Gender Representation in Music

We decided to begin our research by analyzing the ways the two genders are represented in the music industry. We started this by looking at famous album and magazine covers which contain images of both males and females. It is noticeable at your first glance of the covers how the males and females are represented very differently.


Here is an example of how a magazine cover can represent males and females very noticeably different.

Rolling Stone Magazine Cover - Kid Rock

- The male is placed in front of the name of the magazine, however the text at the bottom of the cover is placed in front of the women – this could symbolise the male to have superiority.
- The male is in the centre showing that he is the centre of attention.
- Women are represented as sex objects.
- This magazine cover could be considered to be egotistical because it makes the man appear good in the eyes of other men.
- The male is wearing red – usually women wear that colour when trying to appear promiscuous as the colour red usually holds sexual connotations.
- The women are posing provocatively.
- Their legs are positioned upwards – possibly symbolising possessiveness.
- The man is the only person looking at the camera, his head is also tilted upwards slightly, making it appear that he is looking down at the camera – this helps to give him an arrogant appearance.
- One of the women has their hands on the woman in front of her; this could show that lesbian activity might be taking place between the women. This shows sexuality but it also catches the male gaze as men tend to sometimes like lesbians.
- Some of the women are looking at the women they are standing next to, this might show jealously between the females and could show that there is bitchiness between the females.

Here is one of P Diddy's album covers.

- The woman is always wearing fewer clothes than the man.
- The woman again, is portraying herself as a sexual object.
- The woman is clinging on to P.Diddy, however he is literally using her as a piece of furniture.
- This album cover could again, be considered as egotistical like the one above with Kid Rock, as P.Diddy could appear a role model to other men.
- P.Diddy is wearing a suit – this could represent elegance and also power, especially compared to the naked woman next to him.
- The woman’s hair is placed unnaturally over her face which helps to put the main focus on her body. This helps to portray her even more as a piece of furniture and as a sexual object.
- This album cover helps to promote promiscuity.
- The soft and subtle lighting could possibly be trying to represent what happens behind the scenes.
- The image of the close up of P.Diddy’s face is a way of focusing on only him as there is nothing else in the image to focus on apart from his face.

Having also analysing other music videos, album covers and magazine covers, it is clear that women are mainly represented as being sexual objects and it is very rare to see a woman next to a man without her being represented in this way. This helps women to be degraded compared to men, therefore showing that the society we live in consists of a lot of patriachy (an influence of practices and ideologies which favour the masculine over the feminine).