Brief summary of activity
Every music style brings its own stereotypes. Or is there anything in between? Why does HipHop feature a lot women in hot pants with big breasts and backsides? Why do black rappers use nasty expressions? Why are Eurohouse DJs white and nerdy? Is dancing around a pool and riding a big car cool? Is there a boy-band that do not dance identically?
Aim of the activity
Better understanding of issues around media’s gender representation.
Introducing media literacy elements to participants.
Expected Outcomes
The participants will achieve:
- Better understanding of the need for community media to challenge mainstream media messages on gender representation.
- Basic media literacy skills
Experience and skills required
Basic Media Literacy Skills
Infrastructure, setting, resources
No special requirements
Length
40 minutes
Material
Computer with internet connection, paper, pens
How the activity should take place
Participants watch actual video clips for appr. 20 min. They describe how women and men look like in these clips. What are they doing? In which role do they appear?
All these notes will be collected and sorted: Which music style features which roles? How do men and women act? In which relationship? Are there stereotypes?
Why do such stereotypes exist? Are there examples that feature a different image?
Recommended max. number of participants and trainees to trainers ratio
6 participant to 1 trainer (4 participants with learning difficulties to 1 trainer)
Tips for Trainers
The amount of video clips should be something between 6 and 10 including different styles of music: Dancefloor-Tracks, Alternative Rock, HipHop, Folk … Ideally participants watch the video clips in full length (or at least more than 2 min)
Requirements for participants
This activity needs no special knowledge or skills. It is useful for young people who are connected to mainstream pop music.
Evaluation is demanding. If the participants have very different cultural backgroundsthe evaluation could lead into a deeper discussion. If participants speak different languages the evaluation might take some more time.
Visually impaired or blind people can’t participate in this activity.
A variation about acoustic stereotypes might lead to similar results. The discussion about who produces / repeats stereotypes for which purpose is probably relevant.
Analysis and evaluation
When stereotypes are collected it’s important to present different examples: Is HipHop/Indie Rock/Euro House still seductive when it features different gender roles?
Would it work in mainstream media? Why / Why not?
Who is target group of music productions?
Who is the producer?
Scheduling
Any time