Music through the ages serial#

In fact, it was the ancient Romans who invented tap shoes. The practice was picked up a couple centuries later by the Romans, who added their own touch. Notable writers like Sophocles would write their own music and choreography. The ancient Greeks would often set their comedies and tragedies to music as far back as 600 BC.

The true history of musicals spans back into antiquity. However, musicals have been performed far longer than one may imagine. Musicals are sometimes thought of as a relatively recent development, evolving from the operas that swept Europe. Within this history, the origin of musical theater can be found. What began as rituals to satisfy the gods soon became a form of entertainment, first for royalty, but then for the common man. The sexual revolution’s changing of norms for women led the music industry’s sexualization into the 1970s – and into another blog.The art of theater has probably been around in some form since man first began communicating, but at least since the ancient Egyptians. It’s one thing to take charge of your own body, but it’s another to have the media do it for you via objectification. And some started to try to appeal to male audiences by sexualizing themselves, which has remained widely prevalent in today’s music industry (think back to Britney Spears, as well as Katy Perry, Ke$ha, etc.)Īt this time, please remember that there is a line between embracing your sexuality and sexualization. Here’s where it gets tricky: some women musicians started to take charge of their own bodies and embrace their sexuality. Aretha Franklin didn’t need a man to write a song about her in an itsy-bitsy bikini, because she was out there belting her lungs out, singing about true love and heartache.Ī few years later, in the midst of the Summer of Love in 1967, a sexual revolution occurred, and women became even more freed from their gendered societal norms. These are the women that are hardly ever judged or objectified based on what they’re wearing, or what a nice, cute girlfriend they are, out of respect of their sheer talent. In fact, it seems that the only songs about strong women…were performed by women. The fact of the matter is, if you’re looking at songs about women that came out in the ‘60s, you’re going to get a heck of a lot more that talk about how pretty a girl is than how smart or strong she is. I could go on to list a thousand more songs from the 1960s that objectify women, but I have a word count, and I think you get the picture. Think about it: men driving by a group of women and honking? It happens a lot more than we realize). (This song also encourages street harassment, a practice that is still looked upon as socially acceptable. I said that’s a kind of girl I’d like to meet There’s also the ongoing idea that women are owned by men, or should be: “(Why don’t you come out) with your red dress on “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini”, Brian Hyland “It was an itsy-bitsy teenie-weenie yellow polka dot bikini that she wore for the first time today” “Well she was just seventeen/And you know what I mean/And the way she looked was way beyond compare” Even in songs that have blessed the world with their very existence and are beloved by millions, sexualization shines through: Since music videos didn’t really start to exist until MTV came out in the 1980s, sexualization in songs was basically wrapped up in the lyrics. It was still looked upon as okay for a man to objectify a woman in song and everywhere else–which was pretty much what happened.

But then, something terrible happened: men started objectifying women all over again, regardless of their new-found sexuality. This basically means that women stopped trying to fit into the stereotypical housewife/mother role, and started to embrace their sexuality, as well as demand equal rights in working outside the home and contributing to society, and controlling their finances and bodies. In the 1960s, women started emerging from social roles placed on them by men from beginning of patriarchy (which, according to my World History textbook, was 4,000 BCE). Believe it or not, the sexualization of the music industry did not start with Britney Spears. I decided recently that instead of ignoring the sexy music videos, sexist song lyrics and even the over-sexualized women musicians I see right now, I would do some research on just how long this has been an issue. I’m one of those people who can live without food and water, shelter, human interaction and all that other stuff people are supposed to have to survive, but whose body and existence will shut down upon the removal of music.īut it’s always troubled me, from a woman’s point of view, how much of the music industry that I love sexualizes and objectifies girls and women.

Music through the ages serial#

This is part one in a four-part serial blog about sexualization in the music industry, beginning with the 1960s.