'I cried when I saw my first Pussycat Doll costume'

Ooh, someone mentioned The Darkness! I used to fancy the arse off the bass player...

.

How about these?

Debbie Gibson 1988
in 2001
and this year

or these?

Rihanna 2005
Rihanna 2011

Yup, def. old today - La Aguilara looks in need of a good wash in the second picture.

Too much grease (and flesh)

Good god, I must be officially getting old as I'm like at that picture of eden's crush.

They may as well have photographed them naked!! There's no way any male, solo otherwise would/could be made to be pictuered with so little on.

Yes Posie, that sums it up perfectly :o

It's still shit though. :(

But to be sexy as a woman you have to wear very little, seem available and vulnerable to be a man and sexy you have to be strong, powerful....

It's shit.

Jenai, I don't think you are contradicting yourself at all. :)

With Andy Bell, Mika and a few other male performers who are stylised in what could be seen as an androgynous/camp/transgender way, I think the "rules" and the politics are slightly different.

I haven't actually seen videos getting better - like ADC, I mostly saw these at the gym (thank heavens I changed flipping gyms - got right up my nose!) and the difference is impossible to ignore. And, I think this is quite a recent thing - as in the past maybe 6 or 8 years.

Okay, I remember some feminists getting aerated by that David Lee Roth "Just a Gigolo" video in the late 80's. It ripped the piss out of celebrity "culture" of the day and yes, included women in bikinis and lingerie, but good grief, they were still wearing far more than you see in videos today, and not writhing in mock sexual ecstasy. Heck, I think Roth even has his own bottom exposed in one part.

Geez, the Spice Girls in the "Wannabe" video are dressed and behaved like nuns by comparison with what is de rigueur now for female apparel in the music industry at the moment.

And, of course there are those who like to portray feminists who are concerned about the sexualisation and objectification of women in the music industry as prudes and kill joys. Hey, what's new?

There was indeed a spate of videos a few years ago featuring ridiculous, posturing, fully-clothed men being writhed all over by women in bikinis.

I think it's a little better now (although to be fair I don't see an awful lot of videos these days).

I hate the double standard when it comes to outfits on mysic videos. I end up seeing a lot (MTV at the gym) and there seems to be this rule that women have to wear as little as humanly possible, whereas men can wear as much as they like. They only video I can think of in the last few years which had a skimpily clad male was Mika in the "we are golden" video. There was even one about these two men who went to a pool party - naturellement, all the women in tiny bikinis, the men in jeans, hoodies and t shirts. I mean, seriously, if you're going to a pool party you don't wear jeans.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there, joaninha.

"I do know that I wouldn't want the sex removed from music though."

Sorry to keep quoting you Jenai, I'm not picking on you honest!!

For me, it's not about taking the sex out of music but rather allowing performers (female in this case) to express their sexuality (if they want to) in a way that is comfortable to them and not forcing them into a bland plasticized sexuality. IMO what is natural is sexy and there is nothing natural about the kind of soft porn style that pervades our screens.

It's such a waste of talent, because I'm sure it puts a lot of girls off entering into music.

"But often imo (not on this thread, but elsewhere on MN) objecting to the way some women dress is another manifestation of that."

Jenai, you are right and it makes me sad that certain women are so critical of how other women dress. But it is so much easier to go along with society's values than oppose them especially when you have been bashed over the head with them so many times.

KRIKRI that does make sense and I agree with you.

I'm probably contradicting myself at every turn here - in my defence I'm trying to make sense of it all still.

I do know that I wouldn't want the sex removed from music though.

cripes - x-posts. Give me a mo...

gapants.

I don't think many women would want to see a man, not matter how delectable he was, wearing something along those lines. Andy Bell (I'm just so current, me )wears some pretty out there kit but I suppose the big difference is that he's not trying to appeal to women.

Male and female performers dress in sexually appealing clothing. What appeals to male and femal audiences however is different. I have no idea to what extent that difference is biological or social but I'm not sure that a female performer exposing acres of flesh is worse than a topless male performer in absurdly tight trousers.

Thinking of men and skimpy outfits and bare chests reminds me of The Darkness!

Jenai Marr, I think sexuality is an inherent part of popular music. The majority of pop and rock songs since the late 1950's have been about relationships, so directly or indirectly about sex. But whether you are talking about Elvis and his swaying hips, Prince mimicking sex acts on stage or overtly sexual "styling" of male artists today, it was never about their objectification.

Conversely, with female artists, their sexuality is portrayed as objectification - much like female actors on pornography. Their style of dress, actions on stage, etc., is styled to "compliment" their voice or playing with an image of a woman who can be possessed, used sexually and is willing to be used sexually.

Even in music videos for male artists, more often than not, you see them fully clothed alongside very scantily clad female actors or models and the interaction is one of power and control (e.g. man is powerful, woman is controlled.) Heck, even Beyonce's video about women ruling the world (as if) ends with all the women saluting the (clearly superior) men. Gag.

Yes, there are exceptions, like Adele for example. But for every female artist who doesn't don the uniform of a Times Square New York Circa 1970 stripper/prostitute, you'll fine dozens, maybe hundreds who will - because they know that will improve their chances (all be they still slim) of success in the industry.

www.fanpix.net/0081567/012657966/eden-39-s-crush-picture.html

picture of edens crush, modest!

You're right joaninha - they're not judged in the same way.

But often imo (not on this thread, but elsewhere on MN) objecting to the way some women dress is another manifestation of that.

Yes men do sometimes around bare chested, however I'm sure if you did a study you would find that women are usually required to show more skin, from music videos to tv presenters.

Additionally men who show off their bodies are not judged in the same way that women are. The media encourages women to strip off. Yet when they do so these lose respect in our eyes in a way that men don't, IMO. We have a plethora of words for women that go out into the street scantily dressed but not so many for men who walk around with their tops off showing off tattoos across their bodies (and why should we?). Certainly no one ever believes that they are "asking for it".

I kind of agree with Quodilbert, too.

Popular music though has always been about sex. The two go hand in hand. I'm not sure it's unhealthy.

As a rule, men don't prance about in hot pants (Andy Bell would be an exception) but they've long leapt around bare chested.

Btw I don't think it is particularly healthy selling any person's sexuality.

And I agree with Quodilbert.