What actually is Voyeurism?

What is voyeurism?

Voyeurism is when a person receives sexual gratification from seeing or witnessing someones sexual behavior or from seeing their body/genitalia. For example if someone is watching a tv programme there may be a shot of someone's body/body part or perhaps a shot of them behaiving in a sexual way on screen, when someone is watching this and recieving pleasure that is voyeurism. Goodwin states that female performers are sexually objectified by camera work with fragmented editing, and usually it's the male controlling the gaze. Voyeurism is also used to promote many female artists.

Why is it used in music video's and other media texts?

This is from the music video Sak Noel- Local people. These are perfect examples of voyeurism, as there are shots of women in the night club being sexually objectified. The women in the music video have hardly any clothes on, they are practically naked, also in this music video the women are dancing about in a sexual way, all for the male gratification. 

The act of voyeurism is the observation of an unsuspecting person who is naked, in the process of disrobing, or engaging in sexual activity that provides sexual arousal. To be clinically diagnosed, the symptoms must include the following elements:

• recurrent, intense or sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors
• fantasies, urges, or behaviors that cause significant distress to an individual or are disruptive of his or her everyday functioning.

 

Voyeurism and the notion of looking are both very broad themes that almost every single music video contains. Voyeurism can be used to sell the artist's music through sex appeal, like in the video for Beyonce's Single Ladies, to make a statement, in Miley Cyrus's Can't Be Tamed, for instance, when the video shows crowds looking in on her as a caged animal, parodying the public's voyeurism of her as a famous person, or to enhance the message of the lyrics, like in Robbie Williams' Rock DJ, where he uses a shocking and controversial video to amplify the message of his lyrics - that being a sex symbol can go too far.

Voyeurism can also be present through watching something happen from the point of view of an observer. This isn't very common, as most music videos will have the singer directly facing the camera and addressing the viewer, but it can be used - such as in Pink's Who Knew, where we watch a story unfold between the two characters without feeling like we are involved in it.

The notion of looking can include many techniques and is something that is present in almost every music video. The most common use of it is through direct or indirect address. The characters or band members will often purposefully look into the camera a lot (direct address), and sing to the audience, or not look at the camera (indirect address) to create a feeling of distance and voyeurism.

However, the notion of looking can also be demonstrated using props. Shots of the artist or character reflected in a mirror, for example, are part of the notion of looking. Screens, such as televisions, are also a commonly used prop that indicates the notion of looking. REM's Bad Day is made to look like the whole video is being watched through a television screen, for instance. Props like cameras, telescopes, binoculars or magnifying glasses all also show this idea. It can even be included through the use of any prop or scene where the viewer is looking through something at the artist, like in The Red Hot Chili Peppers' Can't Stop, when we see the singer's head through a long pipe.