Performing Gender: A Content Analysis of Gender Display in Music

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Performing Gender: A Content Analysis of Gender Display in Music Videos

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DOI: 10.1007/s11199-010-9814-2

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Performing Gender: A Content Analysis of Gender Display

in Music Videos

Cara Wallis

Published online: 18 July 2010

Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Abstract This study investigated differences in gender

display by male and female performers in music videos.

Goffman’s(1976) conceptual framework of gender display

was refined and expanded upon as a basis for analyzing 12

nonverbal displays associated with subord ination, domina-

tion, sexuality, and aggression in music videos by an equal

number of male and female lead performers. 34 music

videos on U.S. cable stations MTV and MTV2 were

divided into 30-second segments, resulting in 253 units

that were coded for gender display. Findings revealed that

significant gender displays primarily reinforced stereotyp-

ical notions of women as sexual objects, and to a lesser

degree, females as subordinate and males as aggressive.

Implications of music videos’ portrayal of stereotypical

gender displays and their role in the construction and

maintenance of the gender status quo are discussed.

Keywords Gender display

Music videos

Sex stereotype s

Introduction

Music videos are an important part of a hugely profitable

and ubiquitous music industry, with over 10 U.S.-based

cable stations offering some sort of music video program-

ming and countless sites on the World Wide Web allowing

for music video viewing and downloading (Grebb 2006).

MTV—the network responsible for launching music videos

into the mainstream in 1981—has numerous U.S. cable TV

channels as well as networks in over 20 countries around

the world that broadcast a mixture of local and western

(primarily American and British) music in addition to other

entertainment programming (Jones 2005). It is estimated

that U.S. adolescents and young adults watch an average of

between 30 min a nd 3 hr of music videos per day (Roberts

and Christenson 2001; Ward et al. 2005).

Since emerging in the mainstream in the early eighties,

the music video format has generated a fair amount of

scholarly attention, with research focusing especially on the

harmful imagery found in many music videos and the

potential effects of such imagery on youth audien ces (Gan

et al. 1997; Hansen and Hans en 199 0;Kaloff1999;

Seidman 1992; Sherman and Dominick 1986; Smith and

Boyson 2002). Early content analyses of music videos

consistently revealed a proliferation of stereotypical gender

roles, particularly as these pertained to negative images of

women and women as sex objects (Baxter et al. 1985;

Brown and Campbell 1986; Sherman and Dominick 1986;

Vincent et al. 1987). Many studies also focused on violence

in music videos, finding that males, compared to females,

were more likely to be aggressors as well as victims of

violence (Baxter et al. 1985; Kalis and Neuendorf 1989;

Sherman and Dominick 1986; Vincent et al. 1987).

Research in the early nineties reached similar conclusions

(Seidman 1992; Sommers-Flanagan et al. 1993; Tapper et al.

1994).

Although there is evidence that the most popular music

videos do not have as mu ch sex and violence as is

commonly assumed (Gow 1990), and though certain music

videos of particular artists have been praised for promoting

positive messages, such as images of female empowerment,

most have been labeled as crass manipulations of youth for

presenting fantasies of hedonistic pleasure or gratuitous

violence (American Academy of Pediatrics 1996; Emerson

C. Wallis (*)

Department of Communication, Texas A&M University,

4234 TAMU,

College Station, TX 77843-4234, USA

e-mail: [email protected]

Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172

DOI 10.1007/s11199-010-9814-2

2002;Jhally1990, 1995;Lewis1990). Particularly harsh

criticism has been leveled at MTV for catering to male

adolescents in its portrayal of gender stereotypes, particularly

those that denigrate women (Seidman 1992; Vincent et al.

1987) or portray leading females in a narrow range of roles

(Gow 1996).

Despite what seem to be similar conclusions regarding

the content of music videos, there has been continued

scholarly interest in this topic (Beebe and Middleton 2007;

Emerson 2002; Railton and Watson 2005; Smith and

Boyson 2002; Ward et al. 2005; Zhang et al. 2008). Such

attention can be attributed to at least two very different

phenomena. First, several scholars have found music video

to be a format that still warrants investigation in part

because of the increasingly sexualized nature of a variety of

forms of American popular culture as well as the

persistence of gender and racial stereotypes in music videos

despite changes in society that have raised the status of

women and ethnic minorities (Emerson 2002; Railton and

Watson 2005;Ward2003). Second, music videos are now

increasingly available, and potentially more pervasive, both

in the U.S. and abroad, due to the ubiquity of music videos

on websites such as YouTube and multiple viewing

platforms, including mobile phones, portable digital video/

music players, and computers.

This study is a content analysis that attempts to update

(though not replicate) earlier content analyses of music

videos through analyzing gender display in music videos

aired on MTV and MTV2, two of the most dominant outlets

for broadcasting rock, pop , and hip-hop music videos to

youth audiences (Grebb 2006). This research examines the

extent to which male and female lead performers in music

videos adhere to conventional nonverbal gendered behaviors.

The research design drew on Goffman’s(1976)notionof

gender display and subsequent research (Allan and Coltrane

1996;Kang1997) that has expanded upon his work as well

as prior content analyses of music videos. For this analysis, a

group of gender displays involving hand gestures, body

movement, facial expressions, and clothing were selected for

coding in a sample of 34 music videos. Differences in such

displays based on the gender of the lead performer in the

video were expected.

Music video production is viewed by artists and record

labels as part of their marketing strategy, and marketing

research has consistently shown that heavy rotation of an

artist’s music video is associated with higher record sales

for that artist (Hay 1998; Leeds 2002). Because music

videos are not only a form of entertainment, but also a

means of advertising, ultimately created to sell a product,

their images are intended to be especially powerful and

captivating (Jhally 1990, 1995; Kaplan 1987). Cummins

(2007) notes that the inclusion of sexual content in music

videos is an important marketing tool.

As part of the broad palette of media available to youth,

music videos contribute to the media’s role in gender

socialization, a process whereby the media provide accept-

able notions and models of masculinity and femininity,

which can be observed, reflected upon, and imitated

(Aubrey et al.

2003; Gamson et al. 1992; Morgan 1987;

Ward 2003). Though positive gender images—those that

show men and women in diverse occupations and as whole

individuals rather than sex objects or perpetrators of

violence—are certainly found in the media, scholars from

a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives have

argued persuasively that the ubiquity of stereotypical and

highly sexualized gender images in the media, including

music videos, can have negative consequences for the

mental, emotional, and sexual health of youth, especially

adolescent girls and young women (American Psychological

Association, Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls 2007;

Bordo 1993;Pardunetal.2005; Ward 2002). Exposure to

sexualized images in music videos in particular has been

associated with greater acceptance of adversarial sexual

beliefs among young men and women (Kaloff 1999)and

more tolerance toward sexual harassment on the part of some

female adolescents (Strouse et al. 1994).

The Importance of Gender Display and Nonverbal

Behavior

Media of all kinds proliferate depictions of gender, and one

way to analyze such mediated representations is to employ

the theor etical construct of gender display. Gender displays,

part of the larger realm of nonverbal behavior, are the

“tertiary sexual characteristics (that are) lea rned a nd

socially created” (Mayo and Henley 1981, p. 3). Goffman

(1976) specifically defines gender displays as the “con-

ventionalized portrayals” of the “culturally established

correlates of sex” (p. 1). Gender displays can be thought

of as codes that distinguish the way men and women

participate in social situations, and they tend to be viewed

as natural by both the performer and the recipient. Such

depictions of masculinity and femininity are socially

acquired, patterned, used, and understood in relationship

to others. As Goffman notes, “One might just as wel l say

there is no gender identity. There is only a schedule for the

portrayal of gender. . . .What, if anything, characterizes

persons as sex-class members is their competence and

willingness to sustain an appropr iate schedule of displays”

(p. 8). To Goffman, our gendered behavior, as well as our

concepts of masculinity and femininity, are scripts that are

dictated by our environment that we consciously and

unconsciously learn and perform in order to play our

appropriate roles in society.

Gender display, as an aspect of nonverbal behavior,

includes touch, facial expressions, eye contact, gestures,

Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172 161

and posture. Nonverbal behavior is tremendously impor-

tant, yet because nonverbal elements are generally out of

conscious awareness, they usually go unnoticed unless

extremely exaggerated or in violation of behavioral norms.

However, the strength of nonverbal behavior can be seen in

the fact that when the nonverbal contradicts the verbal,

usually the former is believed (Giles and Le Poire 2006).

Nonverbal behavior is also said to encode power

relations (Bordo 1993; Burgoon and Dillman 1995; Mayo

and Henley 1981). Many empirical studies have associated

power with more use of hand gestures, touching others, and

sustained gazing, and have found that men engage in such

behaviors more than women (Burgoon and Le Poire 1999;

Henley 1995; Major et al. 1990). Self-touch, however, has

been correlated with lower status and as such is more often

associated with women (Carney et al. 2001; Harrigan et al.

1991). Just as there is contradictory evidence as to whether

lower-status individuals smile more than those with higher

status (Hecht and LaFrance 1998), some studies have found

that females smile more than males (Deutsch, as cited in

Henley 1995; Hal l et al. 2000; LaFrance and Mayo 1978).

However, others have yielded no significant results (Carney

et al. 2001). In a meta-analysis of 162 studies, La France

et al. (2003) found that women smiled more than men but

that ch a rac t er is ti cs inclu di n g age a nd natio nal it y as w el l as

situational context influenced such behavior.

In general, it has been surmised that a woman who

demonstrates masculine nonverbal behavior may be consid-

ered offensive because she threatens power relations, yet a man

who acts feminine may be seen as merely idiosyncratic (Mayo

and Henley 1981). As summarized by Henley (1995), there is

fairly consistent empirical support for “the hypothesis that

men’s nonverbal behavior tends to parallel the behavior

associated with dominance and power, whereas women’s

tends to parallel the behavior of the subordinate and

powerless” (p. 40). Such implications of nonverbal behavior

in the real-world behaviors of males and females also are

relevant when examining gender display in the media.

Gender Display in the Media

Numerous studies have focused on stereotypical portrayals

ofmenandwomeninthemedia,andtelevisionin

particular has been blamed for creating false expectations

of beauty and body shape (Children Now 1996–2003; Want

et al. 2009), objectifying women (Signorielli 1989; Ward

2003), and allotting more diverse roles to men compared to

women (Bretl and Cantor 1988; Davis 1990 ; Signorielli

2009). However, a smaller body of research has specifically

utilized the co ncept of gender display to analyze the

portrayal of males and females in various forms of media,

especially magazines and television commercials (Allan

and Coltrane 1996; Belknap and Leonard 1991; Kang

1997

). These studies can be traced to Goffman’s(1976)

landmark investigation of the power of visual images in

disseminating nonverbal messages about gender. In his

analysis of nearly 400 advertisements for gender-relevant

behavior, or “genderisms,” Goffman classified men and

women’s portrayals in five ways. In the first, relative size, he

noted that men were almost always taller than women,

presumably to represent their superior social rank. In the

second category, feminine touch, he found images of women

who were pictured touching themselves to convey a sense of

the female body as precious and fragile. In the third category,

function ranking, males in the ads had an occupational or

active role while women usually did not. For the fourth

category, Goffman found several examples of what he saw as

women performing “the ritualization of subordination,”

including lowering the body in deference, a “bashful knee

bend,” and “canting,” or lowering the head to show submis-

sion. In the fifth and final category, licensed withdrawal, he

observed women portrayed more often than men as removed

psychologically (and thus in need of the protection or goodwill

of others). This category included such gestures as covering

the mouth to hide losing control of ones’ emotions (when

afraid, for example), a finger to the mouth to show anxiety or

contemplation, averting one’s gaze or head to show submis-

sion, and numerous poses to indicate withdrawal from the

social situation at hand. Goffman concluded that overall

women were presented as precious or fragile, passive,

submissive, and in need of the protection or goodwill of others.

Goffman’s method has been criticized, mostly for what

has been perceived as a lack of methodological rigor. For

example, Goffman did not choose a random sample of ads

in order to conduct his content analysis, and his categories

are not mutually exclusive (Smith 1996). To Cioffi (2000),

he is merely “stating the obvious” (p. 97). Another criticism

is that gender display as a concept does not get at the depth

to which people “do” gender in everyday interactions (West

and Zimmerman 1991). Still, Goffman’s work has been

extremely influential and has been adapted to address

these criticism s. Belknap and Leonard (1991)extended

Goffman’s categories to analyze men’sandwomen’s

magazines. They found that the prevalence of “gender-

isms,” particularly feminine touch and the ritualization of

subordination, seemed to be greater in so-called modern

magazines than traditional ones. Relative size and f unction

ranking were found less frequently. Kang (1997)com-

pared a random sample of ads in women’s magazines in

the early nineties as a means of conceptually replicating

Goffman’s study. She used Goffman’scategoriesaswell

as two additional ones and, like Belknap and Leonard,

found infrequent instances of relative size and function

ranking. However, there were more stereotypical por-

trayals of female body display and licensed withdrawal

than in Goffman’sstudy.

162 Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172

Other research has analyzed gender display in television

commercials. Comparing commercials from the “classic”

era and from the 1980s, Allan and Coltrane (1996) found

gender stereotypes still at work, often with little change

between the two periods, particularly in terms of the

number of men compared to women and the voice of

narrators. They also noted an increase in nontypical gender

display of nearly 28% for women (e.g. women demonstrating

“masculine” traits) but a decrease by 9% for men. Allan and

Coltrane concluded, “Much of what we do with gender

display in social interaction is ‘boundary work:’ we create and

reaffirm group boundaries and construct differences between

males and females” (p. 201). In other comparisons of

commercials over time, larger degrees of gender bias and

stereotypes have been found in more recent commercials than

in earlier ones, indicating that television commercials may

have actually regressed in terms of gender neutrality (Bartsch

et al. 2000; Ganahl et al. 2003).

Such research suggests that the concept of gender

display is a useful framework for analyzing gender

representations in various types of media, particularly when

the research focus is on nonverbal behavior. Aware of the

critiques of Goffman, Smith (1996) sees potential for

systematizing and extending Goffman’s analytic frame-

work. Among his recommendations are that Goffman’s

categories should be made mutually exclusive, and that as

analytic categories they need to be operationalized in order

to be more effective. He also discusses the need for new

types of “genderisms.” These suggestions will be addressed

in the current study, which investigates the nonverbal

correlates of gender in music videos, a topic that has been

understudied in music video research.

Overview of the Study

Though prior research offers persuasive findings regarding

women’s subordinate status and men’s dominant status in

media depictions in general, this study seeks to remedy

certain limitations in some of the previous analyses of

gender representations in music videos and to offer a

unique perspective throu gh focusing specifically on gender

display. First, in several studies (Seidman 1992; Sherman

and Dominick 1986; Vincent et al. 1987) only concept

videos, in which a performer plays a role in the “story” of

the video, were analyzed to the exclusion of performance

videos, or videos that portray the artist simply performing

the song. It is true that more is usually “happening” in

concept videos in the sense that lead performers can take on

an array of different behaviors, costumes, and roles while

acting in the video. However, it seems likely that an

exclusion of performance videos might skew the research

results, and studies that only take into account concept videos

while claiming to measure what is in music videos may not be

presenting the whole picture. This study analyzes concept as

well as performance videos because gender display, which is

an often unconscious correlate of masculinity and femininity,

should be prevalent in both types of videos.

Second, in a number of the prior content analyses that

investigated sexuality or gender in music videos, the whole

video was used as the coding unit so that behaviors and

characteristics of performers were only coded once (e.g.

Baxter et al. 1985; Seidman 1992

; Tapper et al. 1994;

Vincent et al. 1987). However, because most music videos

are three to four minutes in length, it is very likely that

certain behaviors will be repeated during the course of the

video. Only coding a particular behavior or gesture one

time allows for the potential misrepresentation of what is

happening in music videos. This study therefore divided

each video into 30-second units to be coded in order to

capture a more complete picture of gender display.

The third and perhaps most significant reason to look

once again at the content of music videos is that although

prior music video research has focused on sex-role stereo-

typing, none have performed a comprehensive analysis of

gender displays of male and female performers in the

videos in the manner of Goffman’s original study of print

ads or in the mode in which Smith (1996) suggests

Goffman’s categories can be expanded and operationalized.

Analyzing displays “of” the body such as hand gestures and

facial expressions as well as displays “on” the body

including clothing may shed more light on constructs of

femininity and masculinity in music videos.

Finally, given societal changes since much of the previous

music video research was conducted, there is reason to believe

the gendered content of music videos is in need of a fresh

assessment. Some recent summaries and meta-analyses of a

large body of research on gender suggest that there may be

more similarities than differences in the thinking and behavior

of men and women (Barnett and Rivers 2004;Hyde2005).

Certain trends in popular culture and in the music industry

itself in recent years, such as “emo” (emotional) rock, “riot

grrrls,” and “girl power,” purport notions of gender equality

and broadened ideas of acceptable forms of masculinity and

femininity (Banet-Weiser 2004; Leonard 1997; Whitely

2000). On the other hand, some have argued that postfem-

inist notions of gender equality and female empowerment

have meant that women have become even more sexualized

and objectified in the media (Levy 2005;McRobbie2004).

Others believe that as the overall status of women continues

to increase in society, the result will be less stereotyped

gender representations of men and women disseminated in

popular culture (Gauntlett 2002). However, as the research

cited above indicates, this does not seem to be the case with

television commercials or magazine ads, so there is no

reason to automatically assume this is true in music videos.

All of these trends give cause for a reexamination of male

Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172 163

and female representations in music videos through utilizing

gender display as a theoretical framework.

Research Question and Hypotheses

An analysis of gender display in music videos is relevant, both

for theoretical and sociological reasons, as it potentially serves

to further knowledge of the media’s role in the social

construction of gender. Though humans become “gendered”

through multiple complex processes that are both conscious

and unconscious, the media representations that are absorbed

(consciously and unconsciously), reflected upon, and imitated

play a key role (Aubrey et al. 2003; Gamson et al. 1992;

Morgan 1987; Ward 2003). Modeling and imitation can be

vicariously reinforced through seeing others—particularly

role models in various media—rewarded for what is

considered correct behavior, including gender appropriate

behavior (Bandura 1986; Bussey and Bandura 1999). For

youth, popular music artists are often viewed as role models

(Raviv et al. 1996), and music videos have been shown to

affect adolescents’ conceptions of acceptable sexual behavior

and gender stereotypes (Hansen and Hansen 1988; Strouse et

al. 1995;Wardetal.2005; Zhang et al. 2008). Their

increasing availability through a variety of platforms

(Internet, mobile phone, iPod) means that their images and

messages are potentially more widespread than ever before

(Caramanica 2005). Although claims of direct effects of the

media on people’s gender attitudes and behavior are highly

contentious, we know that there is at least some influence

(Gan et al. 1997; Hansen and Hansen 2000); hence,

revisiting the topic of the content of music videos is

worthwhile. As Seidman (1992)notes,“Music videos not

only appear to reflect society and its norms, but may also

help socialize young people by communicating ideas about

proper behavior … as well as influencing males and females

to develop distinct personality characteristics” (p. 209).

This research investigates the representations of males

and females and the nonverbal behaviors that are associated

with masculinity and femininity in current music videos.

The research question guiding this study is, what are the

gender displays of male and female lead performers in their

music videos and h ow do they differ from one another? The

answer could reveal much about the often subtle (or not so

subtle) construction of gender in music videos.

Much of the literature on nonverbal communication and

gender display summarized earlier links certain nonverbal

behaviors with power (Burgoon and Dillman 1995; Goffman

1976; Henley 1995). Prior content analyses of television

commercials and music videos have shown men and women

in hierarchical positions, with men displaying more domi-

nance compared to women (Allan and Coltrane 1996

;

Seidman 1992; Sommers-Flanagan et al. 1993). Because

previous research has also found that televisual portrayals of

gender often lag behind more progressive notions of gender

equality in real life (Ganahl et al. 2003), the first two

hypotheses in this study are:

: Female lead performers will display more subor-

dinate nonverbal behavior than will male lead

performers.

: Male lead performers will display more dominant

modes of nonverbal behavi or than will female lead

performers.

Because much of the research on music videos and

television commercials has shown high degrees of sexuality

associated with women (Brown and Campbell 1986;

Rouner et al. 2003; Seidman 1992) and in the case of

music videos, high degrees of aggression associated with

men (Kalis and Neuendorf 1989; Vincent 1989), the third

and fourt h hypotheses in this study are:

: Female lead performers will display more overt

sexuality than will male lead performers in terms of

suggestive gestures, facial expressions, and attire.

: Male lead performers will engage in more

nonverbal displays of aggression than will female

lead performers.

In general, it is hypothesized that despite changes in

society a nd in popular culture, male and female lead

performers will demonstrate stereotypical gender displays

in their music videos.

Method

Design

This study examined gender display of male and female

lead performers in a sample of concept and performance

music videos aired on MTV and MTV2. These networks

were chosen as popular television outlets for airing rock,

pop, and hip-hop videos to a large audience. More than 86

million households subscribe to MTV alone (MTV Net-

works International 2004). In 2004 MTV had been the

number-one rated 24-hour ad-supported cable network

among 12-to-24-year-olds for 31 consecutive quarters while

MTV2 was also extremely popular among adolescents and

young adults and reached over 45 million households

(MTV Networks International).

A content-analytic scheme was developed based on

gender-stereotypic nonverbal displays in ac cordance with

Goffman’s categories and Smith’s(1996) suggestion to use

mutually exclusive “genderisms.” The prior findings on

gender representation in television commercials and music

videos discussed earlier were also considered in developing

the content-analytic scheme. As elaborated in more detail

164 Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172

below, gender displays initially chosen for the analysis

included hand gestures, body movement, and facial

expressions. Clothing, a gender-stereotypic nonverbal dis-

play adorning the body, was also included.

Video Selection

Music videos were selected using a purposive sampling

strategy. The goal was to generate a broad sample of pop,

rock, and rap music videos popular at the time and that

contained sufficient representations of males and females for

meaningful comparisons. An equal number of videos by male

and female lead performers was desired in order to run a

MANOVA as a discriminant analysis, a test that requires equal

cell sizes to be robust to the assumption of multivariate

normality.

ThirtyhoursofMTVand10hrofMTV2were

videotaped for three weeks during late October 2004 and

early November 2004. Videotaping was done on alternating

days during rotating three-hour blocks between 5:00 am

and 11:00 am, considered “prime time” for music videos

because most MTV daytime programming is increasingly

devoted to talk shows, game shows, and reality shows.

During the sampling period, it became clear that MTV

broadcast an overwhelming number of videos with male

lead performers, so additional recording of MTV2 was

done during the last week of the taping period. This taping

added only three additional musi c videos to the sample.

This limited number and the fact that only 82 unique videos

aired throughout the taping period suggests that the taping

captured the videos in rotation at the time. The taped videos

were also assumed to be representative of a broader time

period because there is no available evidence that indicates

that seasonal changes influence the types of videos shown;

rather, a given video’s amount of rotation is strongly linked

to its song’s sales volume (and vice versa). It should be

noted that all of the videos analyzed in this study were also

available on MTV’s website and thus potentially accessible

to a much larger audience both domestically and interna-

tionally at any time. In addition, some of the videos were

featured on its home page as well as on Total Request Live

(TRL), a popular show at the time of taping.

The 40 hr of taping yielded a sample of 65 unique videos

of male performers and 17 unique videos of female

performers. In line with previous content analyses (e.g.,

Sherman and Dominick 1986; Sommers-Flanagan et al.

1993), repeated videos were eliminated. To obtain an equal

number of videos by males and females, the 65 male videos

were numbered and a sample of 17 videos was selected by

drawing 17 two-digit numbers from a random numbers

table. The final total number of videos coded was 34. For

ease and comprehensiveness of coding, each video was

divided into units of 30 s, with the average video containing

7.5 units for a total of 253 units. A time display was put on

each video to facilitate coding.

Measure

Gender

In this study, sex was assumed to affect gender display. Sex

was operationalized as the physical presence of a male or

female lead performer in each music video. Given the

findings on sexism and gender stereotypes in prior content

analyses of music videos and concerns about the prolifer-

ation of such images, the focus of this study was also on

gender, but gender display was utilized as an unexplored

framework in music video research. Because the emphasis

was gender display, the race of the artist and the style of

music were not considered in the analysis.

Nonverbal Behaviors

After a process of refining variables, as described in more

detail below, 12 gender displays were chosen to be coded.

Six hand gestures, two body movement displays, and three

facial expressions were selected for coding, as was clothing

of the lead performer.

Procedures

Development of Coding Scheme

This study focused on gender displays of the lead performer of

each video. A lead performer was operationalized as the lead

singer of the song in the video; in other words, the person who

both sang the lead vocal and appeared in the foreground of the

video. Other band members, background singers, and sup-

porting dancers and actors were ignored. The rationale for this

design was that the lead performer in a music video is the one

who is crucial to the performance or the central concept being

depicted and as such should receive most of the viewer’s

attention (Brown and Campbell 1986; Vernallis 2004).

Before coding the videos, previous content analyses of

music videos were scrutinized, in particular Seidman (1992)

and Sommers-Flanagan et al. (1993), for operationalizations

of gender roles, nonverbal expressions of sexuality, and

physical aggression in music videos. Goffman’s(1976)

original analysis of gender display and subsequent studies

based on his analytic categories were reviewed as were

studies of nonverbal gender displays and nonverbal commu-

nication as a function of gender in order to make a

preliminary list of gender displays (Belknap and Leonard

1991; Carney et al. 2001; Goffman

1976;Kang1997;

Signorielli et al. 1994). In the preliminary coding scheme,

subordinate nonverbal gender displays included touching

Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172 165

hair, delicate self-touch, smiling, averting one’seyes,anda

childish finger to/in the mouth. Nonverbal gender displays

expressing overt sexuality included sexual self-touch, sugges-

tive dancing, a sultry look, and wearing slightly provocative or

provocative clothing. These subordinate and sexual gender

displays were meant to address Goffman’scategoriesof

feminine touch, ritualization of subordination, and licensed

withdrawal and Kang’s concept of female body display. In the

preliminary coding scheme, ge nder displays conveying

dominance included several posture and eye contact displays,

and nonverbal displays signifying aggression included fling-

ing hands/fingers, showing force, aggressive playing of an

instrument, and showing passion while singing. Because

previous studies found Goffman’s relative size and function

ranking to be insignificant, these were not included. A sample

of videos was then viewed and the categories refined.

Coders

Two coders (both white females in their early twenties) were

trained for several hours in the use of the coding scheme with

music videos that were not included in the study sample. The

coders watched each video numerous times and coded each

30-second unit of each video for presence (1) or absence (0) of

the nonverbal behaviors. In addition, clothing of each

performer was coded once for each outfit the performer wore

in the video. Clothing was coded as neutral, slightly

provocative (clothing that reveals more of the chest, abdomen,

or the thighs than in everyday work/school attire), or

provocative (revealing most of the body). Coders made their

decisions independent of one another. Intercoder agreement

was determined by using Co hen’s kappa, which was

calculated using SPSS. During the training process, variables

in the preliminary design dealing with eye contact and posture

were discarded due to a lack of intercoder reliability. The

intercoder reliability coefficient for each retained variable

was: flinging hands/fingers (.8), show of force (.8), touching

hair (.8), delicate self-touch (.7), suggestive dancing (.9),

smiling (.9), passionate singing (1.0), neutral clothing (1.0),

slightly provocative clothing (.8), and provocative clothing

(.8). Although the coders were in perfect agreement as to the

presence or absence of childish finger to/in the mouth, sexual

self-touch, aggressive playing, and a sultry look across all

segments and across all videos, there was no variability in the

presence/absence data—for example, both raters agreed on

one instance of aggressive playing—such that both of the

variables were constants, and kappa could not be computed.

Results

A set of analyses was constructed to answer the general

research question: what are the gender displays of male and

female lead performers in their music videos and how do

they differ from one another? This set of analyses was also

designed to test the four hypotheses: Hypothesis 1, that

female lead performers will display more subordinate

nonverbal behavior than will male lead performers;

Hypothesis 2, that male lead performers will display

more dominant modes of nonverbal behavior than will

female lead performers; Hypothesis 3, that female lead

performers will display more overt sexuality than will

male lead performers; and Hypothesis 4, that male lead

performers will engage in more nonverbal displays of

aggression than will female lead performers.

Research Question: Gende r Displays and Differences

The research question asks about the gender displays of male

and female lead performers in their music videos and assumes

differences in such displays. Although the videos were coded

for presence or absence of each gender display in each

30-second unit, to be able to apply parametric statistics to the

analysis of the data, the coding units were collapsed to obtain

a measure of the percentage of intervals in which each

behavior was displayed. A discriminant analysis was then

conducted to perform a multivariate-analysis of variance test

of the general hypothesis that male musicians differed from

female musicians on a linear combination of 11 types of

nonverbal behavior (flinging hands/fingers, childish finger to/

in the mouth, show of force, touching hair, delicate self-touch,

sexual self-touch, suggestive dancing, aggressive playing of a

musical instrument, smiling, sultry look, and passionate

singing), such that males will have a significantly higher

value on the combined indicators than females (type of

clothing was not included). A discriminant analysis was

chosen for theoretical reasons in that nonverbal behaviors

seldom operate independently of one another; rather, they

appear in clusters so it is appropriate to analyze them as a

group (Burgoon and Bacue 2003). Methodologically a

discriminant analysis takes into account the relationship that

variables have with one another, and it reduces the

possibility of generating a significant relationship by chance

(Williams and Monge 2001).

The obtained value of Wilks’ lambda, .355, was

significant at p=.004 (Chi-square=27.458, df=11). The

canonical correlation between the gender grouping variable

and the new canonical variable composed of the 11

weighted predictors was .803. Significant univariate differ-

ences between males and females were also obtained for

percent of touching hair, F (1, 32)=24.718, p<.001;

delicate self-touch, F

(1, 32)=18.313, p<.001; sultry look,

F (1, 32)=14.08, p=.001; suggestive dancing, F (1,32)=

8.741, p=.003; sexual self-touch, F (1, 32)=5.384, p=.014;

aggressive playing, F (1, 32)=4.392, p=.022; and flinging

hands/fingers F (1, 32)=2.992, p=.047.

166 Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172

Table 1 shows the average of the percentage that each

gender display occurred in each video by a male lead

performer and each video by a female lead performer,

where the length of the video was taken into consider-

ation in the calculation. As shown in the table, the

percentage mean for all displays was in the expected

direction even when not significant. The variables with

significant differences of the means of the percent of

occurrence were: flinging hands/fingers, 51.33 for males

and 30.48 for females; aggressive playing, 13.20 for

males and .00 for females; touching hair, 1.24 for males

and 38.35 for females; delicate self-touch, 5.78 for males

and 37.14 for females; sultry look, .00 for males and

34.56 for females; suggestive dancing, .74 for males and

26.80 for females; and sexual self-touch, 2.69 for males

and 15.57 for females.

Table 2 presents the stand ardized discriminant function

coefficients. Higher scores on the discriminant function

corresponded to higher rates of passionate singing, aggres-

sive playing, flinging hands/fingers, and showing force, all

variables associated with male gender display. The main

anomaly was the positive coefficient for sexual self-touch

because this display was assumed to be associated with

female musicians. Lower scores corresponded to higher

rates of childish finger to/in mouth, delicate self-touch, a

sultry look, and touching hair, variables consistently

associated with female gender display.

Table 3 displays the group centroids on the discriminant

function; the female group had a low positive centroid with

respect to the function and the male group had a high

positive centroid with respect to the function.

Table 4 presents the resu lts of the reclassification

analysis, which shows that the discriminant function was

successful in reclassifying 91.2% of the cases. Note that the

discriminant function was more successful in classifying

male performers than females. Gender display variables

relating to female perfo rmers that were significant by

univariate tests were not associated with the discriminant

function in a consistent way, and some of the female

performers who had higher scores on a certain variable may

have been incorrectly classified as male.

Hypothesis 1: Subordinate Nonverbal Behavior of Females

As indicated in the above discussion, the first hypothe-

sis, that female lead performers would display more

subordinate behaviors than males would, was partially

confirmed. As shown in Table 1, female lead performers

displayed more touching of hair and delicate self-touch.

Although smiling and childish finger to/in the mouth were

considered to be subordinate behavio rs, the findings

regarding both were not significant.

Table 1 Averages of percentages of gender displays by sex of

performer.

Gender display Males Females

Larger percentage mean for males

Flinging hands/fingers* 51.33 30.48

Passionate singing 24.36 14.72

Aggressive playing* 13.20 .00

Showing force 5.10 2.96

Larger percentage mean for females

Touching hair* 1.24 38.35

Delicate self-touch* 5.78 37.14

Sultry look* .00 34.56

Suggestive dancing* .74 26.80

Smiling 16.53 24.70

Sexual self-touch* 2.69 15.57

Childish finger to/in mouth 1.31 3.08

Significant differences between means (α <.05) are marked with an

asterisk. The figures in the two columns show the average of the

percentage that each gender display occurred in each video by a male

and female lead performer, taking the length of the video into

consideration

Table 2 Standardized canonical discriminant function coefficients.

Gender display Function 1

Sexual self-touch .657

Passionate singing .400

Aggressive playing .278

Smiling .247

Flinging hands/fingers .224

Showing force .208

Suggestive dancing .166

Childish finger to/in mouth −.219

Delicate self-touch −.373

Sultry look −.712

Touching hair −.772

Positive coefficients indicate displays that were associated with males

whereas negative coefficients indicate displays that were associated

with females. The positive coefficient for sexual self-touch is an

anomaly

Table 3 Unstandardized canonical discriminant function evaluated at

group means.

Gender of performer Function 1

Male 1.308

Female −1.308

The male group had a high positive centroid with respect to the

function and the female group had a low positive centroid with respect

to the function

Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172 167

Hypothesis 2: Dominant Nonverbal Behavior of Males

The second hypothesis, that male lead performers would

display more dominan t n onverbal behavior was not

confirmed. This r esulted from the dis carding of the

variables associated with dominance during the training of

the coders. Sufficiently high levels of reliabil ity were not

obtained for eye contact and posture, and consequently

these variables were removed from the analysis.

Hypothesis 3: More Overt Sexuality Displayed by Females

The third hypothesis, that female performers would display

more overt sexuality compared to males, was confirmed. As

shown in Table 1, females engaged in significantly more

sexual self-touch, suggestive dancing, and sultry looks.

Independent one-directional t tests also showed that female

lead performers wore neutral clothing much less often than

males did, t (unequal variances)=4.14, df=16.411, p<.001.

Females wore neutral clothing an average of 45.28% of the

time while males averaged 98.09%. Females frequently wore

slightly provocative clothing, t (unequal variances)=−4.12,

df=16.401, p<.001, with a mean of 44.62% compared to a

mean of 1.18% for males. Though not as common, females

also wore provocative clothing more often than males, t

(unequal variances)=−1.802, df=16.655, p=.045, with a

mean of 10.09 for females and .735 for males.

Hypothesis 4: More Aggressive Displays by Males

The fourth hypothesis, that male lead performers

would display more aggressive behaviors than females,

was partially confirmed as males em ployed significantly

more aggressive playing of instruments than females and

engaged in significantly more flinging of fingers/hands.

Results for passionate singing and show of force were

not significant.

Discussion

This study drew upon Goffman’s(1976) theoretical

construct of gen der display in order to an alyze th e

nonverbal correlates of masculinity and femininity in music

videos. The findings reveal that gender display is indeed a

salient feature of music videos. As exp ected, there were

differences in gender displays based on whether the lead

performer of the video was male or female, and the gender

displays that were significant reinforced stereotypical

notions of masculinity and femininity. To the extent that

male and female artists perform a song in a video, they also

perform gender.

The majority of the significant findings in this study

were for gender displays that are constructed as overtly

feminine. Female performers’ displays of touching hair and

delicate self-touch were consistent with Goffman’s(1976)

study of gender display in print advertisements, as well as

with Belknap and Leonard’s(1991) and Kang’s(1997)

findings regarding gender displays of feminine touch in

magazines. They also align with previous studies of MTV

that found women portrayed in a more submissive manner

(Seidman 1992; Vincent et al. 1987). Such data reveal that

despite women’s gains in equali ty in the real world, and

despite hopes for less stereotypical gender representations

in popular culture, in the realm of music videos women are

still depicted as more fragile and thus in need of the

protection of men.

In contrast to some earlier studies (e.g., Sommers-Flanagan

et al. 1993), male performers were not observed engaging in

sexual behavior. It is interesting to note that such findings are

consistent with the portrayal of males in video games

according to a recent content analysis (Pieper et al. 2005).

However, considering that three of the five significant

displays for females (sexual self-touch, suggestive dancing,

and sultry look) were of sexual behavior, the message given

by and about women in these videos seems to be that

sexually suggestive behavior is normal and appropriate for

women but not necessarily for men. Images of female lead

performers dancing suggestively or touching themselves in a

sexual manner drive home the point that women are sexual

objects, ready to be consumed by men. The clothing worn in

the videos also communicates this message. Nearly all the

male performers in the videos wore neutral clothing while

provocative clothing was worn by the majority of women.

This result differs from Vincent et al.’s(1987) finding, where

the sex of the performer was not correlated with seductive

dress, and it reveals an increase compared to Seidman’s

(1992) content analysis of music videos in which one third of

females wore revealing attire. It also affirms numerous

studies of television in general and television commercials

in particular that have found that women are expected to be

sexy while men do not have to meet such demands. The

same complaint has been raised numerous times in relation

to the music industry (Coates 1997;Leonard2007).

In terms of aggressive behavior, males were significantly

more likely to engage in aggressive playing of an

instrument while no females manifested such behavior.

Table 4 Classification results.

Gender of performer Predicted group membership Total

Male Female

Male 17 (100%) 0 17

Female 3 (17.6%) 14 (82.4%) 17

91.2% of original cases were correctly classified. The discriminant

function was more successful in classifying male performers than

female performers

168 Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172

Males were also more likely than women to fling their

fingers or hands in an aggressive manner. The message

seems to be that just as women are expected to act sexually,

males should engage in more typically masculine aggres-

sive behavior. These findings are consistent with all of the

music video research reviewed earlier.

Taken as a whole, this research has two main implica-

tions. The first is that the theoretical construct o f gender

display is a useful framework for analyzing mediated

representations of masculinity and femi ninity. A focus on

gender display h elps reveal how gender is constructed

nonverbally in the media. To return to Goffman, an analysis

of gender display is a means of understanding how the

“appropriate schedule of displays” is sustained. Nonverbal

cues are often taken for granted and out of conscious

awareness, yet bringing them to the forefront of investiga-

tion is an important task. The fact that gender displays, like

all nonverbal behavior, are complex and interrelated, with

several cues acting simultaneously rather than in isolation,

means that their overall impression can be quite profound,

particularly when they are presented as the norm and in a

powerful medium such as a music video.

Though Goffman’s(1976) categories served as the initial

basis for this analysis, in the process of developing the

coding scheme it became clear that only gender displays

associated with what he termed “feminine touch” and

“ritualization of subordination” should be operationalized.

Furthermore, whereas those displays associated with “fem-

inine touch” (touching hair and delicate self touch) were

found to be significant in the analysis, this was not true of

displays associated with the “ritualization of subordination”

(smiling, childish finger to/in mouth). This finding suggests

that in our current media environment, an analysis of gender

display must place greater emphasis on those displays that

express female sexuality. The corollary for males is found in

displays that express aggression.

The second implication of this research is that analyzing

gender display reveals the institutionalized sexism that

persists in media representations. Overall, the findi ngs

regarding gender display in music videos communicate,

once again, a distorted message as to females’“proper” role

in society—as sexual and subordinate—and, to a lesser

degree, males’“proper” role as well—as aggressive. Solely

in terms of who is shown, the difficulty in obtaining an

equal number of videos by male and female lead performers

reveals the dominance of males on music television to a

much larger degree than in previous content analyses of

MTV (65 male videos compared to 17 female videos in

40 hr of videotaping).

These findings, unfortunately, are not surprising because

music videos are a form of entertainment as well as a means

of advertising, and numerous studies have found stereo-

typed gender behavior in both. At the same time, as more

female performers have claimed equality with men and

have sought to break down gender stereotypes in the music

industry, the degree of stereotyped gender display in music

videos raises concern as to the impact women have actually

had in shifting this very gendered terrain. Although most

musical artists do not produce their own music videos, in

assuming a highly gendered identity, in performing gender,

these artists are participa ting in the maintenance and

production of the gender status quo. For the most part,

they are not challenging the established gender order but

are reproducing socially constructed gender hierarchies. If it

is true that gender-deviant behavior is punished (Mayo and

Henley 1981), then in such a highly commercialized realm

as the music industry, when deviance could possibly mean

the loss of a career, perhaps it is no wonder highly gendered

behavior is consi stently observed. Certainly there are artists

going against the grain of gender stereotypes, but as this

study reveals, they are in the min ority.

This study suffers from some limitations, one of which

was a relatively small sample size (34 videos). The design

of the study required an equal number of videos by males

and females, but this was difficult to achieve due to the

predominance of videos on MTV and MTV2 by male lead

performers. Also, though the study included a robust and

varied set of videos, it was not a random sample. Another

limitation was that neither the race of the performer nor the

musical genre were considered in the analysis though

clearly both can inform the content of m usic videos

(Emerson 2002; Tapper et al. 1994). Furthermore, though

a content analysis seems to be an objective measurement, it

is limited by the fact that characteristics of observers can

affect what they see. This is true in regard s to both the

categories selected by the researcher for coding as well as

the subjectivity of the coders. The study obtained high

indexes of reliability for the coding variables; however,

certain variables had to be eliminated to achieve such

reliability, resulting in fewer data. It also must be

acknowledged that the raters were relatively homogeneous

in terms of age, sex, education level, and socioeconomic

status. Finally, any study of music videos is influenced by

what is in rotation at a particular moment on a particular

channel and in terms of the performer and the style of the

song. For example, an artist who behaves aggressively in an

up-tempo song may display more passive behavior in a

slow song.

Although only slightly more than half of the gender

displays in this study were found to be significant, all of the

behaviors were in the predicted direction for gender behavior.

Gender display can thus be a useful theoretical tool for

analyzing gender representations in the media. Further

research would benefit by exploring an expanded range of

gender displays in a larger sample of videos and including the

race/ethnicity of the performer and the genre of music in the

Sex Roles (2011) 64:160–172 169

analysis. Given the role of mediated representations in the

social construction of gender and the way music videos prime

viewers’ mental schemas (Hansen and Hansen 2000), these

results could have important implications.

Acknowledgements An earlier version of this paper was presented

at the National Communication Association Annual Meeting in

Boston, November 2005. The author would like to thank three

anonymous reviewers, Irene Frieze, and Rena Rudy for their careful

readings and helpful comments on this paper. Heartfelt gratitude as

well goes to Margaret McLaughlin for her guidance on several drafts

of the manuscript. I also wish to thank Josh Barbour and Xi Cui for

assistance with data analysis.

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