In music videos, it is very common to have a lead singer to be surrounded or engaging with a young, slim and attractive woman who will most likely dressed provocatively
Laura Mulvey's theory of the 'Male Gaze' is explained by her as such:
The male gaze is the way films, music videos and literature depict the world and women from a masculine point of view, presenting women as objects of male pleasure.
As mentioned before, only slim, attractive and young women are portrayed in most forms of media and if not there will always be a reason for the 'lack' of perfection-
Eg: the Ugly duckling or the Ugly Step-Sisters.
In order for a female performer to be successful in the music industry she must for fill all these qualities-
Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus are two excellent examples.
Below we can see Miley Cyrus' 'Wrecking ball'- a very successful song and video and it ONLY shows Miley on her own but by using her sexuality she's able to captivate the male gaze and be successful.
Taylor Swift's 'You Belong With Me' is another example of how beauty and an open sexuality is more appealing.
The narrative follows Taylor as a high school student but she's purposefully portrayed as 'Book Smart' with glasses, 'sneakers' and through her mannerisms how a shy reclusive girl is always shadowed by open, revealing and 'popular' girls.
Taylor also plays the antagonist of the video, her crushes girlfriend. She is exactly like Taylor but with a wig to distinguish them. 'Brunet Taylor' is portrayed as very open with her sexuality, wearing revealing clothes, and trying to attract the male gaze.
Inadvertently the video actually suggests in the final scene when 'Blonde Taylor' decides to take action and pursue for crush that the way to go about it is to change her identity from what was previously deemed unattractive to a bride like outfit and make up.
Even in this innocent narrative we see the saturation of the male gaze and how only the attractive and slim are desired.
Apart from 'sexual objects' women are often portrayed as friendly, gentle, loving, innocent, young, peaceful and venerable.
The same could be said for men but only a lot less predominate. There is no male equivalent of the 'Male Gaze' where men show off their sexuality in order to satisfy women. But like the famous quote- 'Sex Sells' and a young, attractive male singer would be more popular among girls and in a competitive industry like music, this is used as a tool to gain in popularity.
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