Women singers singing in their knickers.

[Thelasthurdle]

I admit I'm older generation.
I'm a great admirer of singers such as Nina Simone, Linda Ronstadt, Suzi Quatro, Christine Perfect, Joan Baez, Tracy Chapman etc, etc.
They all not only have great voices but also real musical talent.
And they also don't stand and sing in their knickers
So what is it with people like Beyonce and Rhianna? If they really are talented why do they need to sing in their knickers? Why do they need to use sex to sell their songs? They are powerful enough not to bend to the industry pressure on them. Why not stand or fall on their talents rather than on selling their sexuality.?

The idea that Suzie’s leather trousers and a choker isn’t a sexy look is absolutely laughable. Almost all classic rock is supposed to be sexy!

I've never even heard of Benson Boone.

I just don't understand all the hype about singers such as Beyonce. If you are really talented why do you need to sell your body? Why is your musical talent not enough?

The French Can-Can?
Salomé in the Bible?
Ancient Egypt?

I bet that Otzi The iceman's girlfriend wore something quite slinky around the campfire when the drums were playing.

It's all a mating ritual really.

Isn’t it more leotards / dance wear than knickers? Quite normal for dancers of all bodies to wear small clothes

Exactly…

Here's a couple of photos. One is Aretha Franklin, the others are Cher well before Madonna came along.

I have googled, and he wasn't singing in his knickers. 👕👖

In the 60s all women wore minidresses not just singers so I think that was different.

I don't mind the pants it's the soft porn music videos!!

I agree OP.
When women market themselves as a sex object so very basically and blatantly it affects all women by encouraging men to see us as just that. Objects to fulfil their sexual needs.
Given the enormous issue of violence against women and girls (which is pretty much entirely sex related) this is the last thing we need.
Yes, this has always happened but it is more extreme now. Plus just because it has always happened doesn’t make it a good thing.
Ditto all the crap about Only fans etc empowering women and renaming prostitution sex work.
Enormous empathy for women forced to make such choices to survive but not for those who choose it as a route to a more luxurious lifestyle now it has been made more socially acceptable by the chattering classes feigning faux positivity.

I think it’s so commonplace these days that famous women wearing very little has lost any capacity to shock that it once had - unless we’re talking Bianca Censori of course. All female singers seem to wear little more than their knickers and some kind of fancy bra - surely most of us just 🤷🏻‍♀️ at it these days. It’s not particularly sexually attractive or appealing because there’s no sense of it being risque or titillating any more. In Victorian times, an ankle would be shocking and exciting but now we can all see hundreds of ankles every day so no one cares about them. Female singers’ bums and boobs are the new ankles.

I don't think Beyonce or Rihanna are very good examples tbh. Beyonce is usually in some kind of diamante bodysuit, yes she has her legs out but it's not even close to her underwear. As pp said Rihanna hardly performs anymore and I don't think she was even particularly racy. So I wonder why you have fixated on those two?

Sabrina carpenter on the other hand...

I take it you haven't see Cher's 'turn back time' outfit?

Looks like bits of duck tape

He was singing in a onesie so tight he had to pull them out of his groin at the end on live TV. Men don’t usually wear knickers, but they can absolutely wear clothes that have the same effect.

For goodness' sake, don't whatever you do, check out what some women in punk were wearing in the 70s. You'd need a defibrillator! 😅

She isn’t ‘selling her body’, and that phrase has additional connotations which are inappropriate.

Is your issue that you just don’t like Beyoncé’s music? I don’t really like Tracy Chapman but I don’t use allusions to prostitution to disparage her.

They're not standing there in one from a Primark pack of three are they? They're wearing costumes, like leotards. It's not a new thing for women singing and dancing on stage.

@TwirlyPineapple has it entirely right.

The world, society, culture and the media have moved on dramatically since the days you are talking about.

You're not comparing like with like.

You don't have to like it or understand it if you don't choose, but just being critical without engaging seems rather ignorant.

A woman can be talented/a great singer AND sexy.

I love watching them perform in their cool outfits, costumes etc, it’s all part of the entertainment. I can see women wearing conservative outfits when I go to work. I love the colours, the sequins, the glamour and glitz. And their incredible voices.

Because video killed the radio star. Weve had knickers and the like on the bbc since the 80s madam.

So what you’re essentially saying that unless women dress in a way you seem sufficiently modest, you assume they’re either silly girls being manipulated by clever men, or that they’re selling their bodies for cash?

And you think it was better for Suzi Quattro to sell herself as being ‘one of the boys’ than to celebrate being one of the girls?

Great feminism you’re doing there, OP.

Who do you think buys the most tickets to see, eg, Beyoncé? I’ll give you a clue: it’s not straight men. She hasn’t made millions by selling an image to men.

Honestly, if you only value women who look a certain way and dress modestly or androgynously, and think a woman who is ‘one of the boys’ is superior to a woman who is unapologetically proud of her female body, you’re carrying a hell of a lot of internalised misogyny around with you.

Kate bush caused quite a stir in the 1970s with her leotard.

It’s normal for female singers to have more than one income stream these days. Eg, clothing line, make up Even Billie Eilish (who does not sing in sexy clothes) has her own perfume line I think it’s absolutely fine to present yourself in a way that’s going to have these companies asking you to endorse their products. Female singers have a much shorter life than male and Rihanna has done extremely well in beauty which is probably her true passion these days.

Your examples are a bit dated. It’s 2025 and the last time I saw Rihanna on stage was her SuperBowl performance in a boiler suit. I’d argue that the 2025 example you want to give is Sabrina Carpenter who wears lingerie and fans are generally girls.

Whenever this topic comes up my first thought is always Miley Cyrus writhing around naked on a wrecking ball.

It does women absolutely no favours IMO.

Or church. See them in the choir.