on
well-formulated steps that give each item in the universe an equal
chance of being selected. Objective means that the operational
definitions of the content categories are clear and robust, allowing
for replication by other researchers. Quantitative means that the
data can be reported in a numerical and accurate fashion (Wimmer &
Dominick, 2000, p. 135). All these criteria have been taken into
consideration when selecting the sample of the video clips to be
analyzed, as will be discussed in the section titled "Selecting a Sample."
The researchers followed a number of sequential steps in order to
analyze the portrayal of Arab female singers in their video clips.
These steps are outlined as follows:
Defining the population in question: Defining the universe refers
to "specifying the boundaries of the body of content to be
considered" (Wimmer & Dominick, 2000, p. 140). This includes
determining the topic area and the time period to be covered. In this
case, the topic area is Arabic music videos aired on satellite music
channels. The time period was a constructed week from Friday, April
16, until Thursday, April 23, 2004.
Selecting a Sample: This initially involved the recording of Arabic
video clips from satellite music channels.
To allow for random distribution, Arabic video clips were recorded
from seven different satellite music channels received off of Nilesat
101 in Cairo, Egypt, between 5 p.m. and midnight, when viewership
usually is the highest. These are:
a) Music Plus
b) Nojoom
c) Dream
d) Melody Hits
e) Mazzika
f) Rotana Clip
g) Melody Arabia
Each day, one video clip was recorded from each of the above channels
in an hour span different from the day(s) before. For example, on the
first day, one video clip was recorded from each of the seven
channels from 5-6 p.m. The next day, recording was done the same way
from 6-7 pm and so on. This system was developed in order to assure
randomization and to give an equal chance for each video clip to be selected.
In total, 49 video clips were recorded. (7 days X 7 video clips per
day = 49). Out of these, only the video clips in which the singer was
a female were selected for analysis. The analyzed video clips totaled
21. In Figure 1, the female performers appear in the order of their
performance.
__________________________________________________________________
Insert Figure 1 here
__________________________________________________________________
In the process of flipping between the seven channels to record video
clips, only Arabic video clips were recorded; English ones were not.
If the researcher flipped to a channel and a video clip had already
begun, the researcher waited until that clip ended and the next video
clip was recorded from the start. If a video clip had already been
recorded and re-appeared at any time during the constructed week, it
was not recorded again. If different video clips by the same singer
were recorded, only the singer's latest release was used in the
analysis process. Finally, since the aim of this study was to focus
on music videos only, concerts and movie clips were not recorded.
Selecting a Unit of Analysis: In this study, the unit of analysis was
the female singers. Although it could be argued that female models
wear more skimpy clothing and sometimes engage in more provocative
and alluring dances than the singers, the researcher chose to narrow
the unit of analysis in this study to female singers only due to
budget and time constraints. Models in one video clip are numerous
and would require more time and to be coded than just one female singer.
Constructing Content Categories: In constructing content categories,
the researcher was careful that the category definitions be
exhaustive, mutually exclusive, and reliable. Category definitions
were defined with maximum detail in the coder instruction sheet and
were "highly specific to ensure accurate categorization" (Wimmer and
Dominick, 2000, p. 145). See Coder Instruction Sheet.
Establishing a Quantification System: Quantification in this study
was mainly at the nominal level. At the end of the data collection
phase, the researcher counted the number of occurrence of the units
in each category. Data was then reported in percentages.
Only in one question was quantification established at the interval
level. At the end of the coding sheet, coders were asked to rate the
female singer in the video clip on a scale of 1 to 10, one meaning
very seductive and 10 very respectable. As Wimmer and Dominick put
it, although rating scales may "inject subjectivity into the
analysis, such scales add depth and texture to a content analysis and
are perhaps more interesting than the surface data obtained through
nominal measurement" (2000, p. 146).
Training Coders and Doing a Pilot Study: Wimmer and Dominick state
that in the process of coding, "placing a unit of analysis into a
content category, typically two to six coders are used" (2000, p. 147).
In this study, two coders were used, one of which was the researcher.
The researcher trained the coder on the pre-defined content
categories and conducted a pilot study with the coder on Nancy
Agram's latest video clip, Ah Wi Nos. (This video clip was not
included in the analysis). Following the pilot study, categories were
redefined and the coding sheet was modified until both the coder and
the researcher were familiar and comfortable with the materials and
the procedure. The coder instruction sheet was used a reference tool
throughout the coding process: coding the data and calculating
intercoder reliability.
After the coding process was complete, intercoder reliability was
calculated using Holsti's formula, which states:
Reliability = __2M__
N1 + N2
"where M is the number of coding decisions on which two coders agree,
and N1 and N2 are the total number of coding decisions by the first
and second coder" (Wimmer & Dominick, 2000, p. 151).
Using that formula, the total number of coding decisions that were
taken amounted to 462 (22 questions multiplied by 21 singers). The
coders agreed on 406. Thus, using Holsti's formula, intercoder
reliability in this study equaled:
2 X 406 = 812
462 + 462=924 = 0.87
Findings
In reporting the results below, only instances where both coders
agreed were taken into account. Instances where both coders disagreed
were not counted when calculating the percentages.
Taking that into consideration, the results of the content analysis
were as follows:
38% of the singers analyzed wore very short clothing that ends
above the knee, thereby revealing their thighs and legs.
19% of the singers analyzed wore short clothing that ends at the
knee, thereby revealing their legs.
100% of the singers wore tight clothing that outlined some part of
their body:
90% wore tight clothing that outlined the breasts.
52% wore tight clothing that outlined their waist / hip.
47% wore tight clothing that outlined their legs and/or thighs.
38% wore tight clothing that outlined their behind.
38% wore tight clothing that outlined their arms.
In addition to being tight around the body, the singers were also
seen to be wearing skimpy clothing that actually revealed different
parts of their body:
62% wore clothing that revealed their shoulders.
48% wore clothing that exposed their entire chest area.
43% wore clothing that showed their legs.
33% wore clothing that revealed their breasts and/or breast cleavage.
24% wore clothing that clearly exposed their back.
19% wore sleeveless clothing, revealing their arms.
19% showed their feet in the video clip.
10% wore clothing that showed their navel.
Only 19% of the singers did not reveal any body parts through their clothing.
The camera also zoomed in on singers' body parts, thereby creating an
alluring appeal.
In 95% of the cases, the camera zoomed in on the singer's face.
In 19% of the cases, the camera zoomed in on the singer's
waist/hip, especially when dancing.
In 19% of the cases, the camera zoomed in on the singer's breasts /
breast cleavage.
In 10% of the cases, the camera zoomed in on the singer's lips.
In 10% of the cases, the camera zoomed in on the singer's stomach.
In 5% of the cases, the camera zoomed in on the singer's behind.
In terms of lipstick, 14% of the singers were found by coders to be
wearing lipstick with bright / alluring colors, whereas 72% were
found to be wearing lipstick of a neutral color.
Facial movements were also an indication of how "seductive" the
female singer is presented in the video clip:
95% did not protrude their lips in a kissing fashion.
86% were found by coders to gaze at the camera in an alluring /
tempting fashion.
81% were found by coders to gaze at the camera with a seductive /
tempting smile.
38% were found by coders to give seductive / tempting winks in the
video clips.
In terms of dancing:
52% of the singers danced in their video clips.
29% of the singers belly-danced in the video clips.
29% moved their waist / hip while dancing.
19% were found to be moving their behind while dancing.
19% were found to be moving / playing with their hair in a sexy way
while dancing.
14% were found to be moving their breasts while dancing.
In terms of the singer's role in the video clip:
52% of the video clips had no story tell and were just composed of
the female singer dancing and singing.
In 95% of the cases, the singer appeared in at least half, if not
all, the video clip scenes.
In 67% of the cases, the singers were found to be the central focus
of the video clip. That is, the video clip does not focus on aspects
other than the singer. (These aspects may include landscape images,
models, dancers
). In only 5% of the cases was the singer judged to
be maintaining a low profile in the video clip.
Regarding singers' interaction with adult males in the video clip:
In 19% of the cases, the singer hugged, kissed, and cuddled a male
in the video clip.
In 19% of the cases, there was intent eye contact between the
singer and an adult male in the video clip.
In 33% of the cases, there was no close physical interaction
between the singer and an adult male.
19% of the video clips did not feature any males.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very seductive and 10 being very
respectable, the average rating for the female singers analyzed
turned out to be 5.2.
Analyses of Results
Clothing
The results suggest that, in their video clips, Arab female singers
wear skimpy clothing that reveals parts of their bodies. Percentages
were highest for sensitive body parts. That is, the body parts that
were exposed the most were the sensitive and sexy body parts, such as
the chest (48%), legs (43%), and breasts / breast cleavage (33%).
In addition, all the singers analyzed wore tight clothing in their
video clips. Again, percentages were highest for clothing that
outlined sensitive and sexual body parts. Clothing tight on breasts
was at 90%, tight on waist/hip was at 52%, tight on legs and/or
thighs was at 47%, and tight on the behind was at 38%.
This all suggests that Arab female singers seek to create an
alluring and sexy appeal through the clothes they wear in the video
clips. This only serves to perpetuate existing stereotypes about
women as sex symbols whose primary purpose in life is to look good
and sexy to men and to be the object of men's gaze and visual attention.
Camera
It is not only the female singers and what they wear, it is also the
way the camera angles itself on these singers. In 95% of the video
clips analyzed, the camera zoomed in closely on the singer's face.
The singer, in turn, gave intent, alluring gazes at the camera (86%)
or smiled in a seductive and alluring manner with a close gaze at the
camera (81%), or winked in a tempting fashion (38%).
Moreover, the camera not just zoomed in on singers' faces to create a
clear sexual appeal, it also zoomed in closely on the singer's body
parts, especially when dancing. Again, percentages were highest for
the sensitive and sexual body parts: zooming in on the waist / hip at
19% and zooming in on the breasts / breast cleavage also at 19%.
All this, of course, adds to the seductive feel of the video clip and
again, emphasizes the stereotype about women as seducing men and
using their beauty to sexually allure men.
Dancing
One area worthy of investigation was to look at whether female
singers confined their role to merely singing or actually took part
and danced in the video clips. Results show that
52% of the singers danced in their video clips, and 29% belly-danced
(made sinuous hip and abdominal movements) in the video clips. And
dancing was, for the most part, not confined to slight swaying
movements, but employed strong abdominal / waist movements (29%),
movement of the behind (19%), and movement of the breasts
(14%). Also, 19% were found to be moving / playing with their hair
in a sexy way while dancing.
This indicates that dancing is an integral part of the singer's
"show" in the video clip. Half the singers analyzed danced in the
video clip, and a third belly-danced. This shows that many female
singers see their roles as not just singing but also moving their
bodies to the beat, sometimes in very sexual and alluring ways.
Role in the Video Clip
The researcher aimed to understand whether the video clips usually
told a story or were mostly comprised of the female singer dancing
and/or singing. Results showed that half of the video clips analyzed
had no story for the viewer to follow and were only made up of shots
of the female singer dancing and singing.
By counting the total number of scenes in a video clip and then
counting the number of scenes in which the singer is featured,
results show that the female singers appeared in at least half, if
not all, the video clip scenes. In addition, in 67% of the cases, the
singers were found to be the central thrust of the video clip. That
is, the video clip did not focus on aspects other than the singer.
(These aspects may include landscape images, models, dancers
). In
only 5% of the cases was the singer judged to be maintaining a low
profile in the video clip.
These results show that singers are purposefully played up as the
main theme of the video clip it's not the story or the setting of
the video clip, it's the singer and the body parts she portrays, the
dance movements she engages in, and her alluring gazes at the camera.
This all precipitates the notion that women are increasingly used as
sex commodity tools to lure a big number of viewers and bring in
maximum profit.
Interaction with Males
Interaction with males did not come up as a major aspect of Arab
female singers' video clips, since 19% of them did not feature any
males (re-emphasizing the notion that the female singer is the main
thrust) and almost a third did not convey any close physical
interaction between the adult male and the female singer.
Nonetheless, in 19% of the cases, there was hugging, kissing, and
caressing between the female singer and the male in the video clip,
and in 19% of the video clips, the singer and the male shared intent
romantic gazes at each other.
How Seductive Are They
At the end, an interval scale was placed for coders to determine,
overall, how seductive or respectable each female singer was
presented in her video clip. In the scale, 1 was deemed very
seductive, and 10 was deemed very respectable. The average rating was
5.2. Although this question is largely judgmental and subjective, it
shows that some singers, despite their tight clothing and intent
gazes at the camera, are deemed to be more decent than others in the
images they portray.
Discussion
This section aims to analyze the reasons behind the phenomenon of the
"sexy" Arabic music videos, the role of the media and community
organizations in eradicating this phenomenon, and the proposed
solutions to help youth understand the dangers of this phenomenon and
its negative impact on society.
In doing so, the researchers referred to two sources:
Nazek Nosseir, Chair of the Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology,
and Egyptology Department at the American University in Cairo (AUC)
TV Program titled "For Women Only" aired on Al Jazeera Satellite
Channel in May 2004. The episode referred to dealt specifically with
the portrayal of women in Arabic music videos.
Why This Happened
According to Nosseir, the increasing portrayal of women as seductive,
sex symbols in Arabic music videos is a "hidden agenda to divert
youth from fundamentalism." It is also blind imitation of the West in
the name of modernization. What complicates matters, she said, is
that those at the receiving end, i.e. the viewers, are enjoying these
video clips.
As for the women portrayed in the music videos, their main aim,
Nosseir said, is the search for money and glamour. "Video clips in
which women are covered up would not be as hefty paid as those in
which the women are nude," she noted.
Echoing the same viewpoint, guests in the program "For Women Only"
emphasized that women in these video clips are after stardom, fame,
and profit. Former Dean of Cairo University's Mass Communication
Department Gihan Rashti said that women use these video clips as an
avenue into the world of acting. They want to become famous actors
and want to appear on the TV screen, and video clips seem to be an
effective and available way for them. These women, Rashti said,
usually come from modern, liberal families.
Disagreeing with Rashti, Director at Amman's Center for Performing
Arts Lina Al Tal said that these women usually come from poor
families and are primarily seeking monetary returns from these video
clips. Many of them, Al Tal noted, are not well-educated. She also
pointed out that many of them could be feeling a sense of restraint
due to their lack of active participation in family affairs and lack
of empowerment. Thus, they find these video clips as a way to express
their freedom and desire to break free.
But how has this phenomenon started?
Rashti traces it back to 1985, when governments eased off their
intervention in media content, a process known as "deregulation." The
media became very profit-oriented, emphasizing entertainment as a way
to lure youth. As a result, "meaningful media content diminished and
emphasis was placed on attracting viewers by any means and without
observance to minimal standards of decency," Rashti said. This was
first manifested in advertisements, where women were portrayed as sex
symbols and then the shift moved to video clips. "We are presenting
to people, not what they need to see, but what they would like to
see," she said.
Former Chair of the Lebanese Women's Council Iqbal Dogan said in the
program that, in today's modern capitalist era, everything is viewed
as a commodity; thus female bodies are used as a tool for profit.
"These video clips have become like a prostitute market," she
declared. "We are not against progress, but we are asking for
standards of decency. The problem is not in video clips as a concept,
but in using female bodies as a way to market and promote these video clips."
Dogan pointed out that Arab youth's aimlessness in life and their
lack of a clear vision for the future has led to this phenomenon. "On
the one end, we have extreme fundamentalism and on the other end,
imitation of Westerners in the name of modernization," she said.
Al Tal, however, noted that not all Western video clips could be
seen as negative, for some of them tell a story and are decent in
their depiction of women, but Arabs choose to imitate the negative
aspects of the West. In the modern era of globalization, Al Tal
noted, Arab youth are in constant search of their identity and their
goals in life. This causes them to stumble and fall prey to various
social forces. In addition, men own many of the private satellite
channels, and this shapes what is presented in these channels. "Had
these channels been owned by women, females may have been portrayed
in a more positive light," she said.
The real problem, Rashti added, is that these video clips do not
portray reality. Women in the Arab world are not as seductive, nude,
and alluring in their clothing and behavior as these music videos
suggest them to be. "The real danger is that these video clips do not
reflect reality," she said.
A Suggested Solution
"Serious" satellite channels, as Dogan put it, should stand up to
this phenomenon and present Arab women in a way that reflects reality
as judges, as workers, as farmers, as doctors, as engineers, as
teachers. "That is how Arab women actually are in the real world, and
that's how they should be depicted" Dogan said.
On the other hand, Rashti shouldered the responsibility on civic and
community organizations in the Arab world. "Governments shouldn't
deal with everything and can't control the flooding content of
satellite channels," she said.
Civic and community organizations, however, should challenge the
media and call for media accountability. Public opinion groups should
rise up and demand the halting of these demeaning music videos. "That
is how 'Big Brother' program was prohibited due to the rise of
public opinion in Bahrain," Rashti noted. She added that viewers
should use mail and call-ins as ways to express their dissatisfaction
with these music videos. "If the market refuses a certain product,
producers won't sell it," she said.
Dogan also felt that a collaborative effort on the part of religious
scholars, women's organizations, professional syndicates, and the
media would help solve the problem. Not only that, but parental
guidance is a must. "How can a mother watch these music videos then
ask her children not to watch them?" Dogan said in astonishment. "We
have to raise our children properly, instill in them moral conduct,
and supervise their behavior," she said.
Al Tal, however, felt that the solution lies in education. Youth,
she said, need to be aware of what constitutes creative art and what
doesn't. Thus, music and art should be a core part of school
curricula in order to implant in youth taste and appreciation of good
art and dislike of bad art.
In any case, all agreed that these "alluring" video clips are a
trend in Arab society that will subside and die down sooner or later.
Conclusions
The portrayal of women in Arab music videos is part of the bigger
issue of the degrading portrayal of women in the media. Women have
long been depicted in advertisements, music videos, and drama series
as sex symbols and sources of attraction to men with their slim
bodies and captivating looks. With the increasing use of the Internet
and the onset of satellite television, the problem has become more
compounded. This new media offered to youth access to unlimited and
unrestricted images of pornography and semi-naked women. Satellite
television, in particular, with its emphasis on profit-making,
bombard youth with images of women in sexy and skimpy clothing,
reinforcing the notion that women are no more than just idealized
bodies for women to have pleasure in. If societies are to advance,
these new media should be channeled to propagate proper and positive
images of women images that reflect the reality of women as active
contributors to society, not images that serve the interests of
profit-making satellite owners. Only then would be taking positive
steps in eliminating the stereotypes and misconceptions about women
and their position in society.
Limitations of the Study
Due to budget and time constraints, this research study had several
limitations:
1) There were only two coders involved, one of which was the
researcher. Ideally, there should have been three coders to break the
tie on questions where two of the coders disagreed.
2) The choice of a week-long sample of pre-recorded video clips may
be seen as a limitation. However, this decision was based on previous
research studies, which employed content analysis to examine TV
content. Many of these studies have used week-long samples.
3) The unit of analysis in this study was limited to female singers
only. However, the female models dancing alongside the male or female
singer imitate many of the alluring gazes, seductive dance movements,
and skimpy clothing characteristic of modern music videos. It is
definitely worthy of investigation to conduct a study that examines
the portrayal of female models in Arabic music videos.
Suggestions for Future Research
The topic of Arabic music video lends itself to a variety of studies
and analyses. Suggestions for future research include:
Content analysis of how female models are portrayed in Arabic music videos
Content analysis comparing the portrayal of female models in Arabic
music videos to the portrayal of female singers
Content analysis comparing the way male and female singers and
models are portrayed in Arabic music videos. Are there any gender
stereotypes? How are men and women depicted differently?
Content analysis comparing the portrayal of women (singers and
models) in English versus Arabic video clips. How different, or
similar, are Arabic and English music videos in their portrayal of women?
Content analysis of video clips that were aired some 10 years ago
to those that are aired now. In that respect, one may also focus on
one singer and see how his/her video clips have changed from 10 years
ago until now. Were video clips in the past not so "seductive" and
sexually appealing? Were video clips in the past not so focused on
marketing the woman as a sexual symbol?
Surveying youth from different ages to see what they like and
dislike about Arabic music videos, the uses and gratifications they
get from watching these video clips, what they think of the way women
are depicted in Arabic music videos, and how influence they are by
these video clips. This is important to understand the effects these
video clips have on Arab youth.
Another aspect worthy of investigation in Arab music videos is the
lyrics. Existing literature has increasingly criticized the lyrics of
modern Arabic video clips, arguing that they are void of meaningful
content and that they connote many sexual implications. A content
analysis on the lyrics of Arabic music videos would undoubtedly shed
more light on the issue of video clips in the Arab world and their
downward trend.
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Figure 1. Female Performers on Arabic Video Tapes
Clip No.
Name of Singer
Name of Song
Clip No.
Name of Singer
Name of Song
1
Noura Khalil
Ya Bita' El Ni'na'
12
Rayana Hayek
Gheir Hobak
2
Ruby
Leih Beydary Keda
13
Shaimaa Saeed
Da Malu Da
3
Malak
Kallimni Ba'a
14
Asala
Tasawar
4
Katia Harb
Add El Hob
15
Pascale Mashaalani
Shu I'miltillak Ana
5
Hind
Tisafir
16
Hadya
Laow Tihis
6
Carol Samaha
Ghareeba
17
Elaf Elaine Khalaf
Wallahi Haram
7
Nancy Agram
Yeay Sehr Oyounou
18
Danielle
Bahtaglak Mout
8
Maya
Tehram Alaya
19
Hayfa Wahby
Ma Sar
9
Elissa
Agmal Ihsas
20
Clauda Shamali
Habeeb El Rouh
10
Amal Hegazy
Olhaly
21
Hoda
Indahli Had Kibeer
11
Angham
Omri Ma'ak
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