Women have been striving to be considered equal to men for generations. Trying to be a part of politics, business, medicine and show business just as much as men. Feminist songs have become more regular. From “If I Were a Boy” by Beyoncé to “Superwoman” by Alicia Keys, these songs try to convey how men should act or how women should be stronger. Jessie J puts a new spin on feminism. Instead of asking nicely, in her song “Do It Like a Dude”, she mocks and amplifies specific, and not so good, traits of men. The song also reminds society that even when this song was released in 2010, women were still considered “below” men.
The music video starts with a group of women shown lounging around a club gambling, carving tattoos on each other’s skin and smoking cigars. These women, however, are all dressed as men. Their clothes consist of loose t-shirts, dirty tank tops, baggy pants, backward hats, large gold chains, and short hair. Making them look like a gang of guys. Their outfits amplify the actions that follow. Capturing the cliché version of males, the women pull their hats lower, grab their crotch, get in fights and slouch while walking. This classic image captures the black male “gangster” look that has also caught on with white males. Another small feature that keeps occurring throughout the video is the fact that each girl has some type of piercing. Ranging from ears, nose, lip and eyebrow, the girls find something that can be pierced. This could be a possible jab at the males who are getting piercings as well.
Outside the looks of the female dancers, Jessie J focuses in on the language that men use around each other. She uses the lines “pull me a beer, no pretty drinks I’m a guy out here” and “all my B-I-T-C-H’s” to show men’s main view towards women. Trying to put one gender over the other, profanity and name-calling are used to describe women and how they act. The line about beer is stating that men are above such fluffy activities that women take part in. The profanity used is in terms of a female dog. Thus, lowering women to a state of obedience and animal like qualities. Other terms such as “brother” and “dude” are used to describe how men greet each other. This is already showing higher levels of respect between men with less respect to women. The final vulgarity is brought up with the constant use of “d*ck” and “crotch” repeated through out the song. Referencing the sexual and physical aspect some men are obsessed with.
Around this gangster look and vulgar language of young males, is composed a video that has a shaking camera, jerky movements, black make-up and a dark set. Reminding the watcher that she is capturing the shady and confusing side of men or perhaps a side they secretly want to express. The dark coloring representing the inner desire to live like the people in the underground club, and the jerky movements a fight between basic male desires and what is appropriate in society.
The video falls short of the message Jessie J seems to be trying to convey. Instead of saying women can be strong and independent, she seems to hint at the adoption of male attributes. That for women to truly be equal and on the same level as men they must act and behave as them, or simply accept the lower level that some “dude” has placed them in.
I pay more attention on the lyrics of this song instead of focusing just on the music video. I agree that this song is unlike "If I were A Boy" or "Superwoman" which emphasize on women can or should be strong and independent. However, I personally feel that this song is not just hinting at the adoption of male attributes in which women have to act and behave like a man in order to be regarded as equal as men.The message that Jessie J is trying to convey is more than that. This song is like a warning to men not to look down on women and a wakeup call to both the women and men that women can do better than men. As the lyrics go "We can do it like the man'dem, man'dem We can do it like the man'dem,Sugar sugar sugar". The pronoun 'we' is used here as a call out for women and a reminder to men that women can do what men did. Here, the word 'man'dem' is a slang that refers to a group of guys. As for 'sugar', it is a term referring to women that still emphasizes on women's personality that is sweet and lovely. As we can see, the idea here is that women retain their natural beauty and personality but at the same time can act like men. This is further discloses in the music video as we pay close attention to the dancing. Although all the female characters dress and act to resemble males, their dancing, however, still demonstrates how sexy， gentle and attractive women can be other than trying to be rough and act like men.
ReplyDeleteI can see where some people would be confused by the message of Jessie J's "Do It Like a Dude." From first glance, it may seem as though she is glorifying these actions of men. However, I agree that he true message is that women can do all that men to. Women have come far from the days when their only jobs included bearing children and picking up after their husbands. This world is full of strong, independent, and powerful women taking over jobs once held solely by men. Yet, women do not always recieve equal respect and treatment as men. They are still viewed as weaker and less capable of many things. I believe Jessie J is challenging this stigma with this song and music video. She shows that women can do anything men can do. In this video, we only see women portarying small characteristics of men such as, wearing baggy jeans, baseball hats, and smoking cigars. But it can be trasnferred into all aspects of everyday life. Women can work on cars, become doctors and lawyers, CEOs or even the leader of a nation. Women are making themselves more and more prevelent in today's society and this song could be a motivator to other women to do so too.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that many artists these days are writing songs about such vulgar things. I understand that songs are supposed to be poems and have meanings, but during this current day and age many artists are writing songs about sex, love, drugs, rights, and sexism. They are all trying to make a point, but I feel like a lot of these artists are too young to be writing about this. I find it very interesting that Jesse J decided to write a song about this because I see it in our world. It happens all of the time. Women get degraded by men all of the time. They are called vulgar things just by their nature, and I respect that women need to stand up and make a change because this needs to come to an end. I believe that women should deserve the same amount of respect.
ReplyDeleteDuring the video we see women portraying only some of the guy characteristics such as the smoking a cigar, wearing baggy jeans, and wearing hats. In reality women can do much more than that and shouldn’t be discriminated against. On the other hand women shouldn’t be treated so that it is a point to a special treatment, but I don’t think that it will ever get that way. This song is pretty catchy in that they use a lot of repetitions with their word choice. It makes for people to remember it and think about how to make a difference in their life. It also teaches women that they need to believe in themselves because they truly can make an impact.
I don't think that Jessie J did a very successful job at trying to portray that women are as equal as men. I can understand her view on wanting to show that women are just as capable at playing the male role as males themselves, but showing them in a vulgar and unclassy light like such doesn't benefit women very much in the department of making them seem strong and prosperous. The idea of creating women to look like equals of men is fascinating and a re-occurring thing in today's society. It seems that many women in the media are very focused and interested in portraying a male-aspect of themselves from Kesha who constantly demeans males in her lyrics to Lady Gaga who has a male alter-ego. While the movement of women becoming "in charge" and showing strong independence and dominant qualities, I don't believe that showing women in a light that shows them demeaning themselves as well as men and women in general is a good way to go abot getting the point across that males and females are equal.
ReplyDeleteThis video does not portray men in any way shape or form. In fact, this video is a case study of a previously unclassified member of the scientific family Homo: the Homo Dude. This homo dude, henceforth referred to as “dude,” is in fact a rather vulgar and rare member of the homo family. This “dude” would be represented by everything the lead singer, Jessie J, wears; says; and does. The “dude” apparently does it in a style similar to the “man'dem” a previously unknown creature and also enjoys copious amounts of crystalline carbohydrates. The “dude” wears high heels, stockings, various tattoos, bright shades of lipstick, occasionally golden chains, and tight fitting jump suits that start at the shoulder and end at the crotch. The “dude's” habitat of choice seems to be old, dark churches and poorly lit underground chambers. The “dude” starts fights, smokes cigars, drinks alcohol to excess (making sure that it is in no way pulchritudinous), plays at cards, and makes strange faces into the cameras of documentary crews. The “dude” likes to show off (his?) sexuality by a frequent display of nearly exposed mammary glands and vigorous rubbing of the crotch in an attempt to attract “boys” who are getting “hot under the collar.” Further study of the “dude” is clearly required for further analysis.
ReplyDeleteClearly this is in no way a member of the Homo Sapiens, but may be indirectly related to a previous study, the “gangster” which this blogger likes to refer to as, “everything wrong with America's youth today.”
In my opinion, this music video is vulgar and degrading to women. In this music video women are half dressed and are wearing exaggerated amounts of makeup. The women in this video look just like the women in many other music videos done by artists like Lil Wayne, which is part of what they are actually complaining about. The music video and the lyrics do talk about the degradation of women, but the women in this video do not seem to make that claim and try to change it. Rather, the women attack the opposite sex in a dirty way while still holding true to the values they are so much trying to get rid of. In complaining about men in this way, women look like people that just whine about how they are treated, but they don’t do much about it. This music video says that women are degraded, but they degrade themselves by making their bodies so materialistic. I don’t think it’s appropriate for women to make generalizations about men like this, in which they only take all the negative stereotypes, when women are trying to avoid just that. Women are part of the problem and much of what they do is why they are viewed in such a way. If a woman goes to a party and gets drunk and then decides to make out with every man there she has no right to complain about her being called a degrading name later on.
ReplyDeleteThe song “Do it like a dude” is another type of song with hatred after breakup. It is indirectly described that this lyrics aimed for ex-boyfriend as the lyrics goes “You think I can’t get hurt like you, you motherfucker”. Moreover, the lines with typical male habits in underground club demonstrate what type of guy against which the main character bear a grudge it is. If guys would like to hurt women by taking a leading role in relationship, this demeaning lyrics ask guys to look back on how their behavior looks funny and easy. However, if I take the description of mighty women in the music video “Do it like a dude” , it seems that women should not limit their role even in the club as inactive person who attracts guys by being always conscious of guys.
ReplyDeleteRather than hastily abandon all womanly qualities in chase of a manly image, women should embrace what gifts they do have and flourish in that rather than attempting to mask themselves as men. Women can still access the status desired in the video but it does not have to be at the cost of themselves. Women do not need to sacrifice who they are to attain the desired golas. Putting on a manly guise will not give a woman manly attributes. The desired attributes are accessible to women, and do not require a sacrifice of image.
ReplyDeleteThis song is really different from "If I Were A Boy" and "Super Woman", it sufficiently shows the gist that a woman can do things like a man in a violent way, but you can do something doesn't mean you should.This video releases the limitation of a woman's potential, women has fully transfered their roles into men in this video,the dark surrounding represents the women's potential wishes that they should be treated like a man, it shows their angry about the unequally treating with men.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that women are often considered to be below men. However, I find the song "Do it like a dude" doesn't encourage the world to see women as equal as men. Women in this video are wearing excessive make up and the way they dress and act don't seem to make them look higher yet it degrades them more. Also, this song takes a stereotype of men as being violent and other negative connotations. This generalization of men could also cause a mockery to nice guys out there who don't act that way. To be respected as equal as men, women could do other things such as getting better jobs than those of men rather than acting and wearing things that are not appropriate just to be like men.
ReplyDeleteIt is an unavoidable fact that men and women will act differently. Unfortunately, those differences are criticized from both sides of the issue. Rap and Hip-Hop artists do a very good job of making the male gender look like a bunch of animals, and that women are objects of desire and nothing more. While a percentage of men actually act like their rap artist heroes, there are plenty of guys who conduct themselves as gentlemen and treat people the way they want to be treated. The last thing I want to see is women changing who they are to try to appease a stereotype thrown into society by a bunch of thugs who yell into a microphone and call themselves artists. But while the loudest voice may not be right, it is the one most easily heard.
ReplyDeleteThe vibe that I get from, "If I were a Boy" is somewhat similar from what is being described for, “Do it like a Dude.” Both of these songs focus on the common perceptions of what a “bad boyfriend” is like. Another song that comes to mind when discussing the typical bad boyfriend characteristics is, “Just like em.’” Both the titles of “Do it like a Dude” and “Just like em’” are written in slang which the language that boyfriend would speak. All of these songs show how the male is able to neglect his responsibilities toward his female partner. They show how a female is fed up with being treated like a sideshow and how the star is always the male. This implies how there is difference between gender roles in a male-female relationship. The female is always supposed to stay loyal and be good while the man can go out and do what he does as mentioned in this blog.
ReplyDeleteI do not think this video or song accomplished what the artist intended. Instead of building women up and showing that they are not weak, it tried to lower men. That not only does not support women strength, but it also seems bitter. Despite making fun of men and how they are womanizers, these women are scantily clad and still dance prevocatively. That completely defeats the purpose of calling men out. The whole song was not a woman empowerment, but a degradation of men. I always feel like that approach is petty and in a way embarrassing. Women have so much going for them that they do not need to bring men down to become equal. I think beyonce and alicia did a great job by showing how they have strength and are valuable without lowering men.
ReplyDeleteThis song represents that women can do things like a men. Those women fully transfers the role to men in this vbedio, and trying to gain the equal treatment and respect by using this way. I'd say it's pretty empressive.
ReplyDeleteI do not think women should act like men. Everyone is different. We all have our talent in some fields. As an individual, we all have some value to put on to the society. As women, I don't think we should act like a men to receive equal attention. Women can do things that men may not be able to do. Men can do things that women may not be able to do. In these days, women received the same respect as men. Even though somehow men is the major gender to lead the world, women still gets more and more stronger. It make no sense to act like a men to receive respect. Just be who you are. I believe if you are good enough, everyone will follow you.
ReplyDeleteEven in today's society, women are still considered inferior at times. However, the large majority of the sexism that used to exist is not an issue in American society today. Instead of making society feel bad for the women though, Jessie J's song only insults men. The song is not even directed to a large majority of men, but rather a small sect that is not a good representation of men. This kind of ignorance only makes Jessie J look oblivious to men's culture. On the other hand, Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" does not come off as rugged or polarizing as "Do it like a Dude." Her song is more about her own personal heartbreak than trying to insult all men in general. It also portrays Beyonce as a strong powerful woman where as Jessie J seems to come off as giving into the pop culture's view of society.
ReplyDeleteI think there is no need to compare men and women. We have to admit that there are some differences between men and women. However, I do not think that means women should be weaker than men. In modern times, women ought to be strong and independent in the society. Maybe the song puts women in too high level to be like men. Everyone, every gender has his or her own responsibilities. Doing the best is enough.
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