Feminine Representations within Music Videos

I have found that in music videos today, women fall into three categories: Sexual Objects, Victims or Strong and Independent.

Portraying women as sexual objects
This is seen so often across many different genres and in videos by both male and female artists. In the case of male artists, women surrounding them will be seen wearing very little clothing and lots of make up, 'serving' the guys in the video. For example, in Timbaland and Justin Timberlake's video for 'Carry Out' (2009) there are various girls dressed provocatively and are seen performing for them. This is also seen in the video for 'Ayo Technology' by 50 cent and Timberlake.

But this is also seen in videos by female artists and bands such as Britney Spears and The Pussycat Dolls. They are often seen wearing hardly anything and/or playing stereotypical roles such as a waitress and air hostess. Which in many ways could be seen as derogative to many women as it goes against of the movement of feminism. 

Portraying women as victims 

This can be done in many different ways, females are either victims of physical abuse (domestic violence) or emotional abuse (which could be through something as small as a break up). Ashanti's music video for 'Rain on Me' (2003) and Eminem's video for 'Love the Way you Lie' (2010) are good examples of domestic violence, where the women are seen as the victims of their partners. 

Portraying women as strong and independent 
However, it is becoming increasingly more common to see women portrayed as strong individuals and the sense of female power/pride is growing. The women are still shown wearing sexy outfits and looking good, but they are not serving anyone else, they are running the relationships and are portraying confidence rather than being sexualised. Some good examples of this can be seen in Beyonce's videos such as 'Best Thing I Never Had' (2011) and 'Run the World' (2011).