July 31 , 2021
By Kidist Yidnekachew ( Kidist Yidnekachew has degrees in psychology and journalism and communications. She can be reached at kidyyidnekachew@gmail.com. )
There are two epidemics in the music industry. One is not as bad but essential enough. Every week there is a musician that comes out with a song. This is good. Unfortunately, it is a repurposed song, originally performed by some singer from decades ago. Since the older song is known, at least in passing, the re-recorded music sounds catchy right away. Then we find out that it was originally sung by someone else, usually someone that passed away a long time ago.
The new song, recorded with better instruments, is not that better mostly. The only difference is that they have a splashy clip, which brings us to the second epidemic – the increasingly familiar portrayal of women in Ethiopian music.
The other day, I watched a music video on TV, mesmerised by the artist's voice, melody, and lyrics. Out of nowhere, a woman with a skintight top and jeans that were too short pops up. She seemed out of place. The only reason why they must have put her in the music video is to get the attention of viewers, especially male ones.
These days, one can open nearly any clip and find girls – yes, girls as some of them seem to be very young – in a skimpy outfit that barely covers their body. They do have the right to dress the way they like. What is alarming is the producers of these music videos actively seeking them for exhibition in this manner. It is as if this makes up for the artists' lack of talent and poor lyrical content. Even a song that does not have anything to do with partying or clubbing has women showing off some part of their bodies
Why do directors, producers or whoever is in charge of making music videos think that this is the only way to get viewers' attention? Why do women have to be objectified to make a song or its artists more popular?
Sure, the women may be getting paid for participating in the video, and none of them are likely appearing in clips without their consent. The problem is that the music industry is creating an environment where women have few other opportunities to be noticed short of allowing themselves to be objectified by predominantly male producers and artists for the pleasure of the male members of the audience.
It is not only the music industry but the media as a whole. Being in media myself, I have heard multiple stories of talented women denied the opportunity because they refused to sleep with either the director or the producer. Some have sacrificed themselves to make it into the industry. The casting couch is not an urban myth.
Had I been asked a few years ago, I would have said that dressing in a revealing manner is what gets the attention of men and to be beautiful meant to reveal some parts of my body. Now, I have a different perspective, perhaps because I am married with children. A woman’s beauty always shines, whatever she is wearing. She does not need to reveal her body parts to be seen as attractive. If anything, she attracts the wrong kind of men and attention by objectifying herself.
Some men say they like women who dress in that manner. Whenever they see their own sisters doing it, though, they change their minds and feel embarrassed. I could also not imagine fathers being comfortable seeing their daughters depicted in the way they are in the music videos being made these days.
Women should not be used as trophies to display to get ahead in the market and portray them as just pretty faces with skinny physiques. Make a music video that does not degrade a woman’s worth and makes little children grow up believing that the overtly sexualised version shown is the definition of beauty. The fact that this has to be said is depressing in and of itself.
PUBLISHED ON
Jul 31,2021 [ VOL
22 , NO
1109]
Photo Gallery | 56407 Views | May 06,2019
Fortune News | 48289 Views | Jul 18,2020
Photo Gallery | 48274 Views | Apr 26,2019
Fortune News | 47356 Views | Sep 01,2021
July 2 , 2022 . By RUTH TAYE
On a rainy afternoon last week, a coffee processing facility in the capital's Akaki-Qality District was abuzz with activ...
November 27 , 2021
Against my will, I have witnessed the most terrible defeat of reason and the most sa...
November 13 , 2021
Plans and reality do not always gel. They rarely do in a fast-moving world. Every act...
October 16 , 2021 . By HAWI DADHI
Residing in a country with no capital market, an organised marketplace for trading se...
September 24 , 2022
Look no further than the flower industry to appreciate the importance of the European...
September 17 , 2022
The debate shortly after the Council of Ministers nodded a bill to open the financial...
September 10 , 2022
Ethiopia's policymakers and wonks began planning the economy and directing its course...
September 3 , 2022
The late American President, Ronald Reagan, went back after 50 years to a college in...
September 24 , 2022
Spring has come, in the form of a commercial bank. Amhara Credit & Saving Institution restarted operations as a full-fledged bank last w...
September 24 , 2022 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Federal authorities are pushing heads of financial institutions - yet again - to contribute up to two per...
Lia Tadesse's (MD) Ministry of Health foresees building a national reference laboratory as part of a proj...
September 24 , 2022 . By BERSABEH GEBRE
Mesenbet Shenkute has consolidated her incumbency at the Addis Abeba Chamber of Commerce & Sectoral A...
Loading your updates...
Put your comments here