The Video Vixen is The Modern Day Hottentot Venus

When I think of the video vixen I think of the Hottentot Venus. Hottentot Venus is a black women named Sarah Bartman (1789- 1816) she was a slave that was a fixture of freak shows; she had a 4’7” frame with a very large back side.

Let me pose this question, Have we really moved past this more than a hundred years later?

As I watch music videos that feature women, the videos often feature women and only their back sides as if it were a freak show. In urban parts of America we embrace women with curves and the healthiness of a thick woman but we rarely get to see the whole person. They only focus is on the sexual aspects, much like Sarah Bartman. Not only do you see the resemblances of the modern day Sarah Bartman in the form of displaying women as a hypersexual beings but hip-hop is now giving women names that rival the “Hottentot Venus” names such as “Video Vixen” and “Buffy the Body”.

Just like slave owners exploited black women in freak shows, hip-hop artist are now exploiting women in music videos.

Women in music videos are used solely for the sake of mass- audience appeal, and become the victims of using “what there mama gave them” as they stand in a thong and heels. You see Jay- Z and the Big Pimpin video a women is willing to allow herself to have champagne poured on her. This image of women is not only false, it is degrading. The lyrics of a song may sound innocent but the music video and its vivid images have effects that are endless. The images in hip- hop videos are raunchy. Music videos in the past and very few in the present were a tool used to address many social issues; Michael Jackson was famous for this. The video Black or White helped raised social awareness of how race is still an issue. Public Enemies fight the power did the same. Music and videos are influential and now with other forms of media they become you tube sensations. A kid in Compton knows how to dance to a song that originated in Atlanta such as superman that ho by Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em; don’t tell me music videos and music doesn’t influence teens.

Music videos have an influence on the minds of those who watch it. The degradation of woman in music videos is expressed more than any other form of media that is available to all ages. It is accessible to all ages, children learn this male form of patriarchy young. A part of the learned mainstream American culture is sexism and misogyny. Male patriarchy is embedded and institutionalized.

In an article called The Exploitation of Woman in Hip-Hop Culture Author: Ayanna says that “the exploitation of woman in hip- hop culture has become accepted part of it for both the artist and audiences alike and many critics blame the music without looking any deeper” Ayanna continues to talk about when going to any hip-hop related event, her and her friends normally expect to be disrespected physically and verbally, and they have to prepare themselves accordingly. She often has to be careful as to what she wears and how she carries herself so she won’t be a target of unwanted sexual advances. Much of the music and many videos specifically transmit, promote and perpetuate negative images of woman. Woman are seen in pop culture as sex objects. A significant amount of misogynistic hip-hop consumers are women; and hundreds of bikini-donned women show up for the music video shoots as unpaid participants. They are free labor!

In a study done about black male/female relationships of the hip-hop generation, many black men in the hip-hop culture that were interviewed valued economic resources and used these resources as a way to manipulate and control women. And some women negotiated with their bodies for things that they wanted. It just doesn’t stop at the music videos but you have to looked deeper into how it has changed you must delve into the culture that is hip- hop. The culture of hip- hop has changed from B- boys, disc jockeys, and freestyle battles to women selling their bodies for advancement in life.

Vibe Magazine talked to four women in the September 2001 issue who all regularly had one-night stands or on-going sexual relationships with rappers. One of the women Vibe talked to is Nikki, a 30-year-old woman who has had many lovers in the hip-hop industry. Vibe said, "…her lovers read like a Who's Who of rap." Her reason for partaking in multiple insignificant relationships with rappers was, "I've got nothing to offer…No education, no good job, and no nothing. So why would a man want me, other than sex? I felt I had to give, so I used myself." Women described, "If you had the right kind of man that wasn't controlling, and you were like a team, it'd be cool…But there's no man out there like that." The four women discuss how rappers have led them to believe there is no hope for a decent man. They have lost the concept of the true relationship between a man and woman, these four women believe women are only good for sexual favors and men are only good for money. We see here the effects of exploiting women.

How do we stop the exploitation of women? “Video Vixens” such as Melissa Ford say’s we need to take advantage of being lead roles in music videos and use it as a platform for other things. The other things Melissa Ford references to be when she says:

“I am the highest-paid video girl to date. I've endured all the side comments and ignorant remarks from people who presume to know me because I'm on their television screens and in the pages of their magazines. But I'm not the promiscuous twit I'm often mistaken for. I am a businesswoman who has used videos to launch a multimedia career. My product is me. "Besides being the lead girl in hip-hop and R&B videos, I am a sex columnist for a men's magazine. I star in my own DVD. I've hosted television shows, and I've produced my own calendar, which I sell on the Internet. My job is to sell fantasy and perfection. When the cameras go on, I detach myself and play the sexy vixen that will turn a nigga out."

From this quote she makes herself sound like somewhat of a porn star not a businesswoman.

I had a conversation with some of my peers the other day in respects of art, one young man said everything is art; it’s how you interpret it. I beg to differ on the stance of “Shake Yo money maker” by: Ludacris is not art rather a mere attempt to gain capital by preying on his fellow black people. There is nothing artistic and beautiful in nature about graphically describing what you would do to a young lady on the 50 yard line in the Georgia Dome. There is a difference between sexuality and sensuality, sexuality is a form of marketing as they say sex sales it generates capital, sensuality is an appeal to your senses and your emotions not erotic fantasies. And Ludas my dude I ain’t tryna diss as Jay- Z would say but Ludacris and his sexual suggestive lyrics and videos is not art it is capitol, sex sales. Maxwell is art, rather than pray on woman, he excites your senses, his melodic rhythms and eloquent style is art.

Education is what needs to be implemented to change the way we think of our women, knowing the history of our woman. We need to remember Harriet Tubman and how she brought men and woman across from the south and into the north. We need to remember the woman who organized the civil rights movement and let MLK JR receive all the credit. Let’s not forget all the woman who take care of their children by themselves and don’t bother to drag their dead beat baby’s daddy to court. Woman has been dragging our asses around as useless baggage for years. Now that we got some footing in corporate America to stand on we feel the need to drag woman down by focusing on their asses for. We must get away from this thinking. It is a moral tragedy that “Video Vixens” share degusting common characteristics with “Hottentot Venus.

By: KY