An Examination of Men, Women, and Gender in Pop Music: Essay

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the portrayal of men and women in pop music, tracing its evolution from the mid-20th century. It explores the diverse roles of musicians, composers, and performers, highlighting the shift from male-dominated fields to the emergence of female singer-songwriters. The essay discusses the influence of pop culture on gender norms, the impact of female musicians like Beyonce and Madonna, and the evolving representations of masculinity and femininity. It examines the impact of gender dynamics, the significance of costumes, and the collaborative practices within the industry. The essay offers a nuanced view of the challenges and triumphs in the pop music landscape.

Running head: MEN AND WOMEN IN POP MUSIC
Men and Women in Pop Music
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Introduction:
The word pop music has been derived from the Pop culture or the popular music. Its
origin dates back to the middle of the 20th century in the United Kingdom and in the nation of the
United States. This genre of music had turned popular due to its various and diverse styles.
Along with its popular style, this music genre had won the numerous hearts because the music
lovers found a sense of familiarity with this music. The different men and the women had been
represented in this pop culture in many forms. The following essay deals with this different
representation of the men and the women in pop music, their way of dressing and also the
manner in which they portrayed themselves and their professions.
Discussion:
The men and the women are very different portrayed in the pop music. The women in
the pop music culture have various different job roles apart from being the musicians. The men
and the women were also performing the roles of composers, singers, music critics, or
songwriters and also the instrumental performers. However as per the discussion of Trier –
Bieniek (2014), in the beginning of the pop music, the music field had been entirely male
dominated and the pop culture had been initially popularized by the patriarchal culture. There
had been the presence of many female singers in the field but they only used to sing in the radio,
and thus there had not been any such representations of them on the first half of the culture. The
young women were not supposed to be seen as song writers or playing any such instruments.
According to Hawkins (2015), in the 1960s, the musicians and the pop music took an entire toll

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in the American Society. They began to be represented as the beginning of changes in the
American society into the romantic and the sexual standards.
As per the discussion of (), by the end of the 1960s, there had been a change in the pop
culture and this time began the new wave of the female singer songwriters. They were gradually
seen to break the confinement of the pop culture and write their own songs following the path of
the female poets like Sylvia Plath. Also according to Avery, et.al., (2017), the women had been
victimized at the very beginning and they also had to face innumerable struggles and gender
discrimination. these famous songwriters included Lauren Pritchard and Katie Thompson. In
accordance with them, there were also the black women musicians such as Beyonce and Whitney
Houston (King, 2016). The representation of the black women into the music industry had not
only influenced the entire world, but also the women of the globe. She won many awards and a
lot of recognition due to her songs which were themed on the independence of the women all
throughout the world. Also according to Flynn, et.al., (2016), she through her stardom had been
able to portray the important message of women empowerment of the entire world. she being an
African American women, was a representative of the gender politics and the racial inequality
that had been increasing in the world. Along with her, there had also been several female bands
and girl groups of the pop music (Hawkins, 2017).
The pop music along with the pop culture imparted the notions and the ideas of
masculinity as well as femininity in the people. The notions of gender and sexuality gradually
started altering with the advent of the pop music and with the introduction of the women in the
pop culture (Scrine, 2017). The medial outlets in the United States saw the changes of the music
culture and the introduction of the variety of gender roles and sexual norms. The audiences all
throughout the world began to absorb the pop culture and started getting influenced by the pop

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musicians. The men and the women especially began influencing the women of the world since
they began talking of the women upliftment and of the circumstances that have kept the women
behind the confinement of the society (Flynn, et.al., 2016). There have been diverse
representations of the femininity and masculinity in the music of the pop culture. There also have
been sexual diversity in the songs and the entire world came to know ,much about the gender
norms. The pop music at the very beginning had been engulfed with the masculine world where
there had been only male songwriters and the male singers and composers. Gradually as the pop
culture improved, there had been the introduction of the feminine gender, representing the
problems that they used to face. As per the statement of Iddon & Marshal (2014), these included
them being characterized by the taglines of hyper feminine, heterosexual as well as hypersexual.
However in spite of all the hardships and the problems, the female representation in the pop
music of America increased and the songs and the song titles had a change in their
representations (Hawkins, 2017). The culture of the popular music actually through its cultural
interpretations altered the concept of the gender divisions and masculinity and introduced the
concept of femininity. In accordance with this, most of the women who are represented as
musicians in the pop music, are seen to be single and not married. They believe that in order to
break from the shackles of patriarchy, they needed to come out of the male gender dominated
society and fight single handed representing themselves as the brave souls (Trier – Bieniek,
2014). The single women were most prominently featured in the music because they had been
taking the feminism and its movement into the account. The men on the other hand had not been
seen to struggle this much to represent their gender in front of the entire society. Instead their
representation gradually became to fade and diminish after the advent of the female musicians in
to the context. However in this context , Maults & Burnim (2016) argues that there have been

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married songwriters and musicians as well who used to perform and make their names in the pop
culture with the help of their partners and their husbands. Being married, it did not stop them
from making their progress. One such examples have been Carole King, who along with her
husband Gerry Goffin, had written a large number of songs such as the “Up on the Roof”, “The
Loco – Motion”, and many others (Dronze, 2017). Moreover, Ellie Greenwich also with her
husband Jeff Barry as her partner wrote several songs. Both the husband and wife made a huge
contribution to the American pop music as they changed the course of the music and involved
the romantic and sexual patterns in them. she began to talk about the people belonging to
opposite sex, being friends in her own songs and also depicted the theme of marriage and sex in
their creations (Leavy & Trier – Bieniek, 2014).
The costumes that the women and the male singers used to wear depicted their customs
along with their pop culture to a great extent. There had been a boater had which had been
created in the 1880s (Custer & Stegmeir, 2014). However it turned out to be popular at the
beginning of the 20th century when the famous singer Gabrielle Chanel popularized it by wearing
it. Most of the female Pop entertainers used to wear clothes that reveal most of their body parts.
There is an idea that the short clothes would draw greater attention of the music lovers. This kind
of strategy had been extremely traditional and most often they were decided by the entertainers
themselves and the musicians. The managers had not much role to play in this. According to the
discussion of Leavy & Trier – Bieniek, (2014), the pop trend actually gained its height with the
female pop singer Madonna who made the pop culture prominent by its music. Even though they
tried to draw the attention of the audience with their fair complexion, in most of the programs
they were portrayed in different racial ways and also in other revealing manner. The female
performers of the 70s and the 80s, included Debbie Harry, Shirley Bassey, Stivie Nicks, had a

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notion that they if could be a little bit more sexier and attractive, they would be attracting more
amount of persons. However the traditional culture of the then time were not as op[en minded as
the people of today’s time. The public image of the women musicians of the pop culture had
been very importantly crafted in order to increase their stardom and also to appeal a greater
amount of audience. Madonna used to wear the iconic costume of Jean – Paul Gaultier cone
brassiere (Custer & Stegmeir, 2014). The main motive behind this costume was the theme of
expressing one’s own self. Also the “Wannabe singer Geri Hailliwell also popularized the Union
Jack Dress. In accordance with these musicians, the famous music band of Beatles made the
military band outfit famous because they wrote music which related to the military band. Also
Britney Spears made the famous Red Latex Jumpsuit popular during her music video release in
the year 2000. Thus as per the argument of Fremaux (2018), most of the consumes and the dress
gears worn by the pop musicians had a specific theme attached to it, which reverberated the
theme and the main idea of the song. The pop culture and the pop history also involves the
famous musician David Bowie, who popularized his outrageous costume that involved the
famous eye patch and the neckerchief. With this he used to represent the famous alter – egos in
the pop music history (Frith, 2016). Lastly the famous character of Michel Jackson had made a
history in the pop music by his costumes and by representing himself with the most iconic
costumes. He had featured himself in the music videos with his killer dance moves and also the
outwear of red and a black leather jacket. Thus the musicians used to be dressed in different
attired with different and strange costumes which not only popularized the pop music and the
pop culture but also made it different from all the cultures of the world, creating a stark impact
upon the audience and the entire world.

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As per the discussion of Kolesnik (2014), there have been a sharp inequality in the
portrayal and representation of the men and the women in the pop music and in the music
culture. The songs by the men and the women have together replaced a lot number of songs that
could have been credited to a single women. Men have begum collaborating with the other men,
thus creating bands and making their music popular. They began to be represented in groups
such as the Beatles. With this there had been an increase in the overall number of male artists in
the pop music culture. However as per the discussion of Leavy & Trier – Bieniek (2014), it has
been seen that the women preferably do not collaborate with other women in groups or bands.
They generally preferred to sing and perform alone and even if they pair up or perform in groups,
the pop music did not become that famous. Also according to Hawkins, (2017), this has been the
reason behind the gender imbalance in the pop music which had been one of the biggest reasons
of the gender abnormality in the pop music genre. However it can also be seen that even if the
pop culture includes and is dominated by the rap culture and the dance, this had been entirely
male centered and patriarchal. However, in the recent times, it has been seen that Cardi B has
outnumbered many of the male musicians and rappers such as Marshmello, Harris, Jax Joens and
many others (Maults & Burnim, 2016). Lady Gaga had also been one of the female musicians
who made her place representing her as an icon in the pop music.
Conclusion:
Thus from the discussion it can be concluded that the music along with the lyrics of the
various sings started to portray the women in the lime light and the feminine culture began to be
discussed and cultivated. Whether negatively or positively, it started getting absorbed by t he
entire world in different attitudes. The pop music and its representation of the men and the

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women began to impart the information to the entire world that the idea of the society regarding
the gender norms and sexuality had been malleable and could be changed with the influence of
the mainstream artists of the pop culture and the musicians. They began to show the entire
society how the women can be portrayed and how they can be made the centre of the entire pop
culture. The female artists have tried their level best to get themselves represented and portrayed
through the music of the pop culture. They through their description of their struggle in the songs
they began to bring the entire world together. Their struggle to come out of the confinement had
been more in comparison to the men. The text of the popular songs and the lyrics, portrayed the
women in a different light and helped the society know their reality. Moreover, after lot of the
women became more popular in the music and pop music shows, they began to represent their
songs with the help of themed costumes.

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