Rihanna’s music video for “S&M” portrays Raunch Culture in various scenes throughout the video, by depicting pornographic images to reveal a hyper sexualized female whose proposed sexual liberation is actually self-objectification. The video “S&M” embodies the ideal that women are supposed to be seen as kitchy and slutty to be seen as sexy. “Hotness is not the same thing as beauty, which has been valued throughout history. Hot can mean popular. Hot can mean talked about. But when it pertains to women, hot means two things in particular: fuckable and salable”(Levy, 31) This video is giving the image of Rihanna being fuckable. How the video portrays this is by putting her in many different sexual scenarios.
Rihanna’s music video for “S&M” is a perfect example of Raunch Culture, from the sexual innuendos, perceived female sexual liberation, objectification, and infantilization. Raunch Culture is prevalent in the “S&M” music video by selling sexiness to a mass audience through the form of music. The entire music video is selling Rihanna as a sexual object and to make her be perceived and fool the audience that this is a sexually liberated woman. Even though she is not actually displaying characteristics of a sexually liberated woman in the video, it is about making the audience perceive sexual liberation. Futhermore, this music video is selling female sexuality to the masses with a catchy tune and a celebrity to reiterate the message that she is sexually empowered and you want to be just like her. If you aren’t like her, then you are not a sexually liberated woman.
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