Why South African music videos are failing women

As a mother to a young girl, the last place I ever want to see my daughter is in a music video.

Music plays an important role in the socialization of children and adolescents.

We know it is easier for the younger generation to learn the lyrics to a song or a dance, a whole lot quicker than the any school subject. Just think about how many times as a parent you have said "I wish you knew your school work the way you know this song".

Research from institutes including the American Psychological Association and the UK’s Home Office has clearly shown that music videos are increasingly sexualising and objectifying women. (Source: http://selfesteem.dove.co.za/)

Why am I complaining really? Women wearing very little in music videos is normal - isn't it?

If I’m honest, I’ve never really thought much about how women are portrayed in music videos. That is until I became a mother. I have a son and a daughter.

My generation are totally used to women being provocative and not wearing much in music videos. It’s just normal. But it really hits home when I see this in the local music videos. It becomes too real.

My son finds the videos sexy and cool. I don’t want to raise a young man that looks at women in that light.

South Africa has the biggest and most high profile HIV epidemic in the world, with an estimated 6.3 million people living with HIV in 2013. (Source: www.avert.org)

Yet you find women scantily dressed in these music videos, twerking and gyrating to a point that one just has to put it down to a miracle that these girls do not need major hip surgery after these videos.

In none of these videos do you ever see a condom being passed along with a glass of wine or spread out on the table next to the money and 'party treats' on display.

Just think if Aka and Burna Boy passed a plate of condoms around and wore a red ribbon on their T-shirts in the All Eyes On Me music video. That would have more impact than any government HIV awareness campaign.

It is no good on World Aids Day jumping onto the 'abstain, be safe' Twitter feed when the rest of the year the messages we get in the music videos talk about twerking, bed hopping, drug taking and baby making.

And it definitely is no good wishing women Happy Women’s Day when your music videos are filled with blurred pictures because if we really saw what was being filmed, the women who marched to the Union Building in 1956 would be turning in their graves.

More than 99 000 schoolgirls  in South Africa fell pregnant in 2013 – a rate of about 271 for every day of that year.

This is a dramatic increase from the 81 000 pupils who fell pregnant the previous year and 68 000 in 2011. (Source:  City Press).

The rate of sexual violence in South Africa is among the highest in the world. An estimated of 500,000 rape cases take place in the country, every year. (Source: Wikipedia)

To really make a difference in South Africa, now is the time our local musicians should be creating music videos that show women as more than sex symbols, that teach our youth that staying in school and getting that matric paper will make a difference to their lives, that drugs and partying every day is actually not the way of the ‘real world, that guns and thugs only look great on TV but in reality, you live by the gun, you die by the gun.

Sing or rap about being financially independent. Have women doing more than being the eye candy in the video. And yes, this applies to the female artists. It really is no good talking about wanting respect when your nipples are on display.

However, it is not just a local problem. African artists should be addressing these issues too.

Lyrics have become more explicit in their references to drugs, sex, and violence over the years, particularly in Hip Hop and R&B.

I was horrified when I watched Mikky Jaggaz's Vodka and Panties video. It is four minutes of women shaking their womanly bits with their legs in the air and men rubbing up against them.

What message is this sending to our youth? Drink and be merry and worry about the consequences when you are either pregnant or on your death bed?

What about P-Squared ft Akon's music video for Chop my money? I won't even get into the lyrics. 

Ok wait, I will. Just what does Chop my money mean? Well, my friend that is a good question. Chop money is the money men give to their girlfriends or wives each time they part. It's technically thought of as housekeeping money, but it goes towards a variety of things.

Call me a prude, but I am offended by the fact that money can buy a woman's happiness or silence. And what exactly are we teaching girls, especially with this Blesser trend going around.

If you’ve seen any of the music videos your kids watch you may well feel the same, but there’s no getting away from the fact that music videos are an ever-increasing part of young people’s lives.

So my plea to the local music industry: Stop reinforcing the idea that women have to look – and behave – a certain way to be attractive or accepted in society. Your female fans need more.