Women in Popular Music Media: Empowered or Exploited?

Abstract

Are women's lives and freedoms advanced by popular media productions of female sexuality, or do these portrayals restrict women's lives and freedoms by offering false pretenses of empowerment? This presentation examines these questions by investigating the validity of two leading radical feminist theoretical perspectives about the acceptability of popular media's hypersexualized representation of women. Through a combined method of survey response and content analysis, this research aims to bridge the gap between feminist theoretical dialogue and the experiences of women's lives. Research findings emphasize popular media's role as a catalyst for social construction and social change and also indicate the need for further intersections between feminist theory and women's everyday realities.